[cma-l] FAO: Chairman/Station Manager URGENT

Mon Jun 30 15:07:49 BST 2008

Hi Ian,

Brilliant idea.  Hope it works.  Just a thought - as the Government is seeking ways to look good again re the 10p tax fiasco etc., it would perhaps add more weight to your suggestion to emphasise how much work community radio stations do in relation to debt management, health matters etc., especially for the poorer and underprivileged in their local areas.

Every success,
Michael Fryer

> Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:58:30 +0100
> From: ian at radiointerviews.co.uk
> To: cma-l at commedia.org.uk; comradio-l at commedia.org.uk
> Subject: [cma-l] FAO: Chairman/Station Manager URGENT
> 
> Please forward this message and attachment URGENTLY to your chairman or 
> station manager if that is not you!
> 
> Would you like some more money for your community radio station?
> 
> I have today launched a mini campaign to help get your station a share 
> in the £1.1 million fine levied against GCap Media last week for 
> misleading listeners in a paid for phone-in competition (see my letter 
> to the Secretary of State below).
> 
> If you think it's a good idea, I invite you to do the following:
> 
> 1: Write your own letter to Andy Burnham suggesting the same thing 
> (please write it in your own words though, perhaps tailoring it to your 
> own station's specific experiences but by all means refer to my letter 
> to make the connection). Be polite, but persuasive in your arguments.
> 
> 2: Tell your local papers you've done so to create some local media 
> interest (there's an example press release below, feel free to 
> personalise and localise it or write one of your own). You can use your 
> press release as an opportunity to remind people about the role your 
> station plays in its community and the difficulties in raising funds 
> (given the restraints of the legislation). You may well be asked what 
> would your station do with the money if the Treasury decide to play 
> Robin Hood and share it, so please think about that beforehand.
> 
> EXAMPLE PRESS RELEASE:
> 
> (YOUR TOWN) COMMUNITY RADIO STATION SHOUTS TO THE TOP!
> Local radio volunteers ask Secretary of State for share in 'windfall' money
> 
> (Your town)'s community radio station (xxx FM) is asking the Chancellor 
> of the Exchequer to play Robin Hood.
> 
> Station bosses want Alistair Darling to redistribute a £1.1 million fine 
> windfall - levied against radio giant GCap Media for misleading 
> listeners in a paid for phone-in competition  - to help struggling 
> community radio stations across the country, including (your town).  The 
> money is otherwise destined for Treasury coffers.
> 
> "We think this money should be shared by community radio stations like 
> (xxFM) which are run mostly by volunteers who broadcast day in and day 
> out, serving their communities
> whilst struggling to get by on very little money," said (XXFM's 
> chairman/station manager ..........).
> 
> "If the £1.1 million was shared equally amongst the UK's 162 community 
> stations, they would get £6,790 each - and best of all, it wouldn't cost 
> the taxpayers a single penny, because the money is an unexpected 
> windfall as far as the government is concerned."
> 
> (xxFM) has been broadcasting to ............. since ......... The 
> station, based at ..... is on air for xx hours a day and it's programmes 
> includes ...(local stuff here)
> 
> "We make it our business to be part of and at the heart of the local 
> community including ...(examples here) ... .  But radio stations are 
> expensive to run.  <<xxFM> is a mainly voluntary service, but we incur 
> music royalties, broadcast fees, studio rent, utility costs and business 
> rates like any other, not to mention the cost of buying and repairing 
> studio equipment and computers.
> 
> "The money would be like a dream to us - with a sum like that we could 
> .......................
> 
> "This is potentially a one off golden opportunity for the government to 
> recognise the work of community radio stations up and down the country 
> and provide a much needed financial boost for these very small stations 
> that are poor in pocket but rich in diversity and community spirit.  So 
> I do urge the chancellor and the Department for Culture, Media and 
> Sport, to  play Robin Hood and distributing the windfall fine to help 
> community radio here in ........... and across the UK."
> 
> EXAMPLE PRESS RELEASE ENDS
> 
> Please act quickly - try to meet your local paper's deadline for the 
> next edition (in most cases Tuesday) - whilst the story is still topical.
> 
> As well as there possibly being a golden pot of money at the end of it, 
> it will also potentially give you some valuable local newspaper 
> publicity (local newspapers like local campaigns) to talk about the 
> valuable work you are doing in your communities.
> 
> By all means also copy your Andy Burnham letter to the Radio Magazine 
> (news at theradiomagazine.co.uk) and Broadcast (chris.curtis at emap.com is 
> the editor) if you wish to support the initiative, and copy in the 
> Community Media Association and your local MP as well.
> 
> For your information, there is a list of the 'dirty thirty' stations 
> that broadcast the 'fixed' competition here: 
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jun/26/gcapmedia.radio?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront
> 
> I hope this all works and that you, and the other community stations, 
> get the dosh!
> 
> If not, well, there was nothing lost in trying - and the local publicity 
> may well bring you some new listeners and perhaps even some local offers 
> of funding.
> 
> Good luck!
> 
> Ian McGregor
> Just Talking BROADCAST PR
> Check out our plain English radio audience guide here: []
> 
> PS: This email has been sent to all of the UK community stations I could 
> find email addresses for.  But please share it with your friends and 
> colleagues at other community stations in case they've been missed, 
> let's keep that £1.1 million in sight before it gets lost in the big pot!
> 
> If you have any questions about this email, please send a BRIEF enquiry 
> and I'll endeavour to send a BRIEF reply.  Please do not phone (sorry, 
> we're a small but busy agency, and we're running this campaign informally.
> 
> 
> ---------- Attached message ----------
> 
> URGENT The Rt Hon Andy Burnham MP
> 
> Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
> 
> Room 118
> 70 Whitehall
> LONDON
> SW1A 2AS
> 
> 
> 30 June 2008
> 
> 
> Dear Sir
> 
> The news that Ofcom has fined GCap Media £1.1 million for misleading 
> listeners in a paid for phone-in competition, comes in the same week as 
> the sad news of the closure, through lack of funds, of one of London’s 
> first community radio stations, TGR Sound in Bexley.
> 
> Many of the UK’s commercial radio stations, some of them very big and 
> profitable companies, are actively reducing local programmes with more 
> and more broadcasts being fed in from other areas - this very week in 
> fact, GCap's 'One' network is cutting yet more local hours and extending 
> 'group' content.   Worse still, some local commercial stations are 
> actually moving out of the towns they are licensed to serve, reducing 
> costs and boosting profits at the expense of their local listeners.
> 
> In contrast, the UK's 162 not-for-profit community radio stations 
> struggle to pay the bills whilst unpaid volunteers serve their listeners 
> in a way commercial local stations once did but many have long since 
> abandoned.
> 
> So I wondered if the Gcap fine could potentially be turned into some 
> good news for the community volunteers?   If the £1.1 million was shared 
> equally amongst the community stations, it would give them a windfall of 
> £6,790 each – a drop in the ocean in commercial radio land, but almost a 
> lottery win in the not-for-profit sector.  And better still, it wouldn't 
> cost taxpayers a single penny, because the money – which I understand 
> will otherwise disappear into general Treasury coffers – is an 
> unexpected windfall as far as the government is concerned.
> 
> This year's Community Radio Fund of £500,000, kindly allocated by your 
> department, has so far helped eighteen not-for profit stations – but 
> that's fewer than one in ten, and that small number of awards has taken 
> up most of the money.  That means more than nine in ten of the stations 
> will get no government help at all.
> 
> I'm writing to you because I understand from the Treasury team that your 
> department is the first point of contact for the GCap fine story, so 
> could I ask please that you give this suggestion due consideration, and, 
> if you think it a valid proposition, make the necessary approach to your 
> colleague, Alistair Darling?
> 
> This is potentially a one off golden opportunity to recognise the work 
> of the – mainly volunteer - community radio sector and provide a much 
> needed financial boost for these tiny stations that are poor in pocket 
> but rich in diversity and community spirit.
> 
> I am copying this letter to Ofcom and the Community Media Association 
> for information, also, to the people in charge at each of the community 
> radio stations, as well as to the media press.
> 
> I appreciate your time and look forward to your comments in due course.
> 
> Yours faithfully
> 
> Ian McGregor
> Managing Director
> Just Talking BROADCAST PR
> 
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