All commercial radio stations in the UK are required to provide a Public File to inform listeners about the station and what they can expect of it. This is Radio Skye’s Public File.
What is the purpose of this Public File?
Automation & Local Programming
1 WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS PUBLIC FILE?
Each UK commercial radio station has a licence commitment in terms of the general nature of its service and what music and local content it will provide. This commitment is specified in the Station Format document published by the industry regulator Ofcom.
Each station is also required to maintain a Public File that gives listeners clear information about the specific ways in which the station meets it format commitments and serves its community of listeners.
This document is Radio Skye’s Public File. Please contact us if you have any queries about the content of this file or need a printed copy.
2 NEWS BULLETINS
We broadcast local news bulletins at least once an hour during our live local programming on weekday mornings and afternoons (drive-time), and weekend mornings.
The nominal times of our regular bulletins are:
Monday to Friday:
Local news: 07:30, 08:00, 08:50, 16.30, 17.00
Saturday:
Local news: 09.55, 17.00
Sunday:
10.50
3 RECENT NEWS
To view a sample of typical local news stories from Radio Skye see our news page on the website.
4 THE NEWS TEAM
We currently take our local news reports from Moray Firth Radio, based in Inverness.
5 THE PROGRAMME SCHEDULE
In general we broadcast at least 45 hours per week of locally-originated programmes, plus up to 3 additional hours per week produced elsewehere (e.g. The Big Top 40).
The station has a duty to provide 3 hours of Gaelic programming per week but we
aim to provide at least 6 hours with this increasing in the near future.
At other times when we are not broadcasting live material, we relay “repeat broadcasts” from our live shows recorded earlier in the week with short mixes of random music.
To view our current full Programme Schedule see our website page, “schedule”.
6 AUTOMATION & LOCAL PROGRAMMING
Some radio stations use computer-controlled automated programme generation of music programmes without live presenters. At present we only use this service up to 2 hours at a time during our non-live day-time broadcasts.
Our regular breakfast and drive-time weekday shows are always presented live from our studio in Portree. Occasionally, other locally-produced or commissioned shows may be played out from pre-recordings according to presenter availability and editing requirements.
7 LOCAL EVENTS & GOOD CAUSES WE SUPPORT
Radio Skye is itself a non-profit voluntary organisation, so the extent of our direct fundraising for other bodies is naturally limited. However, we support other good causes and fundraisers in the area with general publicity, What’s On information, and interviews throughout our peak-time shows, offering the chance for more information and news from these organisations to be broadcast. We provide substantial publicity for local fundraising campaigns, including the Skye Community Response, Skye and Lochalsh Food Bank, Skye and Lochalsh Citizens Advice Bureau. We also broadcast appeals from the Disasters Emergency Committee, which coordinates major appeals through commercial radio stations.
8 COVERAGE HIGHLIGHTS
Radio Skye participates in, and provides radio coverage of, many local events, including live outside broadcasts from events such as the Skye Games, Portree Agricultural Show, Armistice Day Parade, local ceilidhs and other events. We also cover events and activities by local schools, societies, public services and churches.
9 MUSIC PLAYLIST
Radio Skye does not operate any kind of formal playlist of specific items to be played. Presenters are responsible for their own selection of music within guidelines as to the general nature and mixture of music to be achieved in breakfast and drivetime (morning and late afternoon) programming.
The mix is wide and is intended to reflect the diverse range of backgrounds and tastes of the local community, with a much stronger emphasis on Scottish and Gaelic music than might be found on a larger city station.
Other programmes in the evening and at weekends are themed to more specific genres and topics, and among these there are entire programmes devoted to individual genres such as Celtic, Jazz, Musicals, Religious, Easy, or specific artists.
To give you a feel for the range of music we play in our general listening programmes, here is a sample of the types of music we have played during 2020>
Everyday Hero – Skerryvore
Islands – Peat and Diesel
City of Love – Deacon Blue
Heaven On My Mind – Becky Hill & Sigala
Salamander Street – Calum Beattie
Not Alone – Fleur East
Someone You Loved – Lewis Capaldi
Canaich – Duncan Chisolm
Old Town Road – Brandon Mcphee
A Pheigi a ghràidh – Arthur Cormack
10 THE FORMAT DOCUMENT
This is the document published by Ofcom which specifies the format that Radio Skye is expected to follow. You can find it on the Ofcom website here. Note that this is in the form of a Microsoft Word document, and you may need that software to view it. If you have difficulty with this, please ask us or Ofcom to help.
11 OFCOM LOCALNESS GUIDELINES
Ofcom issues Guidelines defining what it terms “localness” for the local radio stations it licenses. You can read them on the Ofcom website at this address: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/car/localness/.
12 CONTACT US
Details of how to get in touch with Radio Skye are on the Contact page of the website.
13 HOW TO COMPLAIN
If you want to make complaint about something you have heard on the station, or something you understand the station is planning to do, in the first instance please raise the matter with Radio Skye using the details on the website.
If you are not satisfied with our response and wish to take the matter further, you can contact the regulator Ofcom on 020 7981 3040 or via the complaints page on the Ofcom website.