A meeting in Portcullis House in Westminster organised by the National Campaign for Children's Radio (NCCR), and co-ordinated through Children 2000, was attended by more than 70 people, including MPs and others from the fields of education and the voluntary sector. They heard campaigners argue that as the take-up of digital audio broadcasting continued to grow, there was an opportunity to set up a dedicated children's service, and that they would alert Ofcom, the new communications industry regulator that assumes its powers at the end of this year.
Baroness Warnock, NCCR patron, said there was 'a very real chance' now that a national children's radio station for early years and primary school children would 'get off the ground'. She pointed out that radio programmes helped pre-school children to develop their language and listening skills, and added, 'I believe that if money was put into radio for babies and young children, we would have far fewer children with special educational needs.'
Phil Willis MP, Liberal Democrat education spokesman, said he supported the proposal for a national channel for children as they were becoming less creative and were 'passive recipients of education' through the influence of television. He added, 'We have moved backwards - we no longer allow children to paint pictures in their minds.'
Messages of support were sent by Government ministers Charles Clarke, education secretary, Sure Start minister Catherine Ashton and Stephen Twigg, schools minister.
The meeting included a presentation from Liam Burke and Peter Jarrett of Psquared, a company that develops digital broadcasting software used by commercial, school and hospital radio stations, on the opportunities offered by radio.
The campaign is run by Susan Stranks, founder of AbracaDABra, the world's first digital radio service for under-tens.