illegal broadcasting - Bristol and west England - Feb 2013

Radio related FOI responses by Ofcom to be posted into here for reference & discussion!
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sde-1104
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illegal broadcasting - Bristol and west England - Feb 2013

Post by sde-1104 » Sun Jan 04, 2015 9:46 pm

Thank you for your request for information regarding illegal broadcasting in ‘Bristol and west
England’ between January 2005 until January 2013. We received your request on 22
January 2013 and have considered it under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘the Act’).

The south west of England is comprised of the following areas: Bristol, Gloucestershire,
Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Devon, and Cornwall. I have answered your questions in turn
below.

Please note the following information does not include information pre 2007, unless stated.
Information pre 2007 on illegal broadcasting is held on Ofcom’s archived system and is not
readily accessible as a considerable amount of time would be needed to locate, retrieve,
identify and extract any relevant information. Section 12 of the Act provides that a public
authority is not obliged to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that
the cost of complying with the request would exceed the “appropriate limit”. The appropriate
limit is set out in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and
Fees) Regulations 2004, and is, for Ofcom, £450. That sum is intended to cover the
estimated costs involved in determining whether Ofcom holds the information requested,
identifying, locating, retrieving and extracting the information from any document containing
it. The Regulations provide that costs are to be estimated at a rate of £25 per person per
hour.

1. How many prosecutions against individuals have taken place between the specified
dates?


2

2. Out of the number of persons identified, how many have had multiple
prosecutions?


None

3. Please list the names of all the unlicensed broadcast stations you know of and the
number of times enforcement action has been carried against each of them, including
where no action was taken (e.g the radio station left the air of it's own accord before
any action could be taken) clearly showing the method of enforcement used (ie: studio
raid, main transmitter removal, mobile telephones disconnected, website domain
name blocking etc).


2007
Bash - 106 - Melksham
BS1 - 106.8 - Bristol
Heaven - 104.0 - Exeter
Passion - 106.2 - Bristol
Bycross Radio (HF Pirate) - 6.278 - Shaftesbury

2008
Passion - 106.2 - Bristol

2009
Passion - 106.2 - Bristol
Bad Influence - 108.0 - Dorchester
Juice - 87.5 - Newquay

2010
Fresh Radio UK 106.4 - Torquay

2011
Passion - 106.2 - Bristol
Baseplay - 99.0 - Plymouth

2012
Ashdown FM - 87.6 - Taunton
Rage FM - 100.6 - Taunton

4. How many enforcement visits have been as a result from information supplied from
members of the public or licence paying broadcasters


1. BS1 - 106.8 - 1 (2007)
2. Passion - 106.2 - 2 (2008)
3. Bad Influence 108.0 - 2 (2009)
4. Juice 87.5 - 1 (2009)
5. Rage FM 100.6 - 2 (2012)
6. Baseplay Radio - 99.0 - 3 (2011)
7. Unverified source - 3 (2011)

5. Please supply a breakdown of costs for each case of enforcement action carried
out


The information is not readily accessible as a considerable amount of time would be needed
to locate, retrieve, identify and extract any relevant information. Therefore section 12 of the
Act also applies here.

6. Please give details of any complaints or allegations made against Ofcom's staff in
the enforcement section.


We can neither confirm nor deny that we hold information relating to this request in our
archives. The information is not readily accessible as a considerable amount of time would
be needed to locate, retrieve, identify and extract any relevant information. Section 12 of the
Act applies

7. Out of the unlicensed broadcast stations identified, if any have not had enforcement
action against them please supply information as to why it hasn't taken place.


None

8. How many reports of interference to safety of life services or aviation have been
reported in Suffolk and Essex between the dates stated above, if any please state
which authority reported it and if the interference was proven to be atributed to pirate
radio? I would like to thank you for your prompt action in processing this request.


None

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