[cma-l] Election campaign and the CR Fund

[Trevor Lockwood]

OK, call me a rebelliously grumpy old man but politicians need a focus if they are to respond. The begging bowl approach immediately places them in a superior position, 'Please Sir can I have some more?' - and it will not work.

An alternative option must be presented. Politicians need to be seen to doing 'good', yet don't want to do much, nor do they really have their hands on the cash we need.

The BBC may be regarded as an easy option - but it is our money they are comfortable with, and we can identify areas in which they waste money - that we could put to much better use. Their administration systems are overloaded, and local radio in our area has little more than phone-ins with the whole of the region worked by one presenter after 7pm. Is that matching their obligations? If not, we should say so - loudly and clearly.

Options could include us working with local BBC to present specifically local programming, and generally making the Memorandum of Agreement work much harder.

We must be seen to be proactive, bursting with ideas, presenting ideas for programming - and complaining that we don't get enough funding to cover our initiatives.

The commercial sector appears to get its own way over everything - should we be questioning their validity? Do they really serve the local community?

If we don't stop thinking like residue hippies in a collective I'll be writing a book about the failed experiment: The Day Community Media Failed.

Positive action, on all fronts, with a broadly-based strategy. Nobody knows what will work, so try everything.

Trevor Lockwood
107.5 FM
Chairman
Felixstowe Radio Community Interest Company   Registered Number 6419058 
3 Great Eastern Square, Felixstowe IP11 7DY
01394 282123

ma-l
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