Rother FM - Ofcom Licensing

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Galaxy 105 Section 105 (B) and (C): Catering for tastes and interests/broadening choice Galaxy 105 is “a rhythmic-based music led service for 15-29 year olds supplemented with news, information and entertainment. The service should have particular appeal to listeners in their 20s.” The format calls for the music to incorporate such genres as house, garage, soul and R’n’B, while speech should “provide a reasonable balance of news and information for the target audience”. Our monitoring showed that Galaxy 105’s music output was predominantly current, and predominantly dance and R’n’B influenced, with the exception of the occasional current mainstream pop song such as Kelly Clarkson’s “Since You’ve Been Gone”. News bulletins ran half-hourly through the breakfast sequence, there was a bulletin just before 1pm, and again just before 5pm and 6pm, with headlines at about 5.20 and 6.20pm. The bulletins offered a well-chosen headline service mixing stories from the Yorkshire/Lincolnshire region (an angle on the suicide bombers, the trial of a Lincolnshire coach driver) with national news (a vote on Tony Blair’s terror bill) and “funnies”. Travel news focused on major roads, with details of where mobile speed cameras were positioned. Galaxy 105’s style is clearly targeted at a teenage and twenty-something audience. Banter on the breakfast show (“Hirsty’s Daily Dose”) was about Little Britain, stories about getting drunk on school nights (“not big and not clever”) and also a fun listener talking point about whether you need manners when you live in Yorkshire. Magic AM Magic AM is “a soft music-led service aimed primarily at over-30s in South Yorkshire”. Most of the music must be over five years old, and the station must feature “information, sport, what’s-ons and other items” for the target audience in South Yorkshire. Our monitoring revealed a good variety of mellow hits from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. Mostly there was a wide separation of eras, with – for example – a 90s song followed by a 60s song. The only exception was during the “Guess the Year” feature. There was a good regional news service, with two or three minute bulletins most hours, including local audio in many bulletins. The ten-minute 5pm bulletin included a report from the church in Dinnington where the funeral of a Rotherham schoolboy was being held, a report and voxpops on Yorkshire children being taught self-defence in schools and a full sports round-up. There was also a good travel news service, with detailed items such as a broken-down lorry on the M1, delays in Sheffield and train problems between Doncaster and Meadowhall. The presentation style was relaxed and frequently based around music, including concert ticket giveaways for local gigs. There was also banter about Christmas decorations and carol singers and items from the newspapers. 30
Section 105 (B) and (C): Catering for tastes and interests/broadening choice How will Rother FM broaden choice? All the above stations offer very good services for their target audience. But all are covering large transmission areas in which Rotherham is easily overlooked. Rotherham gets mentioned when there’s an obvious news story (the tragic death of a schoolboy for example), but otherwise the borough fights for space against news from Sheffield, Leeds, Bradford, Barnsley and Doncaster, and in the case of Galaxy 105 against Hull and Northern Lincolnshire as well. Rother FM’s most fundamental difference will be that it’s looking at the world from a Rotherham perspective. Our news bulletins will be of sufficient length to cover Rotherham stories in some depth, while reflecting the day’s major national news as well. With the exception of Real Radio, not much local audio seems to feature on news bulletins. While we don’t believe in audio for the sake of it, we will endeavour to talk to people in Rotherham about the stories that are happening in their area. In our monitoring we heard mention of most of Yorkshire’s football teams – but not the Millers. Rother FM will put Rotherham United at the top of its sports agenda without the team having to fight against Sheffield United to prove its newsworthiness. Of course Rother FM’s travel news will include the same details of delays on the M1 and the Tinsley Viaduct that the other stations mention, but few of travel bulletins we heard during our monitoring mentioned anything outside of the major motorways and trunk roads. We will look at Rotherham town centre and the various other pressure points in the borough on a more detailed level; we will also bring more local knowledge to our travel reports, with road and junction names and details of nearby landmarks or diversions. We heard very few “what’s ons” mentioned in all our monitoring, besides news of gigs. We won’t be afraid to mention the small, local events: charity pub quizzes, Christmas fairs and news of what our local schools are up to. On that subject, there seemed to be little we heard in our monitoring of direct appeal to families or children. Rother FM will remedy that. Our presentation style will be distinctive. Our single-header Breakfast Show will be a new choice in a marketplace full of zoos and crews, while our Rotherham-centric approach to life means that Rother FM will become the first place to hear about what’s going on in the town and surrounding area. Musically, our output will be distinctive because of its variety and range. Hallam FM may play more oldies than it used to, but for the most part they’re chunked together. Magic AM’s oldies are all on the mellow side, and there are very few current songs. Rother FM’s oldies, which will range back to the 1960s, will be mixed in amongst the best of today’s music. Galaxy 105’s music format, with its emphasis on dance and R’n’B, will have little crossover with Rother FM. Our music will be relatively similar in terms of variety and eras to that of Real Radio. However, the sound of the radio station will be very different: our lower speech percentage will mean more opportunities for music flow and segues. Our current music will also have a broader spectrum than that of Real Radio, playing some of the edgier tracks that Hallam FM would feature on its playlist. 31
Page 1 and 2: An application to Ofcom for the loc
Page 3 and 4: General information (a) Name of App
Page 5 and 6: Executive director - Jeff Harwood S
Page 7 and 8: Executive Director - Matt Jones Occ
Page 9 and 10: Lincs FM Group Limited holds the Li
Page 11 and 12: Section 105 (A): Ability to maintai
Page 13 and 14: (b) Funding Section 105 (A): Abilit
Page 17 and 18: 3. Transmission proposals Section 1
Page 21 and 22: Section 105 (B) and (C): Catering f
Page 23 and 24: Target audience Section 105 (B) and
Page 27 and 28: Weather Section 105 (B) and (C): Ca
Page 29: Section 105 (B) and (C): Catering f
Page 37 and 38: ROTHER FM STATION FORMAT Licence ou
Page 39 and 40: Section 105 (D): Evidence of local
Page 41 and 42: Lifestyle Section 105 (D): Evidence
Page 43 and 44: Section 105 (D): Evidence of local
Page 45 and 46: Declaration Rother FM confirms that

Rother FM - Ofcom Licensing

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