[cma-l] Community Radio & Digital Radio Switchover

[CMA-L]

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: "Darren Jenkinson" <darren at prescap.co.uk>

There are a number of issues which I feel need to raised around this statement.

“We are ensuring with radio switchover that community organisations
and small community radio stations”

In my mind these are exactly the same and shouldn’t be distinguished -
a community radio station is a community organisation because it
encourages volunteer involvement and serves a community. Does Siôn get
this?

“which might currently be able to broadcast for only two weeks a year”

Enough said.

“ will inherit the FM spectrum currently taken up by big regional and
national FM broadcasters”

To me this implies that once the “big boys” leave FM it will leave
more space for more community radio stations. Apart from the obvious
argument that DAB is still widely unavailable both geographically and
financially for many it also makes me wonder whether FM in the future
will be what Long Wave is now. With technology and “the norm” being
more DAB focused will that make having a community information service
on FM pointless. We have as much right as anyone to sit on the same
spectrum as mainstream services. How accessible your service is
shouldn’t be based on your cash flow.

The focus of government (in my humble opinion) is to keep FM as is, or
alternatively find a affordable solution for community radio to also
utilise DAB.

“Precisely such small, commercial, local community organisations will
be able to flourish in the digital future in a way that they are
technologically constrained from doing now”

Not entirely sure what this is alluding (perhaps coverage) to but
shows how parts of DCMS still regard Commercial and Community as the
same.

Any of the Birmingham based groups fancy showing him around and
explaining the issues.

Darren Jenkinson
-- 
Darren Jenkinson
Community Involvement Officer
Preston FM

Prescap Community Radio Project
2nd Floor
Buckingham House
Glovers Court
Preston
PR1 3LS

Tel - 01772 880791


> From: Phil Korbel
> Sent: 21 July 2009 11:52
> To: CMA-L
> Subject: Re: [cma-l] Community Radio & Digital Radio Switchover
>
> well aint that fascinating...
>
> Sion starts so well - but in the last sentence that word 'commercial' pops up - weirdly even.
>
> Be good to enquire what was meant.
>
> The clue is in that 2nd statement - a new tier of ultra local commercial radio.  You what?  Where did that come from?  If our commercial comrades are charging towards conglomeration and other forms of de-localising their output, who on earth thinks that smaller commercial stations are viable?  If this is pursued - we'll be fighting for scraps of frequency left over from the commercial table yet again.
>
> Am I over-reacting?
>
> bests
>
> Phil
>
>> 2009/7/21 CMA-L <cma-l at commedia.org.uk>
>>
>> Oral Answers to Questions - Culture, Media and Sport: Digital Radio
>> Switchover (20 Jul 2009)
>>
>> Siôn Simon (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, DCMSt; Birmingham,
>> Erdington, Labour):
>>
>> "We are ensuring with radio switchover that community organisations
>> and small community radio stations, which might currently be able to
>> broadcast for only two weeks a year, will inherit the FM spectrum
>> currently taken up by big regional and national FM broadcasters.
>> Precisely such small, commercial, local community organisations will
>> be able to flourish in the digital future in a way that they are
>> technologically constrained from doing now."
>>
>> http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2009-07-20a.561.3&s=%22community+radio%22#g562.0
>>
>>
>> Siôn Simon (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, DCMSt; Birmingham,
>> Erdington, Labour):
>>
>> "The "Digital Britain" White Paper was clear that analogue radio, via
>> FM, will continue beyond 2015. After the digital radio upgrade is
>> completed, the vacated FM spectrum will be allocated to community
>> radio stations and a new tier of ultra-local commercial radio."
>>
>> http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2009-07-20a.564.0&s=%22community+radio%22#g564.2
>>
>> \\
>>
>> Community Media Association
>> --
>> http://www.commedia.org.uk/
>> http://twitter.com/community_media

\\

Community Media Association
-- 
http://www.commedia.org.uk/
http://twitter.com/community_media