Huddesfield station Home FM has been given permission from Ofcom to drop a daily phone-in, previously required by them as part of their Format. The change, requested by area director Mike Vitti will allow the station to provide a phone-in during sport programmes and on special occasions instead.
In a second Format change request, the station has also been granted permission to change the way they broadcast programmes in Hindustani and Urdu for the local Asian community. Instead of nine hours of programmes a week, the station will create a single three hour programme and repeat it during the week, an hour at a time on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday between 10pm and 11pm.
In asking for the changes, Mike Vitti says: “The above proposals have not been entered into lightly. The staff at Home FM has worked continuously and diligently to try and make certain programming features work in light of poor responses. The growth in listener participation for the Saturday Sports phone-in has proved that Home FM can provide a service and cater for its listening public.
“Likewise, the response from local Muslim contributors, who have passed comment on the new sound of our Asian output, also provides the evidence we were looking for in that Home FM has thought long and hard about how any changes to the format may affect the community. The station is looking to enhance its output and commitment to the community at a time when many services would like to haveprovisions removed from their formats. Thus demonstrating the stations promise to deliver quality locally focused programming to Huddersfield.”
Ofcom agreed both Format changes saying that the two requests were not unreasonable, and given the changes in the radio landscape over the years, the changes would not create a substantial change to the station’s character.
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