Your Harrogate owners have multiplex licence revoked by Ofcom

The company that owns Your Harrogate radio station has had its small-scale DAB multiplex licence for Wetherby and Harrogate revoked after mounting transmission costs made the venture economically unviable. 

But Your Harrogate will continue to broadcast on the local DAB multiplex for North Yorkshire, with no disruption for listeners. 

Nick Hancock, who is content director and one of the co-owners of Your Harrogate, told the Stray Ferret: 

“This is really a back-end issue. It’s a bit like renting a house for ages and then having the chance to buy it. The small-scale DAB multiplex licence for Wetherby and Harrogate would have meant we owned it. 

“The local DAB multiplex actually has better signal strength and better coverage, so the listener won’t notice any difference. It was just an ownership issue.” 

The regulator, Ofcom, awarded the licence in 2022 to Wetherby and Harrogate Local DAB Limited, which is owned by Your Harrogate directors Nick Hancock and Adam Daniel, plus Alan Everard from Wetherby Community Radio and Mark Oldfield, chairman of Harrogate Hospital Radio.

The company, which operates as Your Harrogate, said it had £25,000 set aside to launch the multiplex. In its application it said: 

“Our transmission proposal is one that is realistic, compliant, and economically viable.” 

Small-scale DAB multiplex licences cost just £500 per year, as well as a non-refundable £500 application fee. But other expenses, described by Mr Hancock as “transmission costs”, escalated in the intervening period, ultimately making the project unviable. 

Ofcom may revoke a licence if it believes a service will not launch within 18 months of an award, and after it heard Your Harrogate could not continue with its plans, it exercised this option.

In a statement, it said it would consider re-advertising the Wetherby and Harrogate multiplex licence “should we receive any expressions of interest”.

But Mr Hancock said:

“We were the only people who applied for the licence in the first place, so I’d think it’d be unlikely Ofcom will advertise it again, to be honest.”

Your Harrogate launched in February 2021 to fill the gap in local radio left by Stray FM, where Mr Hancock had been a well-known presenter. Stray, which had covered the district since 1994, rebranded when owner Bauer Media announced it was making it part of the national network Greatest Hits Radio.

Digital audio broadcasting (DAB) radio allows the bundling of a number of radio stations together in a multiplex. Each multiplex can then be broadcast using an individual frequency from a transmitter. A DAB radio can then single out each radio service from the multiplex for the listener. 

This bundling into multiplexes allows for more radio stations and requires less power to broadcast, making it more cost-effective. But it can also give lower-quality sound and the signal can drop out more frequently.

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Column: Our future has never looked brighter..

This opinion column is written for the Stray Ferret by Mark Oldfield, chairman of Harrogate Hospital Radio. It follows a recent decision by the broadcasting regulator, Ofcom, to grant the charity radio station a 5 year licence on 95.3FM. 

Being granted a five-year FM is the end of a very long personal journey. One that began with the near demise of Harrogate Hospital Radio.

For those not in the know, Harrogate Hospital Radio is the town’s longest running radio station. Based in Harrogate District Hospital, our first broadcast was in October 1977. In those days we were located in a small room next to the mortuary and our equipment consisted of one turntable, one microphone and one reel-to-reel tape recorder.

I joined the station, which is a registered charity and run entirely by volunteers, as a rookie broadcaster in 2013. The next March I put myself forward as secretary, and the following year I was asked if I would take on the role of chairman. And I did.

Three years into the job and we faced a massive threat to our very existence. Up to then, the only way patients could listen to us was via a bedside console, In 2018, these were removed, meaning patients were unable to listen to us.

We knew this was on the cards, but it still came as a huge shock. Some hospital radio stations who had found themselves in a similar situation had actually called it a day. I was determined we wouldn’t go the same way.

Thanks to the brilliant team we have at Harrogate Hospital Radio, we quickly launched an app. We purchased 55 WiFi radios and, with the full cooperation of the Hospital Trust, we placed them in various locations around the hospital, including reception and waiting rooms. We were back on air. And more importantly, the opportunity to listen to us had grown significantly.

I then decided to apply to Ofcom for an FM licence which would allow us to broadcast to a wider ‘local’ audience. However, it was turned down because according to Ofcom, ‘there was no frequency available for us to broadcast’!

In 2019, Harrogate lost its only local FM radio station to a national franchise, which, in my opinion, left a hole without any local contact and local approach. Because of this, and having researched availability of FM frequencies, I decided to apply again to Ofcom, and again it was rejected.

Disappointed yes. Defeated no. My response was to set up a petition. I also had a Zoom meeting with MP Andrew Jones, who told me he would help as much as possible to gain us a licence.

Early last year, I was invited to resubmit my application and, finally, at the end of May 2021, I got a call from Ofcom who informed me my application had been successful. We had been given a 12-month licence and I was ecstatic. A five year licence was now in our grasp.

And since our launch on 95.FM back on September 1, 2021, I provided Ofcom with regular updates on our transmission, and happily reported no issues.

Twelve months ago, MP Andrew Jones pressed the button to launch us on FM and the last year of broadcasting on FM was a great success, so much so Ofcom has now granted us the extension.

This is fantastic news for the team at Harrogate Hospital Radio, and more importantly for our listeners.

Our future has never looked brighter!

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Rural Harrogate has worst internet connections in county

Rural areas in Harrogate have been revealed as the worst in North Yorkshire for internet connections.

Ofcom figures show parts of the district are lagging behind Ryedale, Craven, Hambleton, Richmondshire, Scarborough, Selby and York for superfast broadband, with 69% connectivity in rural Harrogate compared with 96% in urban areas.

Slow internet speeds can hinder economic growth and leave thousands of businesses and households plunged into “technology blackspots”.

That is according to North Yorkshire County Council, which launched its broadband company NYnet in 2007 and said the rollout of superfast internet in rural communities has involved one of the most challenging projects of its kind nationally.

It said it has invested £85 million in broadband services, although it admitted improving connectivity remains a “significant challenge”.

Alastair Taylor, chief executive of NYnet, said:

“We remain committed to providing broadband coverage across all parts of North Yorkshire, from the county’s major urban areas to the remotest communities.

“NYnet has been working for more than a decade on a programme to bring superfast broadband throughout North Yorkshire.

“More than 190,000 premises have been upgraded on Openreach’s digital network to provide faster and more reliable broadband connections.

“More than 80% of premises have now taken advantage of the dramatically improved broadband speeds which have been made available to them.”

Mr Taylor also argued that the Ofcom figures date from 2019 and since then there has been “a great deal of work conducted in both the Harrogate district as well as the whole county”.

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Across the whole of the Harrogate district, overall connectivity is now 93% – just above the county’s average of 92%, Mr Taylor said.

The latest figures come after research by the independent North Yorkshire Rural Commission – which was established by the county council and launched in 2019 – revealed that a fifth of all rural areas in the county had no broadband connection.

The council said engineering challenges have “intensified” in the past four years as its Superfast North Yorkshire project has extended into some of the most remote rural communities.

It added more than 190,000 premises have been upgraded over the past decade and that the digital network is now available to the majority of people in the county’s two national parks covering the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors.

Council leader Carl Les said:

“The issue of poor broadband connectivity has been a long-standing problem for many parts of North Yorkshire, especially in communities in deeply rural areas.

“The chance to introduce these improved broadband connections is vital for businesses in the 21st century, whether they are based in the biggest town or city or in the smallest village or hamlet.

“But they are also a necessity to ensure our rural communities have a future, helping to attract families and younger people to live in the countryside to ensure services and facilities such as schools, village stores and pubs can continue to operate.

“We have made huge improvements for tens of thousands of businesses and households, but the work does not stop here and we will continue to look at how we can introduce better connections for the remaining parts of the county.”

Harrogate Hospital Radio wins three-year fight for FM licence

Harrogate Hospital Radio is preparing to go on to the FM airwaves after earning a licence on its third attempt in three years.

It will be a major step for the station when it starts to broadcast for the first time on 95.3FM from 9am on September 1.

The charity radio station, which has been keeping hospital staff and patients entertained since October 1977, has had a long journey to get to this point.

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Mark Oldfield, Harrogate Hospital Radio’s chairman, was knocked back by regulator Ofcom twice, but took the loss of Stray FM as a reason to take up the fight again.

He started a petition to drum up support, which was signed by nearly 400 people, and said:

“I can’t begin to tell you what this means to Harrogate Hospital Radio. An awful lot of hard work has gone into our submission.

“I’d like to thank MP Andrew Jones and Harrogate Hospital Radio NHS Trust chair Angela Schofield, and its chief executive, Steve Russell, for their support.

“Early this year, I was invited to resubmit my application and, finally, at the end of May, I got a call from Ofcom to inform me my application had been successful.

Harrogate District Hospital now has 300 FM radios so even more patients will be able to listen to Harrogate Hospital Radio.

The chairman hopes that it will become the dedicated radio station for not only the hospital, but the surrounding area as well.

How local is Stray FM’s replacement station?

Loyal listeners of Stray FM have been asking an important question this week – just how local can Greatest Hits Radio be if it covers the nation?

The Stray FM brand has been wiped off the internet. The station no longer has its local presenters. There is one regional drive time show each day.

Instead of Stray FM, those tuned into the frequency will find a different experience. Most of the schedule is filled with music from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. On the hour there is a mixture of local and national news stories. The Harrogate and Yorkshire Dales version of Greatest Hits Radio featured Harrogate-only advertising when we tuned in today.

In July Dee Ford, group director of Bauer Radio, said:

“Our plan at this stage is to deliver local news much as it is currently delivered by Stray FM. 

In fact, we expect access to the size and scope of the wider Bauer news team will enable the local team to better cover major local stories and issues. 

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David Dunning, a local radio expert currently based at the York Mix, told the Stray Ferret that the regulator is to blame:

“This is clearly not the same station as Stray FM. When you take away the local station you take away the presenters who have a real connection with the community. I do not think that it is right to blame Bauer Media for this. Ofcom are to blame for allowing this through.”

David Dunning is a local radio expert with 35 years experience.

It has been a controversial move for fans of Stray FM who have seen those behind Stray FM leave the radio station.

Sarah Berry, Stray FM’s managing director, is the latest to leave. She had been at the station since it launched in 1994 and said:

“I’d like to thank each and every single person who has connected with us over the years, I include all our stakeholders from listeners, charities, emergency and public services, suppliers and advertisers. I am incredibly proud to have been part of Stray FM and I wish everyone well for the next chapter.”