Radio Caroline has asked Ofcom for permission to crank up a 1 kilowatt
transmitter as part of its community radio application.
Most community
radio stations operate at around 50 watts, covering an area of around 5
kilometres, but Caroline boss Peter Moore has requested no less than 1000 watts
to reach its community of interest base across East Anglia. It proposes to cover
an area bounded by Ipswich in the South, Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket in the
West, Saxmundham to the East and Diss to the North.
In the application,
Peter Moore says: “We would however seek permission to operate at a considerably
higher power level outside the “typical” limits suggested. Radio Caroline, is
not a traditional community radio station seeking to serve a small geographical
“community of place”. As set out elsewhere in this application, Radio Caroline
can best be described as a “community of interest” station, with potential
listeners spread throughout East Anglia. This means that our coverage
requirements are therefore atypical.”
The station has applied for a
licence in Suffolk but proposes to broadcast most of the programmes from Kent,
due to better internet connectivity, and from the Ross Revenge ship using 4G.
Programming would be original for 20 hours per day and broadcast only in
English.
If awarded a licence, the station could be on-air in time for
the 50th anniversary of the Marine Offenses Act, on 14th August 2017.
AM
Rock, another applicant for an AM community radio licence, has also requested an
extended 20+ km radius to broadcast Rock, Blues, Folk and Jazz Music across East
Kent
