LGBT radio station Juice FM failing in key commitments, says Ofcom

As part of its licence, Juice FM said it would serve "the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Belfast"

The broadcasting regulator has ruled a Belfast radio station has failed to fulfil some of its "key commitments" of service regarding the LGBT community.

Ofcom found Juice FM had breached two of its broadcast licence conditions as a result.

The ruling followed a complaint to Ofcom that the station was "not meeting its character of service to serve the 'lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Belfast'".

But the station's boss defended it.

Juice FM chief executive Shane Pearce said it "broadcast the only steady LGBT+ news service available on FM on the island of Ireland".

Shane Pearce also told BBC News NI Juice FM had been "on air for a number of years and not one genuine complaint has been submitted to the station directly".

The regulator's decision and investigation has been published in its latest bulletin.

Juice FM is a community radio station based in Belfast which was set up in 2018.

As part of its licence it said it would serve "the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Belfast".

"Juice exists to create a community for people of all ages who identify as LGBT to showcase and discuss the aspirations, concerns, successes and issues affecting them," its key commitments document stated.

"It broadcasts music and chat with an outgoing and inclusive presentation style tailored for the community."

It also said it would broadcast "LGBT anthems from the past three decades and specialist music" alongside dance and contemporary hit music, as well as "a daily LGBT news bulletin and a weekly local magazine-style show".

'Character of service'

But Ofcom launched an investigation after receiving a complaint about the station's compliance with those key commitments.

"In particular, the complainant asserted that the licensee was not meeting its character of service to serve the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Belfast, and was not meeting its requirement to broadcast LGBT anthems as part of its music output," Ofcom's bulletin stated.

As a result, Ofcom monitored the station's output from 28 March to 3 April 2022.

After an investigation, Ofcom said that while Juice FM was meeting its commitment regarding music, "we were not satisfied that the licensee was meeting its character of service, with particular reference to its target community".

"The recordings which we assessed did not constitute a service specifically targeted at the LGBT community of Belfast, but suggested that the service was instead a dance music service," Ofcom's bulletin said.

Juice FM responded to Ofcom saying that it had covered events like Pride

"The service primarily featured dance music, with some presenter links which were targeted at a general audience rather than specifically to the target community."

Ofcom said however that Juice FM did broadcast an LGBT news bulletin.

In response to Ofcom, Juice FM said it had broadcast "about Pride month and services aimed at the LGBT community, as well as coverage of Pride events".

It had also told the regulator that it "stand[s] by the fact that [it] fully represent[s] [its] community and at all times strive[s] to bring around positive change through music and programming", the Ofcom bulletin said.

'Failing to comply'

But Ofcom said during the week that it monitored the station that content had not been broadcast.

The regulator therefore decided that Juice FM was in breach of two of its licence conditions "for failing to comply with its character of service in its key commitments."

Ofcom said it expected the station to "rectify this issue as soon as possible" and said it would monitor Juice FM to ensure that happened.

When contacted by BBC News NI, Mr Pearce said if a listener felt the station was not doing its job they had every right to contact Ofcom.

However, he also said that while Juice FM was an "inclusive organisation" it had extensively broadcast on events of interest to the LGBT community, including extensive coverage of Pride.

'Extremely unfair'

"We have a magazine show which publicises events, fundraising and volunteering opportunities in the community as well as covering the local events that matter to our audience," he said.

"When gay marriage was legalised in Northern Ireland, we were at the forefront of the celebrations and facilitated the country's first live on-air proposal - thankfully the answer was an excited yes - which was covered by most of the country's daily and online press."

He added: "In the past month alone, we have broadcast hundreds of messages of hope and inspiration for our community, including voices from listeners, contributors and our presenters.

"We have also heavily publicised the work undertaken by key stakeholders in our community including mental health charities and support organisations."

"However to refer to Juice as 'a typical dance station' is extremely unfair given the efforts we put in on a limited budget - and sometimes at the personal expense of directors - to represent our community.

"We would ask Ofcom to be mindful that we are a community group still feeling the after effects of lengthy lockdowns and Covid restrictions and make every effort to not only do the bare minimum but to smash our key commitments.