A total of 11 groups have applied to Ofcom wanting to run new community radio stations on medium-wave.
The 11 are part of the 38 applications made to Ofcom in October wanting to run radio stations in Ofcom’s community radio Region 5, which is classified as west and south Yorkshire, Humberside and north west England.
The demand for AM is because the regulator has said no FM frequencies are available in places such as Manchester, Liverpool, Warrington, Cheshire (with the exception of Crewe or Nantwich), Leeds, Bradford, Scunthorpe, Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham.
Those who have ticked the AM box on the application form includes Trafford Sound, Radio Barnsley, Radio Azaan Leeds, Akash Radio Leeds and Bradford Asia Radio.
As a result of the extra activity in Region 5, Ofcom has put back the timetable for advertising future licences still to come in Round 3 – meaning groups in West Midlands, East Midlands, Lincolnshire, the east of England and South East England will now be waiting till next year.
Applications have now been invited for community radio licences in the Bailiwick of Guernsey with a closing date of 26th March 2014.
Posted on Wednesday, December 4th, 2013 at 4:17 pm by RadioToday UK