Accusations over financial pressures which closed Pennine FM

Apr 8 2010 by Kevin Core, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

THE director of Pennine FM says the radio station closed because of mismanagement.

Listeners heard a message on Monday night saying that the dedicated Huddersfield station was to cease broadcasting.

Sole director Carl Marx says “severe financial pressure” and “historic debts” forced the closure of the station.

But the previous management deny Mr Marx’s claims.

The licence has been returned to Ofcom and because of the ending of FM spaces due to the forthcoming digital switchover, there is no chance of a reprieve.

Mr Marx told the Examiner that when he took over in September 2009, he found no paperwork.

The Examiner can also reveal that the station owed money to Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL), which radio stations must pay to broadcast music, as well as Archiva, an archive company which stores broadcasts.

Arrears on the rent to Huddersfield Rugby Union Club at the Lockwood studio also grew so severe that locks were changed on the building.

Non payment of wages also resulted in a string of employment tribunals which he says were not dealt with.

Mr Marx says it became effectively impossible to turn the station around.

He said: “My priority was to start running the company as a business rather than a radio station.