Coast and County Radio gets increase in licensed area approved

Ofcom has approved a request from Coast and County Radio to extend its official coverage area to include neighbouring Ryedale in addition to Scarborough Town and Whitby.

The increase in the size of the adult population served was not deemed to be significant, Ofcom said in granting the change.

The community radio station argued that it already covers the area editorially, so a relay would be nice.

Ofcom had feedback to the consultation from three individuals who:

• asserted that community radio services should remain hyper-local and shouldn’t cover such a wide area i.e. beyond a 5km radius expected of community radio services, arguing that the consequential significance of this request had not been justified by exceptional circumstances;
• questioned the licensee’s position on the proposed extended area not being currently served by local services and the affinities between the existing and proposed areas; and
• questioned Ofcom’s approach to licensing and coverage extensions.

The feedback was taken into account but the request was granted.