Take one great festival, take one 40th anniversary celebration and take one great mashup artist and mix them together.

What you get is Bootstock a concept album put together by DJ Zebra for the 40th anniversary celebrations of the grand daddy of all festivals, Woodstock.

Using a mix of studio recordings, live festival recordings and the Woodstock movie, DJ Zebra has put together what is probably one best mashup concept albums of the year, and a close contender with The Kleptones’ 24 Hours for my personal favourite mashup concept of all time.

And it’s good to see that the album got airplay on Virgin Radio France, bringing the mashup ever closer to being a creative art from that no longer needs to hide in the shadows.

>> DOWNLOAD << ( +Alternative Link)
(zip, 85 Mo – 16 tracks + cover)

- Introduction
- DJ ZEBRA “Fuck The Hippies”
- Canned Heat introduction
- DJ ZEBRA “Solaar In The Country”
- It’s A Free Concert
- DJ ZEBRA “Freedom For The Hobo”
- DJ ZEBRA “Rock Show And Soul Freak”
- Bad Acid
- DJ ZEBRA “Freaks Into Los Angeles”
- Stephen Stills introduction
- DJ ZEBRA “Wooden Ships On The Moon”
- Yoga Teacher
- THE WHO “See Me, Feel Me” (Zebra Remix)
- ELECTROSOUND “Who’s Zooming The Who”
- Good Night + Joe Cocker introduction
- DJ ZEBRA “With A Little Help From Soulwax”
- Rainstorm and Announcements + “No Rain”
- DJ ZEBRA “Daft Rain Chant”
- MIGHTY MIKE “Soul Control”
- The Body Is Beautiful
- DJ ZEBRA “I’m Kissing At Home”
- Good Morning
- TOTOM “Street Sweeper Social Volunteers”
- Max Yasgur
- DJ ZEBRA “Fucking Higher”
- Jimi Hendrix introduction
- DJ ZEBRA “Voodoo Shot”
- JIMI HENDRIX “Star Spangled Banner” (Zebra “Dub” Edit)
- DJ ZEBRA “Stereohendrix”
- Thank You So Much

PR Newswire, the global leader in commercial news distribution, today announced the launch of its Meet the Media website http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/meetthemedia/. The website has been produced to help PRs develop a greater understanding of how to most effectively reach key media contacts, appropriately position stories, and gain press coverage.

Re-launched in association with PR Week in 2007, the Meet the Media series of events has become so successful it boasts a database of over 600 PRs that have proactively signed up to receive information of future events. The purpose of the events is to provide a forum in which public relations and communications professionals can engage key media contacts to find out how their respective publications work and to receive advice on gaining coverage and effectively targeting journalists within their sectors.

Lisa Ashworth, CEO PR Newswire Europe, said “One of our key objectives as a company is to share knowledge and help educate and advise our clients. Creating this multimedia site as a resource tool for the PR industry is one of many activities we will be rolling out this year, working towards achieving this objective.”

The Meet the Media website allows the viewer to watch edited video from previous events, with speakers from the Financial Times, Reuters, The Economist, The British Medical Journal, The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph, Sky News and Third Sector, as well as a tutorial from a social media expert, a panel of bloggers and freelance journalists. The site also hosts the Paris event featuring the editor of one of France’s most popular healthcare publications, Le Quotidien Du Medecin. To find out more about the speakers and view each editor’s top tips visit the site http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/meetthemedia/.

The first Meet the Media event was Wednesday February 4th with Matthew Bishop, Chief Business Writer and US Business Editor of the Economist, as the first guest speaker for 2009. The venue was the prestigious La Galleria art gallery in Pall Mall.

To receive more information about the Meet the Media events email rsvp@prnewswire.co.uk.

On ebay they present a RARE opportunity to own 1 of 3 ROBERT RANKIN designed Brightonomicon posters (only 12 were ever printed!).

Each poster features artwork by the cult author himself, lots of spaniels (of course), Norris Styver in his Morris Minor, the Centaur of the Universe, the Chronovision, Queen Victoria looking stern, Count Otto Black’s underground submersible, Capt Moulsecoomb, Ahab the Space Crab, Lord Tobes de Valois and Robert/Hugo (make up your own mind!)

Each poster is individually numbered.

But what makes this an even more exclusive opportunity is that each poster has been signed by members of the cast and crew of The Brightonomicon. The signatures you get are:

Robert Rankin
David Warner (played Hugo Rune)
Andy Serkis (played Count Otto Black)
Rupert Degas (played Rizla)
Sarah Douglas (played Nurse Hearse)
Steve Oram (played Sam the Zombie)
Laurie Buckley (played the girl at the bar)
Elliott Stein (played the monk + co-wrote the script)
Tamsyn Challenger (played Janet Orion)
Neil Gardner (played Ahab the Space crab + co-wrote/produced/directed the series)
Graham Rogers (played the driver + was the announcer)
Jeremy Paul Carroll (wrote the wonderful music)
Danny Eastman (played Danbury Collins)
Ben Onwukwe (played Robert Johnson)

The poster is 500mm wide by 700mm high, printed on shiny poster-quality paper in super-Rankinomicon-colour!

ALL THE MONEY RAISED WILL GO DIRECTLY TO THE STROKE ASSOCIATION – so please bid as high as possible and help them make a fortune for a most worthy cause.

Tha auction page is at RARE SIGNED Brightonomicon Posters (#7 of 12)

If you would like to learn more about the work of The Stroke Association please visit http://www.stroke.org.uk

For more about The Brightonomicon Audio Series please visit http://www.brightonomicon.com

For more about Robert Rankin why check out Sproutlore, the official fan club at http://www.sproutlore.com

The further emerging breaches, revealed following a BBC-wide search of around one million hours of output since January 2005, were reported today by Mr Thompson to the BBC Trust, and the Director-General announced the new measures in response to demands for action from the Trust.

The measures include a total suspension of all competitions. Phone-related competitions on BBC television and radio will cease at midnight tonight, and interactive and online competitions will be taken down as soon as possible.

An unprecedented programme of editorial training focussing on the issue of honesty with audiences will also be implemented.

All 16,500 programmes and content staff will attend a new mandatory training programme, Safeguarding Trust, from the Autumn. It will emphasise the absolute imperative to understand and comply with all of the BBC’s values and editorial standards.

Mark Thompson said: “Nothing matters more than trust and fair dealing with our audiences. The vast majority of the 400,000 hours of BBC output each year, on television, radio and online, is accurate, fair and complies with our stringent editorial standards.

“However, a number of programmes have failed to meet these high standards. This is totally unacceptable. It is right that we are open with the public when we have fallen short and that we demonstrate that we take this very seriously indeed. The behaviour of a small number of production staff who have passed themselves off as viewers and listeners must stop. We must now swiftly put our house in order.”

Addressing the entire BBC staff this afternoon in an internal BBC broadcast, he added: “Our values and our editorial guidelines must take precedence over everything else. There is no excuse for deception. I know the idea of deceiving the public would simply never occur to most people in the BBC. We have to regard deception as a very grave breach of discipline which will normally lead to dismissal. If you have a choice between deception and a programme going off air, let the programme go. It is far better to accept a production problem and make a clean breast to the public than to deceive.”

The Director-General also outlined to the BBC Trust this morning further measures in addition to the suspension of phone-related competitions and the unprecedented editorial training programme, in response to public concern over breaches of editorial standards.

The BBC will commission a full and independent inquiry into the incident involving BBC One and the Queen. The report will be submitted by the Director-General to the BBC Trust in the Autumn. The findings of this inquiry will be made public.

We will work with RDF to understand the steps they propose to ensure there is no chance of a repetition of the incident involving the Queen. Until that is clear and we have the findings of the independent inquiry, we will pause in commissioning any new programmes from them.

In some cases, editorial leaders will be asked to stand back from their duties, pending reviews of why it took so long for a number of historical incidents to come to light.

The BBC will revise the standard contracts both for BBC staff and BBC suppliers and make changes to ensure that responsibility for upholding the BBC’s editorial standards and consequences of breaching those standards are understood by everyone.

The BBC will take steps to ensure that promotional materials, such as launch tapes, trails and publicity materials meet the same standards that the BBC expects from its broadcast output.

All programme teams will be directly communicated with in a series of meetings following today’s announcements. A separate communication programme for independent producers who work with the BBC will also begin.

The programme of action announced on 29 May 2007 following concerns over the use of premium rate telephony at the BBC will continue.

We intend to invite ITV, Channel 4, five and all other leading UK broadcasters to join us in a workshop focussing on training and editorial standards across the industry. Our first priority will remain putting our own house in order.

The Director-General will keep the BBC Trust fully updated as to progress.

The Director-General updated the BBC Trust on six further instances in which production staff have passed themselves off as genuine viewers or listeners, or invented a fictitious winner, which had been uncovered since his original report to the Trust in May.

These were:

Comic Relief, transmitted on Friday 16 March 2007 on BBC One

In a section of the appeal programme, viewers were invited to donate money to Comic Relief and were informed that by calling in they could win prizes which belonged to a famous couple. The first two callers taken on air gave incorrect answers. The other waiting callers were lost and a third caller was heard on air successfully answering the question. This caller was in fact not a viewer but a member of the production team.

TMi, transmitted on 16 September 2006 on BBC Two and CBBC

Following a production problem with a live competition, viewers were led to believe that a member of the audience was involved and won a competition open to the public. In fact, the caller was a member of the production team. The programme team failed to seek proper advice before running the competition.

Sport Relief, transmitted on 15 July 2006 on BBC One

Viewers were led to believe that a member of the public was involved in and won a competition open to the public, whereas the caller was in fact a member of the production team. The BBC has found evidence that this action was planned as a contingency in advance and that the physical infrastructure of the competition meant that it would have been impossible for it to be run as was described on air, and warnings about potential difficulties in conducting the competition were ignored. This incident was not referred up nor was it declared to a BBC audit in March.

Children in Need, transmitted on 18 November 2005 on BBC One Scotland

In a segment called Raven:The Island in the BBC’s Children in Need appeal’s Scotland broadcast in 2005, viewers were led to believe that a phone-in competition, open to the audience, had been won by a viewer, when in fact, due to a communications breakdown, the names of callers were not forwarded to the production team and the name of a fictitious winner was read out on air.

The Liz Kershaw Show, transmitted in 2005/6 on BBC 6 Music

In pre-recorded programmes, presented as if they were live, a competition was announced which appeared to feature genuine listeners phoning in to take part, one of whom would win a prize on air. In fact, in recorded programmes, there were no competitions or prizes and all of the callers were actually members of production team and their friends. A new producer took over the programme in December 2006 and stopped the practices as a matter of priority.

White Label, transmitted on BBC World Service until April 2006

A weekly pop music preview programme on the English Service. On more than one occasion a fake winner was announced for the CD prize when no winning entries had actually been received.

The Director-General reported to the BBC Trust that all but one of the above incidents had occurred prior to the announcement of the highly publicised breach on the Blue Peter programme (the Comic Relief incident happened two days after the announcement).

The search across our output would continue, and the Director-General indicated to the BBC Trust that it was possible further historical incidents could emerge.

However, it was already clear that as part of the BBC’s search of the thousands of competitions run on BBC output every year, a number in addition to those discussed in detail had been poorly organised and breached guidelines. This predominantly affected competitions on BBC network music radio, including Radio 1, Radio 2, 6 Music, and BBC Local Radio.

The Director-General also reported to the BBC Trust on the recent high-profile incident involving a television series about the Queen at the BBC One Autumn launch.

RDF, the independent production company making the documentary which was featured at the launch, have written to the BBC accepting that they made a serious error of judgement in sending the BBC a misleading edit of a particular sequence in the film. They have offered us and the Queen an unreserved apology.

Nonetheless, the Director-General told the BBC Trust that there were serious questions for the BBC to answer about its role in this deeply regrettable incident and to learn lessons from it. The Director-General will commission an independent inquiry.

Mark Thompson said: “We know that fundamental public trust in the BBC is very high. But recent events show that we cannot take that trust for granted. The BBC Trust has charged me and my senior colleagues with working with BBC staff to put this right and reduce the risk of a recurrence. This will take humility and perseverance, but it can and will be done.”

We all know that the commercial radio industry has been facing tough conditions over the past couple of years and recent results, such as GCap’s last week, serve to confirm that. Radio advertising has stalled as advertisers switch to the internet and other media. While there are encouraging signs from some groups, with Chrysalis predicting double digit growth for later this year and TLRC anticipating its May results will show the highest monthly revenues for two years, things remain tough. 40% of stations lose money and the smallest stations are suffering the most. The bigger groups are still profitable but much less so than they were.

At the same time digital platforms are taking an increasing share of listening. In our consultation we reported that 14% of listening is via digital platforms. Some estimates suggest that figure may now be up to 20%. In ten years time, we predict that figure could be as high as 90%. That brings challenges to existing analogue stations in terms of increased competition and makes things particularly hard for those stations not broadcasting on digital platforms.

Those two trends suggest that the existing pattern and number of local analogue stations may not be sustainable in the long term.

The question is whether there are things that Ofcom can do in terms of reducing regulation that would ensure that local services continue to survive and thrive and to be able to provide local programming in the interests of citizens and consumers. In some cases that may mean accepting reduced localness provision rather than having no localness provision at all.

We have come up with a number of proposals for easing the burden on radio stations but as background to considering those proposals it is important to note three things:

First, the majority of commercial stations in this country have been licensed to be local stations – that was a deliberate act of policy by Government which has been reinforced by successive Acts of Parliament. And of course it was the basis on which every existing local station applied for and won its licence. Indeed it was only in 2003 that Parliament strengthened its desire for local radio by imposing a new duty on Ofcom to ensure that local stations broadcast an appropriate amount of local material with a suitable proportion of it locally made. Parliament also required Ofcom to publish guidance as to what localness means. That guidance is something we consulted on and subsequently published. Ofcom’s role is to look after the interests of consumers and citizens. That means ensuring that local programming is provided, as well as local news which is important in terms of supporting local democracy for listeners both as consumers and citizens. We take our duties regarding local programming very seriously.

Secondly, while radio group owners may argue that the provision of local programming is key to their success, it will always be in their interests to do more networking if they are allowed – even if audiences fall when they reduce localness, that loss of revenues is more than offset by a decrease in costs so overall profits are up – and at end of day these are commercial businesses usually driven by shareholder pressure and the need to maximise shareholder returns.

Thirdly, it is important to stress that regulation is only one element in the mix – the success or otherwise of a station depends on so many things – good management, creativity, investment in marketing and a good sales force. Regulation is only one element in the mix and probably not the most important, but relaxing regulation in some areas may help and we will do what we can.

So the new framework we have developed aims to take account of the transition to digital and the challenges faced; to be proportionate, consistent across different broadcast platforms (as far as makes sense) and targeted at cases where action is needed; and to allow Ofcom to secure public policy objectives, which not only relate to localness but also require us to ensure there is a wide range of radio services, catering for different tastes and interests.

There is still a lot of uncertainty about the future, but we firmly expect DAB to form the backbone of radio provision in 10-15 years time. We see the landscape then consisting of a strong BBC and a wide range of commercial and community stations:

National commercial stations offering a wide range of programmes to cater for different tastes and interests – The main role for the regulator there will be to ensure that a reasonable diversity of national stations is maintained.

Local stations of city or county size in every part of the country. The main role of the regulator as regards those stations will be to secure the provision of local programming, locally made .

Smaller local stations may survive, we welcome that, and will be required to provide some local programming but there will be no guarantee of a station of this size in every part of UK or of the continued existence of such smaller stations where they exist today.

Finally, we hope to see a wide range of Community radio stations, a vailable to any community that wants and can sustain a station. These stations will be operated on a not for profit basis and will be required to provide social gain.

And so to the specific proposals:

The first main proposal relates to content regulation.

Formats are the way we ensure we meet our statutory duty to ensure diversity of services and are key in licence award decisions. DAB Formats are fairly brief, consisting of just a couple of lines outlining the service. Analogue Formats on the other hand can be extremely detailed. To take an example, the Format of Splash FM in Worthing has a character of service which requires it to be “a locally-focused music and information station for Worthing and the immediately surrounding area.” The detail of its Format goes on to require speech to make up at least 20% of its output including travel news, weather / tidal reports whats-ons, a community notice-board, a recruitment feature, a weekly crime prevention feature, seasonal tourist information, hourly local news bulletins between 6.30 am and 6pm with an extended 10 minute local bulletin in drive-time. Its music must consist of popular hits from the last four decades, although a slight bias towards music from the last two decades is permitted, but current and recent chart music must not account for more than 20% of total music output during daytime.

Of course the station may want to do all of those things anyway. The question is whether they should be required to by regulation. While the majority of listening is to analogue radio, it may not be appropriate to remove these obligations yet, but as digital listening grows, and the average listener has many more stations to choose from, this sort of detailed regulation appears anachronistic. So we propose to simplify Formats to remove much of the detail.

On localness, many of the smallest stations have the highest local programming obligations. Splash FM for example has to produce 24 hours a day of local programming on weekdays and 18 hours a day at weekends, for a population of just 113,000 people.

As I said earlier, some people argue that stations should be allowed to decide for themselves how much local output to produce and that they would “do localness” anyway but we believe that Ofcom would be failing in its duties if it was not to protect local programming in the interests of citizens and consumers. Evidence from elsewhere suggests that when such requirements are removed, localness disappears.

Some people also argue that local material need not be locally made or that local news and traffic bulletins are sufficient to ensure localness. We do not accept this and neither does the audience based on our research. We found that listeners to local stations were looking for good presenters who could demonstrate a good sense of humour and genuine interest and involvement in the local area. T here was a strong preference for local presenters over national presenters on local radio. Focus group participants talked about local accents and genuine knowledge about an area adding authenticity and sincerity. Audiences tell us that local presenters are a key element of localness and a good way of providing an ‘emotional connection’.

Nevertheless the local programming obligations on some stations, particularly the smaller ones, which tend to have the greatest obligations, may be too high so we have considered how far to reduce those localness obligations.

Our research suggests that listeners expect their local stations to be local at breakfast time and to a lesser extent drive-time, while a significantly smaller number expect local programming in the evening and overnight.

So our proposals are that the smallest stations should have to be local for at least four hours a day, medium sized stations for eight hours a day weekdays and four hours a day at weekends, while the largest stations should be local for 13 hours a day weekdays and six at weekends. Localness should include some peak-time requirements.

For AM stations, we are suggesting four hours a day of localness may be the right minimum requirement – no matter what the size of the station. We suggested this level because although we recognise that AM listening is declining generally, in some parts of the UK, a local AM service is all there is and in other areas, AM local stations remain very popular, particularly in Scotland. We need to arrive at the right balance of regulation for these stations.

So, taken together these proposals would mean that Splash FM’s Format would simply become “a locally-focused music and information station for Worthing and the immediately surrounding area”. Its requirements to produce local programmes would be reduced from 24 hours a day to just eight hours a day during daytime weekdays with at least four of those hours in peak-time and four hours a day in daytime at weekends. Of course, it would be free to do more if it wished.

For a larger station like TFM in Teesside, its Format would become simply “A contemporary and chart music and information station for 15-44 year olds on Teesside” while its local hours requirement would be reduced from 16 hours a day to 13 hours, allowing it to do carry some network programming in daytime but outside peak.

We have suggested that these changes should be brought in when digital listening accounts for 33% of all listening, but we are open to other suggestions.

Ofcom has specifically allocated spectrum to provide local digital stations in every part of the UK . Our proposal concerning localness on digital stations appears to have caused some confusion. Let me clarify. We have suggested that Government may wish to change the legislation to allow Ofcom to look across analogue and digital platforms when considering localness, rather than look only at analogue stations as now. The aim of this suggestion is not to require any new local programming on DAB beyond what is already provided (most of which is a simulcast of analogue stations), but simply to ensure that, if and when analogue radio gets switched off, there is a way to protect the provision of local stations like BRMB or Radio City in a digital world. It is nothing more than that.

The second major proposal relates to the ownership rules for radio.

The ownership rules are governed by legislation and any change to the rules would require a change to the legislation. That is a matter for Government and Parliament to consider when the time is right. We concur with Parliament’s view that plurality of provision of local radio remains important. But as digital listening increases, separate analogue and digital rules may no longer make sense. We suggest that the existing separate points rules for analogue station ownership and the digital station ownership rules are too complex and too restrictive and that they should be replaced by a combined, simplified system based on local DAB areas. Similarly we suggest that the multiplex ownership rules could be simplified and that cross-media ownership rules should be platform neutral as far as radio is concerned.

The third and fourth major proposals regard the migration to digital radio.

Ofcom believes that digital radio is the future for the vast majority of radio listening and that the cornerstone of that digital listening will be DAB. We want to encourage the growth of DAB, as it offers a number of benefits to listeners in terms of choice, portability and sound quality, as reported by listeners themselves in Ofcom’s research. DAB take-up is now growing and we want to encourage that further. That is why we have advertised a second national commercial DAB multiplex which we will award in July and which we hope will help to give DAB a further boost. This will bring in new stations and new marketing effort to help support all of the hard work and investment that has already gone into growing DAB, led in the commercial sector by GCap and Ralph Bernard’s personal commitment.

We know that the spectrum currently used by analogue radio could be used for other things – even if one of those things is a different set of analogue stations. It would be fantastic if we had a clear view of the future and could announce now that we knew when the vast majority of listening would be on digital and we could switch-off much of analogue radio. Unfortunately life isn’t that simple.

Digital radio is still only in a minority of homes and is not fitted as standard in most cars; coverage is not yet complete – particularly for local stations. Listening to digital, while growing rapidly is still significantly less than analogue radio.

But we do need to act now to allow us the flexibility to do something different with the analogue spectrum when the time is right. The main obstacles to that concern the licensing process which ties up spectrum for considerable lengths of time on a rolling licence by licence basis. There is little flexibility under the current legislation to change that and any change is obviously a matter for Government and Parliament to consider as they see fit, but we suggest that the licensing regime should be changed to remove automatic licence renewals for analogue stations also offering a DAB service, and that all existing licences be extended indefinitely but have a termination clause written into them.

In addition we argue that Ofcom should have the flexibility to licence any new stations in a platform and technology neutral way to allow the development of technologies like DRM which could be an important complement to DAB in allowing full digital radio coverage.

We also suggest that reviews of both AM and FM should be carried out which would consider fully the case for analogue switch off and the dates for such an outcome. Those reviews would need to take into account a whole range of factors and undertake a full cost-benefit analysis. It may be that in advance of those reviews

there are things we can all work on together – regulator, broadcasters, and government – to determine the sorts of things that would need to be taken into account in such a review.

The final proposal relates to community radio.

I do not propose to go into the detail of our proposals now, as that is not what today’s debate is about, but I should just register that we believe that community radio will be an important new force in radio; that we believe it should remain not for profit and be based upon the provision of social gain; but that we believe some of the regulation around community radio, in terms of the selection criteria and funding and ownership requirements should be relaxed.

So, to sum up, we believe that, taken together, our proposals do mean a dramatic reduction in the level of regulation across the analogue commercial radio sector as a whole, with the greatest benefits accruing to those who arguably need the most help at the smallest end of the scale. We also believe we need to start preparing now for the potential of freeing up analogue spectrum and we look forward to working with you all to begin that debate.

Peter Davies

During the course of a memorable evening, not least because Terry Wogan surprised guests by hosting part of the proceedings, the winners of the Gold, Silver and Bronze 2007 Sony Radio Academy Awards were honoured across 30 categories. The annual Gold Award went to Paul Gambaccini, veteran broadcaster and longtime host of the Awards ceremony: “for his role truly as the renaissance man of UK radio, his comprehensive understanding of music and music makers, for his wide ranging contribution to our output and to our industry.”

A new Lifetime Achievement Award recognising a regional broadcaster, was presented to BBC West Midland’s Tony Butler: “a broadcasting legend, one of a kind, and a passionate presenter whose programmes are essential listening” by supporter and former colleague, Richard Park.

Radio 2 had much to celebrate with its haul of five Sony Golds, including a double Gold win for Chris Evans for The Entertainment Award, where Heart’s Jamie Theakston and Harriet Scott took the Silver and Radio Clyde’s Bowie @ Breakfast the Bronze, and The Music Radio Personality of the Year, where Andy Kershaw won Silver and Mark Radcliffe Bronze. In their citation, the judges said of Evans: “… he shows a rare ability to connect with audiences at all levels with warmth and insight…High production values, quirky ideas and great interviews.”

Classic FM was a popular winner of the blue riband UK Station of the Year, triumphing over its Radio 1 and Radio 2 rivals. In the words of the judges: “It’s back on top form, oozing enjoyment of the music thanks to imaginative use of celebrities not generally known for their love of classical music, and polished, approachable presentation.”

Station of the Year: Under 300,000 went to Isle of Wight Radio, Station of the Year: 300,000 – 1 million was won by BBC Radio Derby and Radio City 96.7 got Station of the Year: 1 million plus. Gaydar Radio picked up Digital Terrestrial Station of the Year.

Francis Currie, for the Heart Network, won Gold for one of the evening’s biggest awards, The Station Programmer of the Year. The judges commented: “Francis Currie devised the programming strategy which has taken Heart to success in all of its three territories, including taking the top spot in the UK’s most competitive market: London.”

Colin Murray was Radio 1’s sole Gold winner, picking up the highly prestigious Music Broadcaster of the Year. The judges were impressed with his “fierce passion for music…this is a broadcaster with a winning blend of charisma and charm who proves that the best broadcasters are big enough to foreground music rather than themselves.” The Mark Radcliffe Show won The Music Programme Award – Smooth Operations for Radio 2 – and The Music Special Award went to Malcolm McLaren’s Musical Map of London – Just Radio for Radio 2.

The Today Programme on Radio 4 had an outstanding evening, not only winning Gold in the highly prized Breakfast Show Award but also seeing their senior presenter, John Humphrys, pronounced The News Journalist of the Year. Eddie Nestor at BBC London 94.9 prevented Humphrys doing the double by winning Gold in The Speech Broadcaster of the Year where John Humphrys took the Silver and LBC’s Anna Raeburn the Bronze.

The news awards were a reminder of the year’s headline events: The Breaking News Award went to BBC London 94.9 for their coverage of the London Tornado, The News Feature Award was won by Whistledown Productions for Radio 4 for Letters from Guantanamo Bay and The News & Current Affairs Programme Award was scooped up by Five Live Breakfast. The judges said of the Five Live news team: “This programme cleverly weaves the serious with the humorous and involves its listeners on so many levels that they are an integral part of it.”

The Gold for the first ever Internet Programme Award went to Wise Buddah Talent for the Firin’ Squad Unsigned Podcast. Planet Rock won a Sony Gold for the second year running with The Station Imaging Award and Virgin Radio struck Gold with their 2006 signing, Christian O’Connell, winning The Competition Award for Who’s Calling Christian?

The popularity of sport on radio grows apace and was reflected in the Awards: The Sports Programme Award went to BBC Radio Five Live for Sportsweek, and sport won through again with The Live Event Coverage Award going to Magic 1152 for The Alan Shearer Testimonial and Five Live Sports Extra won The Promo Award for The Ashes.

Tim Blackmore, Chairman of the Sony Radio Academy Awards Committee said: “The ongoing power of audio communication is more than amply demonstrated by the breadth and depth of these Awards. Whatever platform was used to distribute their work, every one of our winners has demonstrated the kind of creativity, credibility, or objectivity that has come to exemplify a quarter century of ‘the Sonys’.”

Award presenters included: Amanda Holden; Dom Joly; Katie Derham; Joan Bakewell; Greg Rusedski; Natasha Bedingfield; Joan Armatrading; Sir David Frost; Beverley Knight; Jamelia; Carol Vorderman; and Richard E Grant.

Sony is a registered trademark of the Sony Corporation, Japan.

The Sony sponsorship is the longest association by a sponsor with any media award in the UK, having been there for the entire 25 years.

Interference

The research found that 30% of all UK radio listeners say they have experienced some form of interference to their service. Of those, 14% believe the interference was caused by illegal broadcasters. In London, these figures rise to 40% and 27% respectively.

Almost two-thirds (64%) of all UK radio listeners turn off their radios or switch to a different station when they encounter interference. Some 2% of listeners who experience radio interference say they complain about it. This figure increases to 8% when listeners believe the interference is caused by illegal broadcasters.

The research found that six out of ten London adults surveyed were concerned when told that illegal broadcasting can cause interference and disruption to the communication systems used by safety-of-life services.

Listening

However, the report also shows that some illegal stations attract a substantial audience, with 16% of adults in Greater London regularly listening to them. Ofcom’s research shows that 25% of adults in Hackney, Haringey and Lambeth regularly tune in. Some 62% of listeners in these boroughs say that illegal broadcasters offer something different from licensed commercial radio and 40% say that illegal radio is community focused.

Under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, it is illegal to broadcast without a licence and under the Communications Act 2003, Ofcom is responsible for keeping spectrum free from interference. Ofcom takes illegal stations off the air by raiding studios and seizing and disconnecting transmitters and aerials. In 2006, Ofcom carried out 1,085 such operations and some 63 people were convicted of offences related to illegal broadcasting.

Illegal broadcasters transmit in the FM band. These broadcasts cause interference to the communications systems of the safety-of-life services, including the fire brigade and air traffic control, as well as legitimate licensed radio stations, such as commercial and BBC radio. There are also links between some illegal broadcasters and wider crime; Ofcom raids on studios used by illegal broadcasters have uncovered drugs and weapons.

Other key findings from today’s report include:

• listeners to illegal broadcasters are made up of all age and social groups; however, 15-to-24 year-olds and C1C2 socio-economic groups are most likely to tune in;
• of those listening in Hackney, Haringey and Lambeth, 55% are male and 45% are female;
• listeners to illegal broadcasters in these three boroughs are from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, with black listeners making up 49% of the group;
• overall, the music content of illegal stations is the main motivator for listening in London; and
• nearly a quarter (24%) of people who listen to illegal stations in Hackney, Haringey and Lambeth do so because they broadcast in languages other than English.

In addition to continuing its programme of enforcement action against illegal broadcasters, Ofcom plans to consult on new ways to tackle the problem later in the year; today’s research will help to inform the process.

Ofcom Chief Executive Ed Richards said: “Ofcom’s field force team works very hard to keep the radio spectrum free from interference for licensed users. However, we recognise that there is demand for content provided by illegal broadcasters in some areas of the country. This research will help shape our thinking on how to tackle this serious issue in the future.”

There are a number of challenges currently facing the radio sector. These include increased competition from other technologies, such as the internet, and an increasing share of radio listening by digital platforms which places greater pressure on local analogue stations.

Ofcom’s proposed approach seeks to address these issues and ensure that as radio makes its transition to digital, it continues to offer listeners choice and diversity, and that regulation remains proportionate. Today’s consultation follows Ofcom’s discussion document published last November.

Ofcom’s consultation focuses on three main areas:

Regulation of commercial radio

Most regulation of commercial radio is currently focused on analogue local stations. As the proportion of listening on digital platforms increases Ofcom believes it makes sense to align the regulation of analogue radio with the regulation of DAB.

Ofcom proposes simplifying the level of detail required in analogue Formats, which specify the type of programming and the amount of local material a station must produce, and standardising the requirements for local material in programming based on the size of station.

These changes would allow stations to re-focus their local investment to meet listener needs more effectively. At the same time, the regulatory obligations imposed on smaller commercial radio stations would be reduced.

Ofcom also suggests that Government may wish to consider simplifying the current ownership rules, which currently apply in different ways to analogue and digital stations. Ofcom suggests moving to a single set of ownership rules across platforms as digital listening increases. Simplifying the ownership rules would provide greater flexibility for industry, and maintain listeners’ access to services and content from different providers.

Regulation of community radio

Ofcom has licensed 122 new community radio services to date. The level of regulation, such as funding restrictions and statutory licensing criteria, imposed upon these small stations is very high. Ofcom is seeking views on how the selection criteria, and ownership and funding rules in this area could be amended to reduce regulation. This will inform Ofcom’s work to prepare a report on community radio for the Secretary of State later this year.

Future use of analogue radio spectrum

Current trends suggest that 90% of all radio listening will be via digital platforms by 2017. At present, there are no plans to switch-off analogue (FM and AM) radio. Ofcom’s consultation seeks views on changes which could free-up spectrum, currently used by analogue radio services, at an appropriate time in the future.

Existing analogue commercial radio licences will expire between 2009 and 2027, depending upon the date of issue. Under current legislation, these licences would be re-advertised. However, in the future this spectrum might be better used for other services such as mobile television, more digital radio, more community radio services or other new technologies.

To avoid the possibility of inefficient spectrum use, Ofcom believes that Government and Parliament may wish to consider how to allow Ofcom to achieve common end-dates for all FM and AM licences. This will be a key question as digital radio listening continues to grow. Ofcom’s consultation sets out a suggested approach for achieving common end-dates, which includes:

• extending existing licences for an indefinite period;
• making any licences extended in this way subject to two years’ notice of termination; and
• removing the automatic renewal for analogue licences whose holders are also offering a DAB service on a relevant radio multiplex.

Any change to legislation and the timing of any changes are matters for Government and Parliament. In addition, Ofcom proposes two separate reviews of all analogue radio services:

• AM (Medium Wave) spectrum in 2009; and
• FM spectrum in 2012 or when digital listening accounts for 50% of all listening; whichever is earlier.

Both reviews would consider future use of analogue spectrum and set common end-dates for existing services (commercial and BBC). These reviews would include a full assessment of the costs and benefits, taking into account the needs of consumers, including the most vulnerable members of society.

Ofcom Chief Executive, Ed Richards, said: “Radio remains important to many consumers, but the environment which it operates in is changing. It is essential that regulation reflects this. The proposals we outline today seek to ensure a vibrant and innovative UK radio sector.”

The closing date for responses to Ofcom’s consultation is 29 June 2007.

Documents can be found on the OFCOM WEBSITE

The presentation from the launch can be seen below:

The Future of Radio – pdf version of Powerpoint presentation

Ofcom has proposed a technology neutral auction of the radio spectrum released by the switch to all-digital television broadcasting between 2008 and 2012.

In its response, the BBC argues for the allocation of spectrum to Public Service Broadcasters to develop free-to-air, universally available high definition (HD) channels on the Digital Terrestrial Television platform (DTT).

The BBC also discloses findings of independent consultants that the loss to the UK in private and social value, if public service broadcasters are not able to develop HD services on DTT spectrum, is likely to range from £4.1billion to £15.6billion.

On HD, the BBC argues that:

• Consumers want HD-quality television, and are buying equipment in order to receive HD services. There are compelling reasons to believe that it will become a technology with widespread appeal.
• To ensure its long-term future viability and to enable it to compete with other platforms, Freeview must be able to offer a critical mass of HD services.
• There is not enough capacity on the existing six multiplexes, after Switchover (SO), to carry this critical mass without removing existing services or eroding their quality. Furthermore, there is no business model for free-to-air HD on DTT at this stage that could enable free-to-air broadcasters to sustain likely auction prices.
• A minimum of one third of the Digital Dividend (DD) should be allocated to Public Service Broadcasters (PSBs) to enable them to launch a strong free-to-air offer: at least one DTT multiplex with universal coverage providing three HD channels.
• This would kick-start a migration to more efficient MPEG4 receivers which could, over time, be used by standard definition (SD) services and greatly improve spectrum efficiency on DTT. The adoption of MPEG4 receivers is the pre-condition for HD becoming widespread on DTT, and the allocation of additional spectrum capacity would allow for a managed transition to the new format, while not depriving viewers of existing services using MPEG2 receivers.
• Not all the Digital Dividend is required to support free-to-air HD. Much of the spectrum would be available for other uses, which could include local TV, mobile TV, radio mics, rural wireless broadband or even more standard television channels.
• Only the Digital Dividend spectrum (UHF) is suitable for high definition or other television channels. But much more spectrum, which could be used for some of the above or other uses, is to be auctioned in due course.

The BBC submission to the Digital Dividend Review also comments on proposals to safeguard switchover, to protect the use of radio microphones in television production and theatre (Programme-Making and Special Events or PMSE) and to facilitate the launch of mobile television and local television services.

Mark Thompson, the BBC’s Director-General, said: “High Definition is already a consumer reality, and it’s one that really adds value for audiences.

“It’s a technological advance that we think can and should be available as far as possible to all viewers of digital television – whether they watch through cable, satellite or an aerial, and whether they choose pay or free-to-air services.

“If pure market mechanisms are applied to the whole Digital Dividend, our fear is that it will jeopardise the success of universal access to high quality public service broadcasting, free-to-air on all main platforms and also lead to an erosion of the digital terrestrial platform and its ability to compete.”

Auctioning off the whole of the released spectrum at the end of 2008 would foreclose the option for HD channels for up to 18 years, the licence period proposed by Ofcom.

The PSBs believe instead that there should be a combination of a market-led auction and a carefully designed interventionist approach to the release of spectrum, to bring more benefits to citizens and consumers (the largest intervention to date has been the move to Digital Switchover).

BBC Response To OFCOMs Digital Dividend Review

Ofcom is planning to invite applications later this year for the second round of community radio licences.

‘Letters of intent’ to apply for a licence

In order to assist our planning for the second round of community radio development, we are now inviting prospective applicants for a community radio licence to submit a ‘letter of intent’, outlining their intention to apply.

A ‘letter of intent’ should include the following information:

* the proposed station or company name (if available)
* the location of the service you would like to operate (i.e. the area you wish to cover)
* the community you wish to serve
* AM or FM
* your contact details

Please send your letter of intent to apply for a community radio licence to communityradio@ofcom.org.uk, or by post to:

Community Radio Licensing
5 th Floor
Ofcom
Riverside House
2a Southwark Bridge Road
London SE1 9HA

The closing-date for the submission of ‘letters of intent’ is Friday 21 April 2006.

Submission of a ‘letter of intent’ will not be taken as a binding promise on the part of its author to apply for a licence. Equally, the invitation to apply for a community radio licence will not be limited only to those who have submitted a ‘letter of intent’.

The ‘letters of intent’ will help Ofcom to design a licensing process which takes account of the pattern of expected demand in different parts of the country. This may involve inviting applications on a regional basis, rather than from all over the UK at the same time (as we did in the first round). This approach will help us to plan our work more effectively, and to reduce the period between an applicant submitting his or her application and Ofcom reaching a decision on whether to award a licence.

The availability of FM frequencies

For the second round of community radio licensing, Ofcom intends to continue to license the majority of services for stereo broadcasting on FM frequencies. However, due to the general lack of useable frequencies in major conurbations, and the large number of successful applicants in the first round of community radio licensing, there are some parts of the UK where Ofcom expects to experience great difficulty in identifying further suitable frequencies in the FM band. In these circumstances, Ofcom will investigate whether an FM frequency could be used for mono rather than stereo transmission. Operating in mono uses less bandwidth and is therefore less prone to incoming interference than stereo broadcasting. In addition, services may often be planned closer to one another in frequency terms, thus potentially enabling more services to be licensed in a region than if stereo was used. Identifying suitable FM frequencies which could be used for mono transmission may still prove challenging in some parts of the UK, however.

Areas of FM frequency scarcity

Potential applicants should note the areas where Ofcom has found it difficult to identify suitable FM frequencies for community radio services. This situation is not likely to improve, especially in many parts of the following regions:

* Greater London (within the M25). We do not expect to be able to find further FM frequencies (for either stereo or mono broadcasts) in much of Greater London, with the possible exception of areas south of the South Circular Road (A205).
* West Yorkshire
* Greater Manchester
* Home Counties
* Merseyside
* West Midlands
* South Wales (from Swansea to Newport)
* This is not an exhaustive list, and there may be other locations where we are unable to find suitable FM frequencies. This is particularly true of large conurbations.

AM (medium wave) frequencies

Applicants may choose to apply for a licence on either the FM or AM band. AM is generally more expensive to broadcast and sound quality is generally inferior to FM, but in some cases AM may be more suitable – for example in rural, hilly areas, or where FM frequencies are not available. We expect to be able to identify a limited number of frequencies on the AM band in some of the areas listed above, where additional FM frequencies are extremely scarce.