[cma-l] News sources - what are you doing?

[Two Lochs Radio]

Obviously any community stations broadcasting local news as part of its 
format should be producing their own news in the area, but there is still a 
need for 'national' news, typically on the hour every hour for many 
stations.

Here in the north-west Highlands we use Smooth Radio Glasgow as our 
sustaining service and national news provider. It has been a real winner in 
comparison to previous use of IRN or other London-based stations. Although 
Glasgow is 5 hours drive south of us, so not exactly local, the Scotland-led 
nature of their hourly news bulletins has gone down really well with our 
listeners in comparison to what we had before.

The main downside is that Smooth Glasgow is not really usable for insertion 
into local automation because they don't time the bulletins at all 
accurately - they can start anything form on time to up to 90s late, so 
really need manual continuity. Also sometimes they extend bulletins with 
showbiz news (at which point we cut away!).

We also have the BBC's consent to use their regional news bulletins if we 
want, but Ofcom gave that idea a very cool reception, and it has other 
drawbacks in terms of timing and duration.

In addition to the national news from Glasgow, we produce our own local 
daily bulletins in peak hours (breakfast/drivetime).

Alex
Two Lochs Radio


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "CMA-L" <cma-l at commedia.org.uk>
To: <cma-l at commedia.org.uk>
Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 11:00 AM
Subject: Re: [cma-l] News sources - what are you doing?


> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>
> From: Dave Rushton <local.tv at virgin.net>
>
> Dear Colleagues
>
> Are any community radio stations offering a community and/or local news 
> service?
>
> A question for Scotland's community radio sector - but may be of
> interest to local TV colleagues throughout the UK.
>
> Regards,
>
> Dave Rushton
> Institute of Local Television
>
>
> On 2 Mar 2009, at 18:08, Ian Hickling wrote:
>
>> Considering that Sky has taken over IRN's interests, reduced the number
>> of delivery platforms and reduced the service volume, it's only logical
>> and reasonable that the service fee to CR operators should remain at the
>> same level.
>>
>> Should it increase, the obvious conclusion will be that subscribers will
>> pull out and Sky's revenue will fall.
>>
>> It's not the end of the world after all if you don't carry what is
>> clearly a networked national and international news feed of sometimes
>> only average quality.
>>
>> Ian Hickling
>> Partner
>> transplan UK
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