As reported last week, three of the first 10 FM community licences to be awarded by industry regulator Ofcom fall within Greater Manchester. However, it is understood that many more in the county are waiting to be given the go ahead while negotiations continue between Ofcom and the BBC.
The delays are believed to be related to spare "buffer zone" sections of the FM spectrum designed to prevent interference overlaps between transmitters based around the country. But the relatively weak signal of community radio stations are thought unlikely to impinge on existing services.
Bids from Oldham, Stockport and Salford are still waiting for their services to be given the green light. Oldham station manager David McGealy said: "It is incredibly frustrating having to be so patient. Until we are 100 per cent certain that we will be given a licence it is difficult for us to secure the funding we need. No sponsor is likely to hand money before they know for certain that we will be in a positition to broadcast."
A BBC spokesman said: "The situation is that we have to use many different frequencies for each of our national radio networks. "We've been working with Ofcom on a technical level to make sure these new proposals don't cause our listeners interference."
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I'm afraid the comments quoted from the BBC are not a true picture:
"The situation is that we have to use many different frequencies for each of our national radio networks."
The BBD doesn't "have to use..." . It has taken large amounts of the spectrum when there wasn't any opposition and is now trying to refuse access to other services.
"We've been working with Ofcom on a technical level to make sure these new proposals don't cause our listeners interference."
More likely the BBC has been telling Ofcom that it isn't prepared to relinquish its present vastly excessive coverage in favour of a few very low-power stations which will not in any way preclude present BBC reception.
We've the same problem in Brum - BBC are hanging on to what isn't theirs to hang on to. There's a community pilot on 98.7, which is in the Radio 1 'buffer zone' that causes no problems. The BBC want to protect it's audience share not though great content, but through keeping potential opposition waiting.
This whole issue is strange because the BBC are being very supportive to community radio in many ways - such as off-loading old kit, training and placing staff with stations. So it makes me wonder whether the good words from the top aren't getting through to the bods who do clearances for frequencies. If it is then Ofcom need to play hard ball and make sure that any 'dog in the manger' behaviour gets nipped in the bud and the frequencies sat on by Auntie get used by the people who'll make best use of them - communty radio.
Our sector does the purest form of public service broadcasting - without a sniff of license-payers money. Communities like Oldham, Tameside, Salford, Stockport and Wigan (all waiting in the wings) deserve the chance to make it work for them!
Phil Korbel
www.communityfm.net