Tuesday 09-04-2019 - 14:15

There has been a significant amount of debate this week about the union’s plans for Bailrigg FM to stop broadcasting on the airwaves and become an online-only station.

Although this is being portrayed as a money-saving plan by the union, this decision isn’t driven by financial considerations and is about organisational sustainability.

We need to ensure the union’s activity maximises the benefits for the most students, as a collective we do not see that holding an FM licence achieves this and is the best use of our resources.

There are some cost savings that will be made, and the Full-Time Officer Team plans to distribute the money released as a result of this change to our liberation groups.

The main reason we’re looking to make this change to ensure the sustainability of the station’s operations.

Holding an FM licence comes with numerous responsibilities and some complex technical requirements.

Removing the FM licence will mean that the station will no longer need to adhere to Ofcom regulations and will give the station more freedom and flexibility, such as removing the requirement to broadcast 24/7, and relaxing restrictions on timing of certain content. It will also free the considerable staff time that is currently spent managing the Ofcom licence.

Members of the current Bailrigg FM management team have offered to crowdfund the money to pay for the licence, but finding the money elsewhere does not address the broader questions of sustainability and relevance to our wider membership.

The union has already provided additional funds to Bailrigg FM this year to update its website, and has pledged further support to the station for rebranding following the end of its FM broadcasting.

One final thing we’d like to say about this is that the original idea to drop the FM licence came from within Bailrigg FM - not from the union.

Some members of the station told us this year that they would prefer the station to be online-only as it would give more freedom on content, and that was the starting point for this process. Bailrigg FM has been a broadcast station for many years and generations of students have been and continue to be involved. That’s something we’re proud of, but it doesn’t mean that making changes should be off-limits.

With the broadcasting landscape changing and the rise of online-only radio stations, this change presents an opportunity for Bailrigg FM to modernise and give its members an experience that reflects the modern media landscape and the changing habits of listeners.

The Full-Time Officer Team 2018-19