[cma-l] Ofcom Update: Community Radio Fund: award of grants for 2008/09 Round 2

[CMA-L]

Ofcom's Community Radio Fund Panel met on Wednesday 28 January to
consider applications for the second round of grant awards for
2008/09. In summary, at the time of the meeting:

• The Department for Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS) allocated
£455,000 towards the Community Radio Fund for 2008/09 (a further
£45,000 was allocated to other community radio projects) In the first
round of funding (June 2008), the Panel made grants totalling
£266,600. A further £27,500 was available to the Fund Panel following
the return of a grant made to Angel Radio (Isle of Wight) in 2006/07.
Therefore at the time of the meeting there was £215,900 available to
the Fund.

• 56 applications were considered

• 3 applications were not considered as the stations concerned had not
commenced broadcasting.

• Funding applications totalled £1,278,320.88

• 15 applicants were awarded grants which totalled £215,894

• 41 applicants were not awarded a grant

Second round of applications for funding in 2008/09

The Panel reviewed each application and awarded funding based on the
information provided, and with reference to the Community Radio Fund
guidance notes. The Panel's decisions were for:

• a full award;

• a partial award; or

• not to award any funding.

The average grant in this round was £14,392. A table setting out the
awards is at the end of this statement. The Panel notes that one grant
(for £29,000) was for a substantially higher sum then the average. The
Panel wishes to record that this was for a high quality application
which directly addressed many of the Panel's key criteria for grant
awards; it will fund a Business Development post that will provide
direct support to a range of community radio stations in the
Lancashire region, thus promoting the long term sustainability of a
number of stations.

Issues of note arising from the Panel meeting

The Panel wishes to draw attention to a number of issues that arose
during their deliberations:

• The Panel has fixed no upper limit for grant applications but would
expect applicants to take note of the history of applications and
awards, which is in the public domain, when considering making future
applications.

• Owing to the large number of applications the Panel gave priority to
those stations which had not previously received an award.

• The Panel took into account the level of need of individual
stations. These last two points meant that there were a number of
stations which submitted high quality applications to which the Panel
was unable to award a grant.

• However, the Panel also noted that a number of applications suffered
from a lack of clarity in answering some of the questions, and would
remind applicants that, because of the competitive nature of the
process, the standard of applications needs to be high.

• The Panel was concerned that, as with previous funding rounds, some
applicants appeared to be unaware of the Fund Panel's priorities as
set out in the Panel's statements and the Fund notes of guidance (for
example, in the Fund notes of guidance section 1.2 'What is the Fund
for?' and Annex A 'Exclusions List').

Priorities

The Panel wishes to continue to make grants for core activities,
particularly to newly-licensed stations, in line with guidance from
DCMS. The Panel considers promoting long-term sustainability a
critical, core activity, and will take special note of innovative
proposals that have this aim, such as those focusing on business
development and fund-raising. The Panel also believes there is scope
for more collaborative working or joint applications from stations and
was pleased to be able to make an award to one such joint application
in this round.

Applications for the first round of funding in 2009/10

• Applications will be invited on 15 April 2009.

• The closing-date for applications will be four weeks later, i.e. 12 May 2009.

• The Panel will meet to make decisions on these applications on 22 June 2009.

• At the time of publication, Ofcom cannot confirm how much money will
be available to the Fund during the financial year 2009/10. Ofcom
understands that DCMS will continue to support alternative community
media projects, however the exact amount to be used in this way in
2009/10 has yet to be decided but Ofcom expects it to be of a similar
size (£45,000) leaving an expected total of £455,000 for the Community
Radio Fund.

• The Panel will give priority to those applicants who have not
received funding in previous years.

Summary of grants awarded in the second round for 2008/09

Afan FM
Neath-Port Talbot
Sales & Marketing Officer
£14,500

Boundary Sound
Newark on Trent
Station Manager
£12,000

Drive 105
Derry/Londonderry
Fundraising Officer
£16,000

EAVA FM
Leicester
Fundraising & Community Outreach Officer
£13,865

Gravity FM
Grantham
Funding & Finance Officer (part time)
£14,900

Halton Community Radio
Halton
Station Manager (part time)
£13,365

Kohinoor FM
Leicester
Community Engagement & Fundraising Officer (part time)
£11,000

Phoenix FM
Brentwood
Fundraising Manager
£9,024

Preston FM
Preston
Business Development Manager (joint bid)
£29,000

Radio Teesdale
County Durham
Station Manager
£14,820

Radio Umma
Goodmayes, East London
Radio Studio Manager
£10,000

Soundart Radio
Totnes, Devon
Business Development Manager
£16,500

Tameside Radio
Ashton Under Lyme
Fundraiser Officer
£12,000

Ujima Radio
Bristol
Fundraising & Business Coordinator
£18,000

Vixen 101
Market Weighton
Marketing & Administration consultants
£10,920

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