Public File

Radio stations in the UK are regulated by law and Northern Media Group is committed to ensuring full and complete compliance to all sections of licensee requirements. The statutory regulator for all UK radio broadcast is OFCOM which awards licences and regulates content in accordance with the Broadcast Code. All Northern Media Group Radio stations strive to operate within the conditions of its licence and the Code at all times and welcomes comments about its output.

Contact Details

Seven FM
No1, Millennium Park
Woodside Industrial Estate
Woodside Road
Ballymena
Co Antrim
BT42 4QJ
028 256 48777
www.sevenfm.co.uk

Sales:  Mervyn Glashan
Production Roy Hall
C P Six FM

Licensed area: Ballymena

Frequency/ices: 107 MHz

Station Format Seven FM

Seven FM is a full service, broad, music and information station aimed at all adults in Ballymena and the surrounding area, with significant resources devoted to local news and information, and commitment to Irish music.

Operational Information

Service duration: 24 hours

Locally-made programming

Studio location:Locally-made programming must be produced within the licensed areas of Ballymena,Londonderry, Omagh & Enniskillen,Coleraine ,Cookstown, Magherafelt & Dungannon,or Newry.

Locally-made hours:At least 7 hours a day during daytime weekdays (must include breakfast).At least 4 hours daytime Saturdays and Sundays.

Programme sharing:All programmes may be shared between the Ballymena licence, the Londonderry licence, the Omagh & Enniskillen licence, the Coleraine licence, the Cookstown, Magherafelt & Dungannon licence  and the Newry licence, subject to satisfying the character of service requirements above.

Local News

At least hourly during daytime weekdays and peak-time weekends. At other times UK-wide, nations and international news should feature.

Definitions

In conjunction with Ofcom’s published Localness Guidelines

Sample Playlist

Alesha Dixon - Breathe Slow
Flo Rida - Right Round
Kelly Clarskon - My Life Would Suck Without You
Lady GaGa - Poker Face
Lilly Allen - The Fear
Taylor Swift - Love Story
The Script - Talk You Down
Shontelle - T-Shirt
Lionel Richie - Just Go
U2 - Get On Your Boots
Beyonce - Halo
Jennifer Hudson - If This Isn't Love
Kings Of Leon - Revelry
Ne-Yo - Mad
The Fray - You Found Me
Katy Perry - Thinking Of You
Nickleback - I'd Come For You
Pet Shop Boys - Love Etc
Will Young - Let It Go

Programme Schedule

Click here for our programme schedule

Localness Guidelines

Locally-made programmes

It is the obligation of each station to deliver the level of locally-made programmes output as defined within the Format in whichever way it sees fit within its licence conditions. The guidelines set out the areas of issue that may be questioned by Ofcom if it has cause to investigate a station’s localness output. The extent to which any particular guidelines have been considered may vary, dependent on the context of the complaint.
While stations are free to network programmes outside the requirements regarding locally-made programming in their formats, they are still expected to be able to respond to local events in a timely manner, providing live local programming in the way and at times that audiences expect.

FM local stations
Each FM station should produce a minimum of 10 hours a day of locally-made programming during weekday daytimes (this should include breakfast). Programming should include local material across those 10 hours as a whole, although there is no expectation that local material would be included in each of those individual hours if this is not appropriate.

Each station should produce a minimum of 4 hours a day of locally-made programming at weekends (in daytime) which should include local material.
In exceptional cases, if a station can put forward a convincing case as to why it should be treated differently, for example, as a specialist music station, and so have to provide less local material and less locally-made programming than the guidelines suggest, Ofcom will consider such requests on a case by case basis.

We will also apply the FM guidance set out above to any AM local commercial station where at least half the population within its Measured Coverage Area (MCA) is not also within the MCA of an FM local commercial station.
Daytime is defined as 0600 to 1900 both weekdays and weekends.

Local material

Local material can be both characterised and delivered in a number of ways (news, information, comment, outside broadcasts, what’s-on, travel news, interviews, charity involvement, weather, local artists, local arts and culture, sport coverage, phone-ins, listener interactivity etc.), therefore precise definitions can be unhelpful.
All stations should broadcast local news throughout peak-time both on weekdays (breakfast and afternoon drive) and weekends (late breakfast). Outside peak time, UK-wide, nations and international news should feature.

  
 What it is

• Station programming of specific relevance which also offers a distinctive alternative to UK-wide or nations’ service;
• Content drawn from, and / or relevant to, the area is often the major point of difference between stations, and therefore licensees should be able to identify a range of local aspects of their stations and how they are providing output specific to their area;
• The feel for an area a listener should get by tuning in to a particular station, coupled with confidence that matters of importance, relevance or interest to the target audience in the area will be accessible on air; and
• Programming likely to give listeners a feeling of ownership and / or kinship, particularly at times of crisis (snow, floods etc).

 What it isn't

• Localising news (e.g. conducting vox pop interviews in one area and playing them out as if from another or inserting local place names into UK-wide stories) without local news / information generation would not be regarded as a contribution towards localness;
• Pure promotional off-air activity such as station promotion in the area (vehicles carrying station logos, roadshows, etc.) are not in themselves substitutes for localness without on-air activity involving something other than self-promotion;
• Competitions / promotions that invite and involve listener participation from outside a station area would not be regarded as a contribution to localness; and
• The Communications Act 2003 [Section 314] stipulates that advertisements are not regarded as local programming within the context of localness and Ofcom's localness guidance.

These statements are guidelines which recognise local material can be delivered in many ways, which are neither mutually exclusive nor individually obligatory. For instance, regular featuring of local music or artists is not a pre-requisite ingredient for the delivery of local material, but would certainly be regarded as a contribution towards such delivery. Similarly, the organisation of roadshows and the presence locally of promotional vehicles are regarded by Ofcom as important aspects of radio station activity, but could only be regarded as a contribution towards the delivery of local material if such activity manifested itself constructively on-air, as Section 314 requires Ofcom to consider only what is included in programmes.

 News provision
In addition to the above general guidance we want to outline the sort of factors likely to be considered by Ofcom if the provision of local programming at a particular station is questioned. Such factors are guidelines only, but the extent to which they may appear to have been considered might influence Ofcom’s findings in the event of Ofcom ‘output’ scrutiny.

• All stations should broadcast local news throughout peak-time both on weekdays (breakfast and afternoon drive) and weekends (late breakfast). Outside peak time, UK-wide, nations and international news should feature.
• For listeners, it is the quality, relevance, timeliness and accuracy of the news that matters, not where it is read from. Any group of stations may therefore operate news hubs in any way which makes operational sense for them. However, in order to provide a comprehensive local news service in touch with the area it is covering, Ofcom believes each station should have direct and accountable editorial responsibility for covering its licensed area. It also believes that the appropriate provision of professional journalistic cover, based within the licence area, on days when local news provision is a Format obligation, is a reasonable minimum expectation. Any individual station should have procedures in place to be able to react to and report on local news events in a timely manner. Therefore, while Ofcom understands the need to record news bulletins this should be as an exception rather than a rule. Ofcom also draws the attention of licensees to the research findings and listeners’ expectations that peak time bulletins should be live (or pre-recorded only shortly before transmission); an expectation we believe is reasonable.

 Co-location and programme sharing

Stations can apply for co-location; in deciding whether to allow co-location, the sort of factors Ofcom may take into account are:

• Size of station: there may be stronger case for co-location and/or programme sharing where at least one of the stations has a licensed area with a population of fewer than 250,000, and especially those under 100,000, although we would not rule out requests from larger stations in exceptional circumstances.
• Distance and affinity between the areas: there is likely to be a stronger case for co-location where the stations concerned are not too far apart geographically and are able to demonstrate a cultural affinity between the two areas.
• Financial: there may be a stronger case for co-location where stations can demonstrate that co-location is required to ensure the financial viability of the stations concerned.

However, there may be other factors to be taken into account, and Ofcom will treat each co-location request on a case-by-case basis. Ofcom does not rule out allowing co-location for larger stations in exceptional circumstances.
The decisions as to whether to allow co-location and/or programme sharing are independent of each other.

 FM local stations

FM stations can also apply to share programming within their 10 hours of locally-made programming on weekdays to form a small regional network, but should still provide 4 hours of bespoke (i.e. specific to each station) programming with local material every day, including breakfast on weekdays. This should be locally-made within the licensed area unless co-location has been agreed. The criteria used to decide whether to allow such programme sharing will be the same as those used to decide upon co-location, set out above.

 Automation
It is up to each station to decide how best to produce its locally-made programming and so there are no restrictions on the amount of automation (e.g. using voice tracking) that a station may use. To the extent that such programming forms a part of local hours (as defined in the station’s Format), any such automated programmes should be locally-made and to the extent it comprises part of the station’s local material should take account of Ofcom’s localness guidelines. However, as with news, licensees are expected to take into account listeners’ expectations and be able to react to events on a timely basis when it comes to automated and live programming.

Newsroom Contact Information
Head of News -Damien McGinley
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News and Sport Editor:
James Devlin - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 
Should you wish to contact any of the reporters in our Newsroom, you can email  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or alternatively contact them by telephone, fax or central e-mail shown below.
 
Tel:  028 25648777
Fax: 028 25648778
 
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 
   News Bulletin Schedule – James

MON-FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY
Hourly bulletins 0700-2100 Hourly bulletins 0900-1400 Hourly bulletins 0900-1400
Headlines on half hour 0730-1130, and 1630-1730  

Current News Stories

Ian Paisley Junior says he will stand down from the Assembly next month.

The new North Antrim MP says he's written to party colleagues to

inform them of his decision and plans to leave Stormont on 11 June.

******

Thousands of passengers are facing long delays today ( May 5) after

airports in Northern Ireland closed because of a fresh cloud of

volcanic ash from Iceland.

Flights will remain grounded until 0700 BST at Belfast International Airport.

Last month, ash clouds from the same volcano grounded flights for six days.

Recent programming highlights

Seven FM was part of the St Patrick’s Day celebrations again in Ballymena in 2009. The station broadcast live from the Ecos centre at the start of the traditional St Patick’s Day pilgrimage up Slemish.
Seven FM has secured broadcast a number of interviews with international artists including The Pussy Cat Dolls and Nadia from Booty Love.