Six of the bids for the licence, which offers a potential audience of more than 1m, target middle-aged rock enthusiasts, with The Arrow, Virgin Classic Rock, Citybeat and The Rock presenting almost identical formats. Four others, including Smooth, Saga and Celador's 4Life, are aimed at the 40-plus market.
TalkSPORT owner The Wireless Group and Scottish Radio Holdings are competing with rival talk formats.
The licence, estimated to be worth £15m, has similar coverage to Forth One, Beat 106 and Real Radio.
Four bids have been submitted for a second FM licence created by Ofcom, serving the Blackburn area. These are The Bee, 2DayFM, Bold FM and Burn FM.
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