Community groups in Scotland looking to set up their own local radio station are being invited by the broadcasting regulators, Ofcom, to apply for a licence.
Ofcom is expected to formally accept Scotland-based applications from the end of this year, over a period of three months. Community radio stations are not-for-profit and involve a strong training element. There are currently 18 community radio stations alreading opering in Scotland, such as Celtic Music Radio in Glasgow and SHMU in Aberdeen.
Says a statement issued by Ofcom: “This is the third wave of [UK-wide] licensing since the first community radio station took to the airwaves in 2005. Since then, a new community radio station has launched, on average, every ten days. To date, 228 community radio licences have been issued [UK-wide] and around 11 million people are now able to tune into community radio stations across the UK. This figure is up 17 per cent year-on-year and an increase of more than a third (36 per cent) since 2008.”
