Local Sound Radio (Hansard, 25 January 1968)

§ 11. Mr. Onslow
asked the Postmaster-General if he will make a statement on the local sound radio experiment; and if he will indicate the proportion of the running costs being raised by local sources other than local authorities.

§ 18 and 19. Mr. Berry
asked the Postmaster-General (1) if the experiment with local radio stations has now shown whether they can be financed by the local community; and if he will make a statement;

§ Mr. Edward Short
Of the eight experimental stations, three are on the air so far. The remainder will start broadcasting in the next few months. The experiment is to be appraised in due course. Of course, this cannot be done before it has started. Local authorities are contributing to the cost of running each of the stations. The proportion borne by local authorities and other local organisations is a matter between them and the B.B.C. in each particular case.

§ Mr. Onslow
Is it not clear, particularly in the current economic climate, that, if this experiment is to have any chance of success, the whole burden of financing it should be put on a proper commercial basis?

§ Mr. Short
I believe that these stations are going to have a profound effect on communal life in this country provided they can be kept free of the kind of commercial pressures the hon. Gentleman and some of his hon. Friends want. For example, the Merseyside station is bringing a new dimension into the relations between industry and the community in that part of the country. If the hon. Gentleman does not believe that, let him go there and see what is being done.

§ Mr. Berry
My Question was about payment. Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that he said last July that all the money was not coming from local ratepayers? Can he give an example of where bodies other than local ratepayers are helping to finance these stations?

§ Mr. Short
The hon. Gentleman has "gunned" for this experiment ever since we first announced it. The financing varies from place to place. On Merseyside or at Stoke, for example, a good deal of money is coming from other organisations.

§ Mr. Hugh D. Brown
Is my right hon. Friend aware that most of us on this side of the House support him in the sense that we are satisfied that he will resist the commercial blandishments of hon. Members opposite? Will he ensure that, when the appraisal of local radio stations made, local authorities—Glasgow among them, I regret to say—which have not seized the initiative are informed of the advantages of local radio stations?

§ Mr. Short
The idea is catching on. Again to take Merseyside as an example, it is receiving considerable support from the Lancashire County Council and from the Cheshire County Council as well as from the county boroughs and, I may add, from all political points of view on Merseyside.

§ Mr. Bryan
Does the right hon. Gentleman recall that when opening the Leicester station he made a promise—it may have been a pledge—that he would never use licence money for these local stations? Can he tell us what is to happen in cases, such as look like threatening, where a station does not raise enough money locally to complete its year's experiment?

§ Mr. Short
What I said at Leicester and in the House and many other places was that it would be unfair to make an addition to the licence fee for local radio, because many people, especially in rural areas, would never have local radio and it would be a bit thick if they had to pay for an additional amenity in towns where there are already many amenities.

§ Dr. Winstanley
Can the right hon. Gentleman explain how local broadcasting councils are to be made accountable to the people in the areas which they serve, as he has told the House they would be? Secondly, can he say whether members of local broadcasting councils are themselves permitted to broadcast on their own stations?

§ Mr. Short
The selection and the method of working of the broadcasting 558 councils is extremly important and we have tried various things in various areas, but on the whole I think that they will work out remarkably well. We have a cross-section of the community, including young people, and I am sure that this will be one of the most successful aspects of the whole experiment.

§ Mr. Berry
On a point of order. In view of the unsatisfactory nature of the reply, I beg to give notice that I shall raise the matter on the Adjournment.