[cma-l] Jeremy Hunt MP confirmed as Secretary of State forCulture, Olympics, Media and Sport

[Two Lochs Radio]

Jaqui

Those seem to be the important things we need, though I would argue for more 
strongly wording some of them.
But a couple of points I'm not sure of:

"Making the case for an increase in the Community Radio Fund, through
(smallish) contributions from other government departments), on the
basis that every £1 spent on community radio saves the government at
least £2 from other spending sources"

I think we would be on a complete hiding to nothing on making a vague demand 
for a 'smalish' contibution from other government departments in those 
terms. What we should be doing is demanding that the broad spectrum of 
government spend on media advertising should include x percentage of spend 
through community-based radio. To then pick up on your argument, every pound 
departments spend in this way gets them £2 of value - £1 for the advertising 
and £1 in supporting a sector that does so much work for public good.

Again, like allocating some of the ring-fenced Digitial Help underspend, 
this would not mean an increased advertising spend, just a broader spread of 
the output. It would also allow the Government to point to it as positive 
action it was taking in support of its commitment on the EU resolutions you 
mentioned. A community advertising dividend, if you will.

The Scottish Government accepted the case in principle a couple of years 
back, and several local authorities have as well. It doesn't always 
translate reliably into practice, but certainly brought a substantial upturn 
in Government advertising on community radio in Scotland. The COI should 
follow suit for UK-wide advertising campaigns.

I'm sure a large factor in this is the ease with which the large sales 
houses can fulfil an advertising coverage brief by just booking it with a 
few large groups and not worrying about booking with numerous little 
independents/community stations. Which maybe comes back to the idea of 
setting up an independent sales house for the not-for-profit sector? In 
Scotland the Government set up a scheme with Bauer through which they also 
have to famr off a percentage of adverts to the community stations, which 
they do. Scraps from the table maybe, but nonetheless worthwhile for that.

Also re:

" (including power transmission issues for those of you fighting pirate 
radio) "

Are you seriously suggesting that Ofcom should allow CR licensees to try to 
fight pirates by increasing their own transmission power? Surely you didn't 
mean that? This way lies madness and chaos!

Alex