Radio Faza lands in trouble for lack of live shows

Nottingham’s Asian community station, Radio Faza has been rapped by Ofcom for going seven weeks without live shows.

The terms of its licence require the station to have at least 8 hours per day of live programming on weekdays.

Radio Faza accepted the breach and blamed the problem on a change of management. During this period the link which carries output from the studio to the transmitter had been disconnected, due to the non-payment of the bill to the supplier of this link. The link had been cut at the end of June and from that point until 19th August only pre-recorded output was broadcast.

In mid-August steps were taken to resume live output, and six hours a day live material was broadcast between 20th August and 19th September. Live output was resumed in full in accordance with the licence and its key commitments on 20th September 2010. In addition day-to-day station management has changed, the station��s financial position has been strengthened, and governance procedures are being reviewed.

Ofcom said that by failing to provide live output for eight hours per day (weekdays) on Radio Faza in the period from the end of June to 19th September 2010, Radio Fiza Limited was not providing the service as described in its key commitments, and therefore in breach of the licence condition referred to above. Ofcom has therefore formally recorded this breach by Radio Fiza Limited.