Wonders of the wireless age

My list of New Year's resolutions contains many of the things I didn't get round to in 2010 - including the completion of this blog's survey of Cornwall's media. I confess to terror at the sheer enormity of the task - particularly when it comes to writing about local radio (BBC managers, please look away now.) I don't suppose that when Guglielmo Marconi began tinkering with valves and copper wires at Poldhu in 1901 he imagined what would be broadcast across Cornwall not much more than 100 years later.

This post is confined to conventional free-to-air local radio - internet-based radio stations will feature in my survey of new media.

BBC Radio Cornwall has its headquarters in Truro, launched in 1983, and is available on 95.2 FM (East Cornwall), 103.9 FM (West Cornwall) and 96.0 FM on the Isles of Scilly.

Pirate FM, based in Redruth, was Cornwall's first commercial local radio station and launched in 1992. It is available on 102.2 FM and 102.8 FM.

Atlantic FM, based in St Agnes, joined the commercial fray in 2006. It is available on 105.1 FM and 107FM.

So far, I hope, none of this is controversial - although I feel I am tip-toeing through a minefield.

All three stations broadcast a mixture of music and speech-based programmes, including news and current affairs, but that mix varies according to their perceived target audiences. Radio Joint Audience Research (RAJAR), owned jointly by the BBC and the commercial radio sector, publishes local radio data on a quarterly basis.

All three stations are required to comply with a statutory framework of rules as set out by the government-appointed regulator, Ofcom. In terms of their editorial content, this regulation sets them apart from the "free to anyone who owns it" world of the printed press.

BBC Radio Cornwall is wholly funded by the television licence fee and is part of the world's largest broadcasting organisation. BBC Radio Cornwall is required to meet the same standard as any other part of the Corporation and its staff actually have to sign for (as proof of receipt) copies of the BBC's Editorial Guidelines.

Pirate FM is owned by UK Radio Developments (UKRD) whose chief executive is the former insurance salesman and leader of Penwith District Council, William Rogers. In 1997 William was the Conservative Party's Parliamentary candidate in St Ives. The founding chairman of Pirate FM was James St Aubyn, now a non-executive director of UKRD, who lives on St Michael's Mount. According to the UKRD website, James "is also responsible for St Aubyn Estates, which consists of some five thousand acres in West Cornwall, some owned for more than six centuries."

Pirate FM is today one of 15 local radio stations owned by UKRD, which also owns 46 websites across the UK.

Atlantic FM is 47% owned by the Tindle Radio Group, whose chairman, Sir Ray Tindle, featured in my earlier post about local newspapers. The chairman of Atlantic FM is Richard Eyre, a former chief executive of ITV.

According to Cornwall Pure Business (funded by the former Cornwall County Council and EU Objective One): "The premises (Atlantic) occupies at Wheal Kitty were converted by Carrick Council with the help of the RDA and Objective One. Atlantic FM then had to develop their part of the project to suit their own needs and install their state of the art equipment. But it is thanks to the vision of Carrick Council and its funders that Atlantic FM is able to broadcast from what must be the most scenic broadcasting locations in the UK."

This is, I hope, an entirely factual survey of Cornwall's local radio - but there is obviously plenty of room for opinion in the "comments" section of this blog.

Still to come - before the end of the year - my survey of Cornwall's television and new media.