Jim Faulds returns to media industry with his second licence bid 4life fm
Faulds Advertising founder and chairman of Newhaven, Jim Faulds, has announced that he is chairing a bid for the new Edinburgh FM radio licence.
Faulds has joined forces with production company Celador, the force behind television smash Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and several other high-profile media names to bid for the new service.
The proposed station, 4LiFE FM, will cater for a 35+ age group. Faulds is joined on the board of 4LiFE by Paul Smith, chairman of Celador Radio Broadcasting, Philip Anderton, chief executive of the SRU, Ken Lewandowski, chairman of Hibernian FC, Simon Cole, chairman of UBC Media Group, Tim Blackmore, editorial director of UBC, former BBC Radio 2 boss Jim Moir and Chris Tarrant.
On chairing the bid, Faulds said: “First of all it’s to lead the board and help craft our plan and our bid and to oversee that. But really just to make sure we get all the skills and talents that we’ve brought together harmonised. Thereafter, running the company, if we do get appointed by Ofcom, we’ll have to give them a guarantee that we will do what we say we’ll do, and it’ll be my responsibility to make sure that we do that.”
The consortium is also keen to distance itself from the Saga bid. Smith commented: “Saga is an easy listening station. I just find it too soporific, it’s too bland. We would deliver something a bit more challenging. And more varied, but within the range of what our audience would want to listen to. An easy way of describing it would be to say ‘classic hits and classic tracks’, but that again would be too specific. There’ll be some contemporary stuff in there, but it’ll be stuff that will fit in very comfortably and that the audience will feel comfortable in listening to. It’s moving completely away from a Top 40 station and it certainly is not going to be as soft as Saga.”
Bid documents for the new licence must be with Ofcom by Thursday 23 September. A decision is expected by the end of the year.