THE CAMPAIGN for community radio in Thornbury to get a permanent broadcast licence has been taken to the very top of Ofcom.

GLOSS FM, which relaunched in July, originally launched as Thornbury FM in 2005, rebranding in 2010 to cover all of south Gloucestershire. It came to an end a year later after issues with obtaining the licence from the government authority.

In its latest attempt to make contact and discuss the issue, the station has written to Ofcom’s CEO Sharon White, but the response has suggested that it could be two years before anything is done.

“Since the beginning of the year we’ve been patiently escalating this through the ranks at Ofcom,” explained station manager Glyn Roylance.

“They are very slow to respond,” he said. “And when they do their responses are very evasive and unsupportive – almost as if they were written by Sir Humphrey himself,” he added, citing the famous fictional character from the British television series Yes Minister.

A consultation, which took place in 2016, gave groups a chance to respond in order to plan licensing work, but at the time, Ofcom said that no frequencies were available.

But despite a successful investigation by GLOSS FM back in May proving there was at least one frequency available, it came too late for a change in policy.

The result is that they say no-one is permitted to apply for an FM broadcast licence for the area – and Thornbury is effectively disenfranchised from ongoing licensing activities. 

Co-presenter David Wrench said that there was a “feeling of desolation and despair” for all station volunteers, contributors and listeners on hearing the news, despite the thousands of pounds and hours of broadcasting given by community organisations, charities, local businesses and volunteers.

Thornbury mayor and former Thornbury FM radio DJ Helen Harrison joined in, saying: “Local radio is a wonderful medium for helping people feel connected into a community and as mayor of Thornbury, and an ex-Thornbury FM presenter, I’d love to see our town benefit once again from having such a service.

“These are interesting and exciting times for our community, with the growth of the town as well as a number of planning processes to help shape the way forward for town centre services.

“To have a local radio station at the heart of it all can help bring the community together in a very positive way, and I hope that the powers that be will recognise that, and not become an unnecessary and ill-thought out obstacle.”

Anyone feeling strongly about getting a permanent local radio station for Thornbury and District is advised to write to the Ofcom CEO at sharon.white@ofcom.org.uk.

Meanwhile GLOSS FM can be heard 24 hours a day, seven days a week at glossfm.co.uk.