[cma-l] DCMS Written answers and statements, 19 October 2010 - Local Broadcasting: Radio

[Steve Suttie]

Hi Nick,

Nice to see you are maintaining your trademark passion and enthusiasm for the continued development of the sector.

We all know that the fund is inadequate, and that achieving sustainability whilst maintaining social gain is a massive difficulty. Add to the mix poor transmission power and lack of access to concrete listening figures to publish... It doesnt take a rocket scientist to see how hard it is to make community radio stations work. Indeed the only reason the sector is surviving at all is due to the passion that you and everybody else applies to your work!

In theory the £500,000 spread out amongst the licensed stations would work and could be a lifeline for many stations such as yours... But lets not forget that £500,000 was agreed by DCMS before the first round of licensing in 2004/05. It should have increased as the shocking number of stations came on air. But this is when the enthusiasm for CR was lost by the politicians I believe.

After speaking to Soo Williams at OFCOM a few weeks ago, I learnt that another 200 stations are awaiting a third round of licensing...

So my point is simple. This £500,000 is not going to provide a very useful spread across 450 stations. Thats if a third round is announced of course. OFCOM can't commit to a third round until they know the severity of the cuts on their own organisation.

So its a bit more complicated than the simplistic approach that you are suggesting. Shame! Its about time the CR sector was treated with a bit of respect and dignity from the powers that be... After all, we've all been working on austerity measures since long before it became the fashion!

With best regards
Steve

Sent from my iPhone

On 22 Oct 2010, at 16:02, "Office - ccr-fm" <office at ccr-fm.co.uk> wrote:

> Trev and all
>  
> I ain’t arguing with anyone, I am simply standing by what I believe in. I was the one 18 months ago who said we are wasting our time pussyfooting around MP’s ……. Furthermore, there is no argument whatsoever against everyone receiving the same amount.
>  
> It ain’t difficult and it’s fair.
>  
> No one has posted anything yet …………………….. ?????       everyone must agree with me !              if that’s the case, let’s get on with it.
>  
> Whack it out evenly and cancel the next round of applications.
>  
> Regards
>  
> Nick
>  
> From: trevor at felixstoweradio.co.uk [mailto:trevor at felixstoweradio.co.uk] 
> Sent: 21 October 2010 22:14
> To: Office - ccr-fm; 'CMA-L'
> Subject: Re: [cma-l] DCMS Written answers and statements, 19 October 2010 - Local Broadcasting: Radio
>  
> Nick
>  
> I cannot argue with your proposition. It's easy to implement and fair.
>  
> Rural stations do not get any substantive support, that I really do know.
>  
> £500K is peanuts - but we must ask ourselves why we are so disregarded. Every presentation about UK broadcasting fails to recognise community media. Given that we have 600 members, 235 with FM licences, all involved with broadcasting then we are doing something wrong. We have power, we have influence, we also have an attitude of subservience, like poor peasants pulling at our forelocks, cap in hand, grateful for the scraps thrown at us by our masters.
>  
> Someone amongst us must be capable of producing a 10 minute audio/video that we can all broadcast, and keep broadcasting (with variations) until all our listeners understand how we are treated.
>  
> We don't have to argue amongst ourselves - we need to motivate our audience to apply pressure upon the government. We do that by broadcasting. Sending pleading emails or letters to MPs do nothing.
>  
> Please agree with me. I'd do it myself but I'm trying to raise funds to keep our little station going, and as we are all volunteers life ain't easy.
>  
> Whatever, let's keep smiling and making sure we give our audiences what they want. We need thm all to remain on our side.
>  
> Trevor Lockwood
> Felixstowe Radio
>  
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