Global Radio chief executive Richard Park has told Ofcom that providing a 24 hour rolling news service is "not sustainable" on radio in London.

Park wrote to the regulator to request that LBC News 1152, a continuous rolling news station, be allowed to simulcast with newstalk station LBC 97.3 outside 7am-7pm on weekdays, 7am-6pm on Saturdays and 7am-5pm on Sundays.

"As you will appreciate, rolling news is one of the most expensive radio formats to maintain, yet it intrinsically provides a poor opportunity for revenue generation," he said. "It is inherently a low-hours format, with listeners generally choosing to dip in and out from time to time, rather than staying with the station for any continuous period. This makes it a relatively unattractive format for advertisers.

"The station's appeal is further diminished by its presence on AM, a platform which is likely to see further ongoing decline as audiences move increasingly to digital platforms. It is during the overnight hours, when we wish to simulcast, that the AM signal is at its weakest and most vulnerable to incoming interference.

"We believe that rolling news does have a place in the London radio landscape and that, during the day, LBC News 1152 is clearly valued by the 200,000 or so listeners that tune in every week. However, the high cost of the service combined with its low revenue potential means that it is no longer possible to sustain rolling news as a 24-hour format."

Park added that LBC on FM is "heavily news and information-rich" with news bulletins broadcast every half hour.

Ofcom agreed to the format change on the basis "that during the overnight hours, much information will be duplicated" on LBC's FM and AM stations.

"We think that the changes as requested should not notably disenfranchise the overnight AM listener, who, by the nature of a rolling news service, will tend to 'dip' listen rather than listen for a length of time," the regulator concluded.