Cornwall's 105 to 107 Itchy FM - Ofcom Licensing

SECTION 105(B) AND (C): CATERING FOR TASTES AND INTERESTS / BROADENING CHOICE
(a) Programming philosophy
(i) Statement – setting out programming philosophy and vision for the radio service.
Playing Cornwall’s Under 35s a much-needed variety of music, lifestyle programming and information
relevant to our target age group and currently absent in the local commercial radio landscape.
Itchy FM will mostly appeal to a popular mainstream youth audience through its young, local
programming mix; it will build its credentials through countywide marketing activity and involvement in
the music, club culture, beach and leisure scenes throughout the towns of Cornwall. Itchy FM will aim
to play a central role in the regeneration of Cornwall by engaging young people and providing them with
access to relevant information. The station’s success will depend on its ability to reflect the interests of
its target audience and the needs of the region it serves, and our management team have good
experience at interpreting these needs.
Itchy FM’s focus on the style of delivery of both music and speech content will ensure it is widely
listened to as an energetic fun young station for the county’s youth. In programming terms, the station
will replicate the success achieved by stations such as Galaxy Network or Beat 106, advocating
“ratings by day, reputation by night” with well designed and maintained brand conscious programming
features to develop listening hours and service both mainstream pop dance / pop rock tastes and more
specialist programmes to cater for other music styles that are of researched interest to Cornwall’s
Under 35s and not currently locally available on Pirate FM.
The county’s 107,000 15-34 year olds are the station’s core demographic. In addition the station will
appeal to a “youth lifestyle community” in the county. This definition extends to include individuals
outside this age range but who remain affiliated to this group through lifestyle or leisure activities, plus
the 1.5m annual visitors. The driving focus of Itchy FM will be the resident population of underserved
under 35’s.
IMD Radio’s research has shown the significant gap and demand that exists for a station which offers
our proposition. The station’s experienced management team offers confidence in understanding the
audience through personal experience of the marketplace and similar styled services.
(ii) Strategies for:
• catering for tastes and interests, general or particular, of persons living in the area
Itchy FM will position itself as Direct Response Radio through developing interactive communication
paths with its audience, providing high levels of personalisation of its output through listener’s
programming, including phone / SMS music request features and a well developed website promoting
opportunities for listeners to interact with their station. Our NOP Study shows that this type of
interaction is important.
We have consulted and will continue to consult with youth organisations across the county.
In addition, we intend to continue to run snoop sessions with the focus groups we presented format and
playlist suggestions to during the local consultation period prior to submitting this application.
Itchy FM’s programming proposals are based on:
• Management and shareholders that are ‘in tune’ with youth media, music and Cornwall itself to
create a station uniquely for Cornwall’s under-35’s
• A leader as Managing Director and Programme Controller whose roots ensure his unrivalled
passion and enthusiasm for the business and the community
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