Community radio station fined £400 for not delivering Key Commitments

Ofcom has today imposed a £400 financial penalty on Retrocadia Limited after its community radio station, Shoreline FM, failed to meet its Key Commitments.

Shoreline FM – now known as Cinque Ports Radio – is a community radio service for Dymchurch and the surrounding areas of Romney Marsh.

Following a complaint to Ofcom, the regulator investigated Shoreline FM and found that the station was not providing the service required.

Ofcom said that between March 2020 and October 2021, Shoreline FM broke the terms of its licence as it:

• failed to broadcast any original output on the service;
• was not broadcasting from a studio within the licensed coverage area; and
• members of the target community could not become involved in the management and operation of the service.

In a statement issued today, Cinque Ports Radio said: “The current Directors want to make it clear that they were not running the station at the time of the breech, and it was Shoreline FM and not Cinque Ports Radio that was found in breech by OFCOM.”

In its oral representations at a hearing on 19 April 2023, the Licensee acknowledged the serious nature of the breaches in question, and said that it understood why Ofcom considered a sanction was appropriate in such a case.

The new owners pointed out that the breaches in question had occurred under the previous management, and that the directors at the time of the breaches had subsequently left the organisation.

They added that it would be unfair for Ofcom to impose a sanction on the Licensee because that would be penalising the current management for the actions of the former management of the station, and that it had made significant investments of time and money into the service, in order to ensure that the station now provides an effective community radio service.

The financial penalty of £400 is payable to HM Paymaster General.