Mr. John Purcell:

In regard to the type of programming, if one looks at the staffing of a radio station the most concentration of staff is in the area of news, current affairs and sports coverage among other areas.

If I look at my own radio station, I have about eight full-time employees between news programme presenters, producers and sport. That is the most expensive part of the schedule to maintain. It is also the most public service part of the schedule. If you look across the water to the UK, a commercial radio station serving what we would consider to be a large urban area like Sheffield or Southampton may not have more than three or four staff, which would consist of somebody on sales and somebody managing syndicated content. If the failure of the market and the failure of us to sustain news, current affairs and sports coverage happens because we can no longer afford it, it would mean that we would be looking towards syndicated models of programming. What is at risk is the unique local flavour offered by stations like Clare FM, KCLR, Highland Radio or Midlands 103, which have fully developed and staffed broadcasting outlets in their local areas that reflect those areas. I could run a music radio station with half the staff I have. The half I would lose would consist of news, current affairs and sports, which is the rich content that provides the local identity and the public service content.