Fergal Sharkey's stirling work in the Radio Authority is detailed in Radio Authority Staff.

Local radio for local people

Maggie Brown - The Guardian Monday April 9, 2001

Wake up and think of your listeners - that was the message Feargal Sharkey sent out to the commercial radio sector last week. Maggie Brown on the poacher turned gamekeeper who wants to keep local radio stations from going national and bring Radio 1 to book

Feargal Sharkey was back on stage last week. The man who gave us Teenage Kicks in 1979 and a solo number one in 1985 with A Good Heart showed he could still hold an audience. Except that this time he was talking, not singing. "I hope you radio pluggers in the audience are paying attention" he said, and a hundred leather-jacketed backs suddenly stiffened.

Sharkey - distinctive high-pitched Derry voice intact - is midway through a five-year term as a member of the Radio Authority, which awards commercial licences. Now 43 and clad in a sage suit and immaculate tie, he commanded instant attention when he made a hard-hitting "wake up" speech to funky DJs, station managers, and Radio 1 executives at the Radio Academy's music forum in London. Afterwards, in the (Heart 106.2-sponsored!) coffee break the pluggers came up to him and gave him a cautious thumbs-up.

What few in the audience knew was that he was about to attend a three-day Radio Authority strategy meeting to redefine commercial radio's social and public obligations, its duty to play diverse music, and ensure local radio remains local. It is hard not to interpret this as a public body baring its teeth in exasperation at commercial operators such as GWR, Capital and Chrysalis over a range of issues from plugging their own CDs on air and cheating over "local" news, to the sudden spurt in requests to network programmes nationally - cutting costs overnight, but creating quasi-national computerised services.

Sharkey's first message though was to the pop/rock music industry. He ticked it off for its ostrich-style behaviour: the sector has made only one response to the government's communications white paper which vaguely envisages further ownership concentration. "The radio industry is facing its most radical overhaul of broadcasting legislation since the 1980s," he warned, "and 90% of its output is music. How many times have you heard that old mantra: 'Oh I'm not going to playlist your record, it's not in the top 40'?" he asked. He was equally direct about radio operators, scornful of their businessman's rush for the safe mainstream with chart-based formats.

"What [Sharkey] can bring to this is the role of the practitioner," culture secretary Chris Smith said on his appointment in 1998. "He's got hands-on experience, which very often people sitting on these regulatory bodies don't have." And wrapped around it all was a robust defence of the work of the Radio Authority, due to be subsumed as a wing of Ofcom.

Sharkey's rare appearance was designed partly to answer an intemperate speech made by Ralph Bernard, head of GWR (Classic FM), who, two months ago, painted the authority as amateurs, standing in the way of change by insisting programming formats were stuck to. The issue of whether a station could play Britney Spears seems to have been a flashpoint.

Sharkey says he's gone back over the 78 variations to formats applied for and found 70 were granted, five partially. Only three were rejected. "I asked, is there any foundation in this? Let's have a look. It's a fuss about nothing. If anything we have been too reasonable."

As for authority members being ignorant, he said: "It's an easy accusation to make. All applications contain a huge amount of research. We have access to all sorts of experts. It is unreasonable to say we don't know what we're talking about."

He also attacked the current commercial lobbying which wants to put flesh on future legislation aimed at allowing two operators plus the BBC to run stations in any single area. The Radio Authority says three should be the minimum, each controlling 30% of the sector. Sharkey warned: "This is three operators [potentially] nationwide, fixing playlists. It's not that many." He points to current experience: that companies converge on the profitable middle ground, creating a sameness in broadcast music.

When interviewed afterwards, he explained that the Radio Authority conference "is about where to draw the line. Our task is to define local. It's a huge item on our agenda. What is local radio? Does it matter if the man in Glasgow listened to the same record at the same time as a man in London, sometimes it can be the same DJ. I've yet to be convinced."

"It's the bits in between that define the localness. But also the choice of music. Garage music is huge in London, but nothing outside the M25. West Midlands has a big following for country music."

"Ownership does affect output. Every time an independent station is bought up by a bigger operator, the new owner is on the line to the authority, wanting to change the format."

Central to his concerns is that commercial licensees, bar the three national ones, pay a peppercorn rent for frequencies. He calculates it costs £80,000 for the right to broadcast to 10m Londoners. Therefore, Sharkey reasons, there continues to be a requirement for some return to the public good in order to balance that privilege. A cultural gain. "I don't think it is unreasonable to say there are strings attached to the licences."

The worry is that FM networks are creeping towards acceptance of a situation where they network daily between 10pm and 6am, not just for the Sun afternoon chart show. "FM networks are pushing to do less and less local programming. There's been a gentle erosion. The usual request is: 'Can we network our programmes between midnight and 6am, no one's listening?' Are they being unreasonable? My fear is it spreads."

The authority, when advertising new licences, doesn't suggest formats. So it can only respond to what is on offer. Sharkey says of the 87 applications for licences outside London that he has been involved with, the authority received 65-75% for mainstream chart-based music. "So invariably we end up licensing 75% mainstream. I suggest there are some people within commercial radio who could be bolder, more creative, more innovative. Right now we have three applications for a new licence in a small town of 100,000 homes. They are all the same!"

It's an explanation for the growth in pirate radio. "I think it tells you an awful lot about what people feel is being given to them."

He is also blistering about Radio 1's daytime output. "I happily admit it's got one of the most difficult jobs. But they have the freedom to do a bit more. Post-7pm they do a fantastic job. They say they play 40% new music, but when are they playing it? There's a gentle erosion of formats here too."

And he is furious at the way Worldpop.com sponsors Radio 1's chart show. "As a licence fee payer it's very repetitive, a very handy profile.I urge the board of governors to revisit the sponsorship guidelines, or give me a rebate on my licence fee."

As for the mainly specialist DJs who are also paid by the music industry, he says: "As a licence fee payer, I have a reasonable right to expect complete detachment from their own commercial interests. And a complete right to know they neither benefit nor gain. It should say on the [Radio 1] website which DJ [is linked with] which record.They need a demarcation line." Sharkey knows how to punch a message out.

Why digital radio may be getting the message (MB)

Could digital radio's problems - a basic lack of cheap receivers - be about to be fixed? With only 0.1% of the population equipped with a set costing at best £299 in their car or hi-fi, the contrast with digital television, where one third is connected, could not be more stark.

Today the national multiplex operator, Digital One, controlled by GWR and cable group NTL, announce a £3m joint venture with UK firm Imagination Technologies to make a cheaper second-generation chip. While making some sets, it aims to offer licences to manufacturers in the far east. The plan is to cut the price to £99 for a "kitchen radio" you can plug in, run off batteries or build into portable CDs.

"It's not a subsidy," says Quentin Howard, chief executive of Digital One, along the lines of subsidised set-top boxes, because there is no prospect of recouping the outlay through pay-per- listen or subscription services - yet. The aim is to cut through a technology log jam which will work if far east manufacturers are persuaded and know retailers like Dixons and Currys will stock up.

Last month, all UK digital broadcasters joined together in a pooled Digital Radio Development Board to promote the service, which has failed to spark interest since launch in 1997. They are keen to entice consumers and the mes sage, says Howard, must be that digital offers more services. The new sets are small, and run off batteries, though for only 20 hours. But they do offer extras, such as the facility to replay instantly a missed broadcast. Imagination makes the chips and drives behind Sega Dreamcast and bought DAB software experts Ensigma last year, producing the Videologics £299 radio last Christmas.

There are 35 digital radio services for London and 20 digital multiplexes in the UK, providing 178 services. Culture Secretary Chris Smith has set 2003 for a review of progress. No one expects an early switch off date - after all, radio sets are treasured for years.

TheUndertones.net/rauth.htm