The right to freedom of expression contained in article 10 was also subject to conditions

The right to freedom of expression contained in article 10 was also subject to conditions. It would seem that present procedures in family cases were in accordance with the Convention.The long-established practice in the English High Court and county courts when hearing applications for custody or access (now called residence or contact) or wardship had been and remained to hear the whole of the evidence in private. They include CLT, the Luxembourg-based owner of the semi-national Atlantic 252, which hopes to in-fill its signal in the South-east, and GWR, the fast-growing regional broadcaster. “You’ve got that right,” I can almost hear Richard Eyre, Capital’s boss, say, as he learns next October that his dream of an FM Gold evaporates.There are other candidates for the lucrative London licence, many of them convinced that they can meet the authority’s three basic criteria: that any new service be financially viable, that it broaden choice, and that it enhance fair and effective competition. Capital is believed to be predicting an additional 500,000 listeners within three years if it gets its FM Gold licence.But hell hath no fury like a regulator scorned. The Radio Authority fought hard against the relaxation of the licence limits, and will no doubt wield its considerable discretionary powers to determine the “public interest” of giant Capital gaining an even bigger share of the London audience than it already has.Capital may be interested to hear about the new acronym used informally by the authority to designate the public interest test: “the pits”. Capital Gold on AM gets 1.5 million listeners, but many of them have had to put up with losing the signal when they pass under bridges, and some of those equipped with state-of-the art home or car stereos can’t much like the tinny, lifeless sounds they hear.The point is proven by the industry statistics, which show that Gold is losing listening hours faster than it is losing listeners – a sure sign that poor-quality reception is to blame.

There is currently no mainstream gold on FM, featuring hits of the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties. Unfortunately for Capital, which wants to migrate its AM Gold service on to FM, it may have won the war, but will probably lose the battle.Don’t get me wrong: the case for a Gold service on FM is undeniably strong. Just think of Viva! or London News Radio or Premiere, the Christian radio station).The wildest card of all is Capital Radio, the London giant, which led the lobby on the Broadcasting Bill to ditch the one-FM licence limit. (And to judge by the Radio Authority’s track record, one can’t complete reject the prospect of an off-the-wall award.

If both applicants have done their homework (and to judge from material I have seen, they have), then the Authority will have little trouble awarding the licence to one of the two.That leaves some wild cards, even so. Festival Radio has stellar backing (Mentorn Films, Time Out, Emap), a convincing business plan and a persuasive format. Aimed at the 25-34 demographic, featuring indie music and a promise to promote live music events around London, Festival will not be ignored by the Authority. But not all the applicants can be taken seriously: as usual, there will be fly-by-nighters among them, supplicants who have not done their homework, and don’t stand a chance of convincing the regulator that they can put out a commercially viable service.
Among the serious candidates, two stand out. The applicant says the station will have a weekly showcase in conjunction with underground music labels in London, and broadcast alternative music events, whether from trendy underground clubs or outdoor festivals.Proof that it has hit upon a viable format comes in the form of a competing application with similar attributes: the trendy, young X-FM, backed by the Cure’s manager, Chris Parry, and scheduled by Sammy Jacobs. Advertisers can only have one response to ITV claims: ‘Prove it’.”.