My Lords, I rise to speak to Amendment 72, to which I have put my name, and also to support Amendments 71, 73 and 74 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Storey. These amendments will do much to support local radio.
The noble Lord, Lord Storey, has already explained to us the regionalisation of local radio and the destruction it has caused. This has not been helped by cuts at the BBC, which are forcing many of its stations to regionalise as well. In the area in which I live, East Anglia, BBC Suffolk and BBC Norfolk broadcast the same content for much of the day. These stations are not local; they are regional, and in some cases national. They have fired local staff and closed local studios, and as brands move towards national broadcasting there are fewer regional centres.
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This is why Amendment 72, and Amendments 71, 73 and 74, are needed. Once again, the Bill gives too much power to Ofcom to make decisions that we in Parliament should be making. Clause 42 opens up the possibility of Ofcom granting licences for local radio stations on the widest range of delivery mechanisms.
This should be welcome news to independent local radio stations, most of which are available online but wish to expand their listenership by moving on to other means of reaching their listeners. This can be done by small-scale DAB, known as SS-DAB, mentioned by the noble Baroness, Lady Berridge, or by analogue FM, which is what many of us use, especially those living in rural areas. FM is easily found on the radio and works much better in many rural areas, yet Ofcom has not granted it a licence for local radio stations since 2008. In a letter to Andy Green of Banbury FM, Ofcom wrote:
“we have decided not to carry out any further rounds of analogue licensing as this would have a significant impact on small scale DAB rollout.”
Clause 42 therefore gives Ofcom a choice that it does not want to exercise. There are local radio stations that want to use FM wavelengths, for reasons I will explain, but which will not be able to obtain them. If ever there was a moment for Parliament to offer Ofcom clear guidance that would help a struggling but important part of our media landscape, Amendments 71, 72, and 73 would do that. They would encourage Ofcom to consider granting them an analogue FM licence, and not just the default small-scale DAB option.
In this climate, it has never been more important to encourage local radio stations. I too have been speaking to Andy Green, of the ironically named Banbury FM, which does not broadcast on FM but is online daily with five minutes of news six times a day, three minutes of which is local. There is also a local events guide broadcast throughout the day, giving local listeners a schedule for what is going on in the area. The station is manned by local people from the Banbury area, so the chit-chat in between the music is about their lives locally and reflects back the locality to its people. But he cannot get an FM licence.
The present national grouping of most commercial radio stations compounds the leeching of resources away from local areas. Most local businesses cannot afford the advertising on the Bauer and Global so-called local brands; despite their local names, they have national advertising rates. However, new online local radio stations give an outlet for these local businesses to advertise at a price they can afford. At the moment, these local community stations find that broadcasting mainly online limits the audiences they can acquire, so of course they are eager to expand on to radio.
Since 2019, Ofcom has prioritised the granting of small-scale DAB to local stations. It carries more spectrum and so can carry more radio stations, but it does not suit all licences. However, to receive DAB, listeners need over 80%, and in some cases 100%, signal —this is easy in urban areas, but in sparsely populated rural areas it is often a big problem—whereas FM can be easily received on a much less powerful signal and can reach listeners much more easily.
The problem for local radio stations in Ofcom’s drive to force them on to small-scale DAB signals is that in many hilly areas with sparse populations, the small-scale DAB system needs more transmitters than FM to reach the same number of listeners. Often, they are twice the price to install of FM transmitters. DAB
transmitters have to be carefully placed so that they are not near main roads or houses, because the strength of their signal will block out existing radio reception, so it is much more complicated to set them up.
I hope that the Minister will be guided by the words of his colleague the Secretary of State for Culture. She wrote in April this year: “We remain committed to ensuring that as many stations as possible have the opportunity to take out a broadcasting licence in a form which meets their needs over the coming years”. The Secretary of State has asked us to listen to the needs of local radio stations. Those in rural areas such as Banbury, South Buckinghamshire, Rutland and many others feel they need to be available on the FM spectrum. Unless the Government support this amendment, it looks as if that is not going to happen. Ofcom is undertaking a review of how effective its sixth round of the small-scale DAB rollout has been. In the past, Ofcom has been has given a choice that it has not always wished to exercise; now, it is our duty, as Parliament, to guide it in the direction of offering FM licences to local radio stations.
Amendments 71, 72 and 73 aim to allow local radio to find an audience by extending its licences. However, I also support Amendment 74, which will help local radio. The small stations I have been speaking about create local content about their area. However, as the noble Lord, Lord Storey, says, the big brands, which have bought up local radio stations and turned them into national brands, are not doing that. They have closed local stations and fired local staff. As a result, local radio in the regions is in crisis. These huge companies, which generate vast profits from their so-called local brands, should be guided by Parliament to support the local media infrastructure in areas from which they draw their name, rather than relying on a distant regional or even national hub.
Now is a golden opportunity for the Minister to show that the Government believe in levelling up. I ask them to help local people find out about their local area on a local radio by whatever means works for them, not for Ofcom.