[cma-l] Community Radio Fund - open letter to PM

[Office - Hayes FM]

hi Steve

Please add my name to this letter as well.

Can I support Peter's view about cross department support for the CR fund, 
obvious but some how lost on the government.
Talking to a few departments over the past 1 year, I am also surprised, how 
unaware they are that this is a possibility.

While I remain a critic of many aspects of CR output today, I am also 
hopeful that additional funding will iron out some of the problems of 
output.

Sutish K Sharma (Mr)
91.8 Hayes FM

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Buckley" <sbuckley at gn.apc.org>
To: "Peter Lewis" <p.lewis at londonmet.ac.uk>
Cc: "CMA-L" <cma-l at commedia.org.uk>
Sent: Friday, July 17, 2009 11:11 AM
Subject: Re: [cma-l] Community Radio Fund - open letter to PM


Dear Peter

Thanks for your reply. Great too to see your letter in the Guardian.

You are right that several government departments
should have an interest in this but therein also
seems to lie part of the problem - that CR falls
between the stools. What seems to be missing is
political will at senior cabinet level to sort
this out. If government wanted to, I have no
doubt they could the find the money, After all
it's a small request compared with 1.2billion
planned for universal access to broadband, 3.5
per cent of the licence fee for local news, 130m
for grassroots grants etc etc - all of which our sector is assisting with.

Best wishes

Steve



At 18:44 16/07/2009, Peter Lewis wrote:
>Dear Steve
>
>A very good letter. Please add my name to it.
>
>If you feel the need to do any redrafting in the
>light of responses from others, could you think
>about the point I made in the letter the
>Guardian published recently
>(http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jul/01/letters-fund-local-news)
>that other Departments of Government should be
>required to contribute to the CRF since CR
>touches on so many other agendas across the
>board. The original inter-Departmental steering
>group for the Canadian Challenge for Change programme is a good model.
>
>Incidentally, if there are other college and
>university lecturers on the list reading this, I
>am very much in a minority in pressing this
>point within the MeCCSA Policy Network. (Media
>Communications and Cultural Studies
>Association). Most are occupied with defending
>the BBC against top-slicing. If any MeCCSA
>member wants to join me in proposing a panel to
>debate CR issues in the next Annual Conference
>at the LSE, JAnuary 2010, please get in touch.
>
>
>Peter M. Lewis
>Senior Lecturer in Community Media
>Department of Applied Social Sciences
>London Metropolitan University
>Ladbroke House
>62-66 Highbury Grove
>London N5 2AD
>
>
>
>
>
>Steve Buckley wrote:
>>Dear all
>>It is five years ago today, that the House of
>>Lords passed the Community Radio Order 2004
>>http://bit.ly/11voFK with the Order coming into force on 20 July 2004.
>>It seems a fitting time to remind the
>>government of some unfinished business - that
>>is the woefully inadequate Community Radio Fund
>>- and to support the CMA's efforts to keep this
>>issue on the agenda. As a volunteer and
>>director of community radio licence holder,
>>Sheffield Live!, I am painfully aware of the
>>gap between what we could achieve and what we
>>do achieve as a result of the lack of adequate funding for the sector.
>>So, to mark the occasion, I have drafted an
>>open letter to the Prime Minister to be signed
>>by and sent on behalf of community radio stations and their supporters.
>>If you would like to join in signing this
>>letter, please reply to me with your name and
>>station/organisation affiliation (if any). If
>>you feel moved to do so, why not also use the
>>occasion to ask your MP to raise this issue
>>with the PM. If there is sufficient interest in
>>a fresh initiative on this, then we might also
>>look at launching a petition, or more?
>>Best wishes
>>Steve
>>//
>>[draft for sign on, replies to
>>sbuckley at gn.apc.org, deadline 12 noon 20 July 2009]
>>Open letter to Prime Minister
>>Rt Hon Gordon Brown
>>Prime Minister
>>10 Downing Street
>>London
>>[date]
>>Dear Gordon
>>It is five years since the Community Radio
>>Order 2004 came into force. The growth, since
>>then of community radio has been described by
>>Ofcom, in its Annual Report 2008/09, as "one of
>>the great UK broadcasting success stories in the last few years".
>>Over 200 community radio services have been
>>licensed by Ofcom since 2004. Around 150 of
>>these services are "on air", creating around
>>400 jobs, involving over 10,000 volunteers, and
>>serving a potential audience of more than 10 million people.
>>Yet this new sector is economically very
>>precarious. Six stations have failed to launch,
>>three have handed back their licences. Others
>>are at high risk. This is not only a result of
>>the recession but is a direct consequence of a failure in government 
>>policy.
>>Community radio broadcasters, the vast majority
>>unpaid volunteers, are disappointed that their
>>achievement is not matched by greater government recognition and support.
>>The Community Radio Order 2004 restricts
>>community radio to a maximum 50 per cent of
>>revenue from advertising and sponsorship and,
>>in some locations, advertising is prohibited
>>entirely. This settlement was to be
>>complemented, in part, by a sizeable Community
>>Radio Fund. The governments own impact
>>assessment, in line with the recommendations of
>>the Everitt Report, suggested the Fund would
>>require £3-4 million per annum. In its first
>>year £500,000 was provided and all 17
>>applicants were supported. Average grant per
>>station was £26,119. Since then annual
>>government spending commitments to the Fund
>>have not increased at all. In 2008/09 the
>>Community Radio Fund received 117 eligible
>>applications, against which only 30 grant
>>awards were made, with the average grant per station being just £14,978.
>>To put this in context, the money available
>>annually through the Community Radio Fund to
>>support the operating costs of 150 community
>>radio stations is less than the annual salary
>>of a Radio 1 breakfast DJ. From being widely
>>applauded in 2004 as a model of good practice,
>>the UK settlement for community radio is now
>>looking poor in comparison with many other
>>western European countries. France, for
>>example, provides around Euro 25 million per
>>annum for around 600 community radios.
>>The sums needed to put the community radio
>>sector in the UK on a sustainable long term
>>footing are modest by comparison with the
>>government's separate proposals for investment
>>in local news consortia, the objectives of
>>which can partly be met by the provision of
>>news and information services on community radio stations.
>>We are aware the Department of Culture Media
>>and Sport is currently conducting a review into
>>the Community Radio Order 2004. Alongside that
>>review must also be a serious commitment to
>>support the sustainability and development of
>>community radio and its continuing delivery of
>>social and economic benefit, by substantially
>>increasing the government's public spending
>>contribution to the Community Radio Fund.
>>Yours
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
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              Email: steve at cmso.co.uk
                    Tel: +44 114 220 1426
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