wireless in the Orkney Islands

This just in to me from The Orcadian

Earlier this year it looked like Orkney would have two
new radio stations to choose from now it seems that
listeners may be lucky if they have one to tune into.
Martin Gilbert, of Radio North Isles, revealed this
week that Ofcom has rejected his application for a
community radio station.

While bitterly disappointed, Mr Gilbert has vowed to
continue in his attempts to start up a radio service
with plans to begin broadcasting on the Internet
within four weeks.

And time is also fast running out for the officials
behind Superstation Orkney, which was successfully
trialled in late 2004, with less than four months left
to launch the station onto the airwaves, under the
terms of their existing licence.

The man behind the venture, Dave Miller, said they
were still trying to raise the necessary funds to get
off the ground.

“Other members of the team have been busy with
technical matters to do
with the transmitter site and how the signals will
reach various parts
of the islands,” Mr Miller said.

“There’s also a lot of work going on with the
regulatory bodies which is all part and parcel of the
community radio process.”

Mr Gilbert had been involved with Superstation in the
beginning, but pulled out following a disagreement
over the way it was run.

He was instrumental in bringing the radio ship
Communicator to Orkney, from where Superstation
broadcast during the three-month trial period in 2004.
But for Radio North Isles, it would appear to be the
end of the road, as far as a fully fledged community
station is concerned.

Mr Gilbert said he had spoken with Ofcom officials on
Tuesday morning, who had detailed their reasons behind
their decision.
“
Their reasoning for turning down my application was
to do with social gain, training and facilities.
“Because we put down that we were going to do training
in our application, we did not put down that schools
would be able to use it. But they would be able to
come in, that is the whole idea of a community radio
station.
“
They quibbled the amount of revenue that we were
forecasting, they claimed that was too low. Community
radio is supposedly non-profit making, that is
supposed to be what it is about.”

Mr Gilbert also claimed that the Ofcom representative
mentioned the Superstation on several occasions.
“They said the programmes we put down were close to
what Superstation would be doing.”

Mr Gilbert said he was baffled by the decision, but
that it had left him even more determined to achieve a
service for the people of Orkney.
“
I did say to Ofcom that Orkney is a special place and
they need to know about the planes, ferries, barriers,
the weather. I have the equipment here and I could be
on air within half an hour.”

Mr Gilbert, of Avonlea, Dounby, has now set his sights
on an Internet-based radio station.
“
I am hoping to start in the next three to four weeks.
People would go to the website, click on and listen.
It is not ideal but it is a start,” he continued.
“It would be automated overnight, with a genuine local
presence during the day.
“
It will test the water. If the internet does not
attract enough listeners, we will look at it again and
try something else.”

That is where option two comes into being a satellite
broadcasting service.
“
We are investigating that. Anybody with a satellite
receiver would be able to tune in and pick it up.”
He said there may even be a third round for the award
of community radio licences, for which he could
reapply.
“
It is not dead in the water. I have said to Ofcom
that we are not going to go away and that we will
carry on while Orkney is not covered by any local
community radio station. We shall be persevering.”
He is certain that the demand is out there for such a
service in the county and he appealed for volunteers
willing to take part to get in touch with him on 07730
883 950.

A spokeswoman from Ofcom declined to disclose the
terms of the refusal, but confirmed that: “Radio North
Isles in Orkney has not been awarded a community radio
licence.
“
There were a number of reasons Ofcom’s radio
licensing committee, who make award decisions, were
unable to offer this group a licence.
“
The licensing team will be offering this group
feedback on its application confidentially as it is
Ofcom policy not to publish reasons for non-awards of
radio licences.”

Superstation’'s set-up costs are estimated to be
£348,000, with a total of nearly £240,000 outgoings in
the first year, according to Mr Miller’s Ofcom
application.

Mr Gilbert says his start-up costs are virtually
non-existent, as he has the equipment on site in a
studio at his home and is ready to start immediately.

—

This e-mail has come from

Martin Rosen

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In article <464...>, ... (Martin Rosen) wrote:

While bitterly disappointed, Mr Gilbert has vowed to
continue in his attempts to start up a radio service
with plans to begin broadcasting on the Internet
within four weeks.

Other members of the team have been busy with
technical matters to do with the transmitter site
and how the signals will
reach various parts
of the islands,†Mr Miller said.

Now I don't know the islands at all so might be barking up the wrong tree, but I would have thought that whilst there will be places out on there own the vast majority of folks will be in small communities.
So whilst Dave is doing 'technical things' couldn't Mr Gilbert be doing technical wi-fi things.

Again as I don't know all the numbers involved it's a bit left field, but how many servers does it take to run a half decent audio stream for the amount of people there. I mean it's 64K times how many?

Mr G could probably a get some kind of EU grant for putting wi-fi all over the islands – dafter things have happened. How cool would that be, a whole chain of islands with wi-fi.

Eric