Removal of Discriminatory Restrictions in Religious Broadcast Licensing

I am a Christian and I believe that this should pervade all aspects of my life, even the radio stations I listen to. As a Mass Media student and professional, I decided to set up a radio station which hopefully could have national coverage and I started looking at the information available on how to set up a radio station.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that currently in the UK, it is only possible to register a religious broadcast station to broadcast within a 5km (4.31 mile) radius on FM and MW frequencies. It means that they are restricted to local coverage as well, whereas non-religious stations are not restricted this way. The only way to try to get national coverage is to go on the internet. Currently, there are only 10 Christian stations in the UK, all locally based not through choice, but through legislation that makes it hard to operate in any other way.

This might not seem like a big seal, but it means that Christians are being discriminated against this way. The argument seems to be that the BBC covers religious broadcasting and there seems to be fears about the ability of the OFCOM to regulate religious broadcasting. However, broadcasting is supposed to be open to individuals and it is unfair and discriminatory that there are these sorts of restrictions on the basis of faith.