THE radio frequency vacated by Edinburgh station Talk 107 is set to stay silent for some time, it emerged today.
UTV Radio – owner of the closed station – has now handed its licence back to media regulator Ofcom after it ceased broadcasting on December 23.
It had been expected that Ofcom would re-advertise the licence, with bidders able to submit ideas for n
ew formats to take its place, but the regulator today said it had not yet made a decision on whether the licence would even be re-advertised.
Media experts say the downturn in advertising and lack of appetite for Talk 107 is likely to put firms off trying to launch a new station in the city, even if the licence does again become available. However, radio insiders say there is still demand for a niche FM station in Edinburgh aimed at the over-40s.
It is understood that Radio Forth owner Bauer would be among those that might show an interest in moving Forth 2 from medium wave to FM, if it managed to win the licence.
Ofcom is reviewing a range of factors, including the demand for another local radio station in the Lothians area, before deciding whether to advertise it again.
If it chose to seek a new operator, companies would be invited to take part in a bidding process where they outline the station brand and format they have chosen, with Ofcom then choosing which would work best.
If a bidding process was launched by Ofcom, it would be expected to take a minimum of six months before a winner was chosen.
One Scottish radio insider said: "The process is very different to the likes of the United States and Australasia, where the licence just goes to the highest bidder. One of Ofcom's main aims is to try to get diversity. That has advantages too, but they don't do enough research into what is commercially viable for places like Edinburgh.
"At the moment, everything on FM is mainly aimed at the under-40s, with Real at the top end of that, then Forth One at 25-44, then Galaxy aimed at youth.
"In the US, formats like Forth 2 – the 'oldies' formats – are very successful and they're on FM. All the gold formats here are on MW, where the quality is not great and it is not sexy for advertisers. That format deserves to be on FM.
"Bauer could put Forth 2 on FM and I'm sure it would be interested in that. Whether Ofcom would go for it is another matter."
But Robert Beveridge, a lecturer in media policy at Napier University, said: "I see no prospect of someone wanting to launch a new service at this stage. If STV is having difficulty because of the marketplace, that shows how bad things are. It is challenging at the moment because of both the credit crunch and the convergence of radio platforms."
It is also thought unlikely that many of the original bidders for the Edinburgh FM licence will show a strong interest, because many have launched other stations instead or been the subject of takeovers, mergers and changes to senior personnel.
A spokesman for Ofcom said: "The licence has now formally been handed back to us and we are considering the next steps."
The full article contains 559 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
