In 1967: BBC or independent local radio?

It was all the same.

To put either on the air required products that someone had to make, and product manufacturing provided not just jobs, but money for shareholders. So in one sense it did not matter whether the BBC or independent stations provided local service.

In one sense it did.

​With independent local radio it could mean competition, or more than one station covering an area. That is what the ITA stations did not allow for when they franchised off their programs and advertising. But it was never intended for more than one ITA station to cover an area, so they were monopolies and for the few who had them, they were as one press baron said, an opportunity to 'print' money. Ron O'Quinn got it right the first time in 1966 when he said that broadcasting was all about making money.

Not pop music = money.

The downside with BBC local radio is that the local area would only get one, there would be no competition and the people pushing to open the airwaves wanted to build the stations - not operate them. That is the real story behind the offshore radio story.

How and why?

Well now, that is something you will have to wait to discover when we tell you in our own good time, but of course it will be free as a public service in the public interest.

In the meantime, stay away from the anorak scam artists - they only want your money!