Cornwall's 105 to 107 Itchy FM - Ofcom Licensing

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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 45
• Significant study into all aspects of the station (programming, marketing, sponsorship and local community involvement), to ensure optimum market positioning from launch • Extensive independent market research - carried out to provide detailed information on programming tastes and audience lifestyle dynamics • Previous experience building audience and revenue in ‘youth’ media • broadening the range of local commercial services available in the area Itchy FM will provide a voice and a much needed focal point for the broad youth community living across Cornwall County. Itchy FM is the only means for this influential and spread-out population to be communicated to en masse, to have a local commercial radio station targeted specifically at their tastes and lifestyle and to galvanise the current enthusiastic activities undertaken by Cornish youth. The station will be distinctive in all aspects of its operation from the existing heritage ILR Pirate FM - not just in the music the station plays, but also in the station’s speech output and marketing activity and overall feel. The station’s attitude will be conveyed through the music played, the use of language, understanding, sharing and expression of listeners’ lifestyle, research and production techniques and the station’s ability to integrate with other lifestyle orientated businesses and experiences that build a single brand in the mind of Cornwall’s potential new listeners to commercial radio. As Itchy FM will be concentrating on the audience not adequately represented by Pirate FM, it is only worth a brief comparative note in programming terms, that Pirate is a broad appeal service with a very broad music policy. Wave 3 2004 RAJAR data shows 71% of its listening hours are from audiences aged older than the target demographic of Itchy FM (35+). 15-34 year old listeners should have the choice that is available in other areas of the UK. Our NOP research clearly proves that they will welcome a targeted, local service. No commercial service adequately targets young (and young lifestyle) listeners in Cornwall. The sheer volume of under-35 listening that is given to BBC Radio 1 shows the county and demographic’s dissatisfaction with the current choice of commercial radio listening. BBC Radio 1 is specifically London-centric and the lifestyle and routine of a Cornish young adult is radically different to that of a Londoner. Music policy “someone is finally putting out a radio station which might play good music, instead of golden bloody oldies and loads of old men talking.” Male, 16, media studies student, Liskeard Itchy FM will provide a service that acknowledges the significant interests in specialist music within the younger aspect of this lifestyle group whilst recognising that as the community ages their listening behaviour becomes more mainstream in reality, whilst maintaining a keen interest in the heritage niche music they grew up with. This group remains unserved and ignored by all Cornwall radio. In our research, 64% of the respondents favoured pop rock, 52% pop dance which confirmed that pop rock and pop dance were the most popular music types, but not to the exclusion of other genres. 46
Page 2 and 3: GENERAL INFORMATION Application for
Page 4 and 5: Rolf Munding Non-Executive Chairman
Page 6 and 7: Martin Dallaghan Current directorsh
Page 8 and 9: o Christopher Weston - A serial hig
Page 10 and 11: Market Opportunity BBC Radio 1 cons
Page 12 and 13: usiness being awarded a Shell Livew
Page 14 and 15: The seasonal uplift in listener vol
Page 16 and 17: This arsenal of advertiser-aligned
Page 18 and 19: only through this genuine investmen
Page 20 and 21: Station’s link with Investor stra
Page 22 and 23: (e) FUNDING The business will be ca
Page 24 and 25: sustain small scale youth media and
Page 26 and 27: Telegraph, Nuts Magazine (IPC) and
Page 28 and 29: Audience Projections Itchy FM predi
Page 30 and 31: Total Hours 546,000 100% Based on t
Page 32 and 33: might incur to achieve such high le
Page 34 and 35: o Newquay: surf / skate, clubbing,
Page 36 and 37: We would also support all station a
Page 38 and 39: A large part of Itchy FM’s likely
Page 40 and 41: Staff structure IMD Radio Cornwall
Page 42 and 43: In addition, IMD Group’s local sa
Page 44 and 45: Director of Radio, Zenith Optimedia
Page 48 and 49: 0.35 0.3 0.25 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.05 0 F
Page 50 and 51: spoken word content will provide ed
Page 52 and 53: (b) Proposed format Licence Outline
Page 54 and 55: NOP Study - November 2004 Edison Me
Page 56 and 57: Interest in New Radio Station: When
Page 58 and 59: Radio listeners in Cornwall are wel
Page 60 and 61: Research Conclusions This format cl
Page 62 and 63: collated a number of the most perti
Page 64 and 65: Local meetings Summary of some of t

Cornwall's 105 to 107 Itchy FM - Ofcom Licensing

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