Ofcom has found Big City Radio CIC, which holds the licence for BRMB, in breach of the Key Commitments for the station.
Following a complaint, Ofcom requested recordings of the output of the station between 19th to 25th August 2024. It also asked for a programme schedule for the same week and an explanation of how the Key Commitments were being met.
After assessing these and receiving a written response, the regulator felt the Character of Service to serve all the communities of Aston with a particular focus on the area’s ethnic communities, and both on-air and off-air community benefits for the target community, were not being met.
Big City responded that its coverage area is made up of a mix of nationalities, with English as the common language and that programmes on BRMB are “designed to be relevant to all of the communities in the area”.
It said that the station’s music policy had been broadened, and it offers a different style of music online, which it hopes to broadcast on DAB when it has the funds.
Big City said that it requests input from the community but doesn’t receive responses, except from the Council who it is already working with. It believed it was complying with its Key Commitments in terms of speech content and outlined some of its off-air social gain initiatives including working with “sports teams, a … multipurpose games unit, an infant school, an English teaching school, a gardening project, a cafe as well as other projects”.
The station currently has one presenter from Aston who presents a show on Friday evenings, however it has previously had more presenters from the local area. There are eight individuals from the target community involved in the management and operation of the station, with six of these individuals being from non-white ethnic communities.
Big City also explained that, at the time Ofcom requested information, it wasn’t accepting volunteers because it was at its limit. However, in direct contradiction to this, it also stated that it “always take[s] volunteers”.
Finally, Big City said it was going to request a change to BRMB’s Key Commitments, particularly around music requirements and it felt that taking previous breaches into consideration, which happened when the station wasn’t under its control, was unfair to the current management.
Ofcom acknowledged the steps Big City has started to take and expects it to continue to work to rectify the issues immediately.
Originally Ofcom felt there were grounds to consider a statutory sanction, but because Big City has taken steps to come into compliance with its Key Commitments, it would be counter intuitive to consider a sanction where the Licensee has already started to work to rectify these issues.
The decision was: Breaches of Licence Conditions 2(1) and 2(4).
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This story first appeared on radiotoday.co.uk