[cma-l] Ofcom breaches - lessons for all stations

Fri Aug 5 14:47:57 BST 2011

Martin

You cannot I'm afraid use words like sense .... there is none. That is at
least how it appears to me anyway. Then again as I have said before, perhaps
I am the one who has missed something ?

Regards

Nick

  _____  

From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
[mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of Martin Steers
Sent: 05 August 2011 12:44
To: cma-l at commedia.org.uk
Subject: Re: [cma-l] Ofcom breaches - lessons for all stations

As a side note.. and question to all..

Why are all the community radio KC reports are for the period ending april?
so that Ofcom get hundreds of reports to read and sift through at the same
time (as well as deal with other Community radio issues)..

Why are they not to cover the period ending on the date you actually started
broadcasting? Or aligned with say the stations financial year end? that way
you dont have huge overlaps of reporting periods or actually dates that make
sense?

Martin

On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 11:34 AM, Phil Korbel <phil.korbel at googlemail.com>
wrote:

Not sure if its just me - but are Ofcom cranking up the pressure here?  Or
are the recent rash of breaches simply a reflection of a larger sector that
by definition has a wide range of competence and cock ups within it?

As to the reporting requirements - I'm with Richard on this - it could be a
hell of a lot worse and it is all there in black and white when you sign up.
I'm not without sympathy for station managers left on their tod to do the
dull paperwork - but as someone else said - planning the data collection
over the year makes things a lot more do-able.

Some of the issue of the capacity to deliver on administration revolves
around what understanding your volunteers have when they sign up.  Is it
'play and go' or a broader commitment to help the station thrive?  There's
an interesting story on that front with ALLFM here in Manchester, where the
agreement from the volunteers to pay a small subscription to help pay the
rent has also meant a greater involvement by them in the running of the
station  - a very healthy state of affairs.  Obvioulsy there'll be stations
where this has always been the way - but in 'these times' getting all
volunteers chipping in off air [e.g. doing some admin] is going to be
crucial to survival.

bests

Phil

On 5 August 2011 08:36, Richard Berry <richard.berry at sunderland.ac.uk>
wrote:

There's a very tricky balance here isn't there? With ofcom walking a
tightrope between giving stations the room to run their affairs and being
the protector of the sector. We'd all agree that if a neighbouring station
was barely broadcasting and you were working hard every day to put out the
very best programming you can, that ofcom ought to intervene? I'm sure the
government has it's eye on ofcom and would relish the chance to cut it down
to size and there may be a chance to influence that but my hunch is if that
happens giving more wiggle room to community radio will not be on the to-do
list. 

As for the recent sanction. I always tell my students that ofcom is a bit
like your mum; there are rules and you'll get told off if you break them but
you can lessen that if you tell her. Try and hide from what you've done or
plead ignorance and you'll be in more trouble. Break the rules when your
brother has already been grounded for the same thing and expect her to come
down even harder on you. Yes that means reading the bulletins carefully
every month and considering what that means for your station and, yes, it
means checking you're in line with what you've said you'll do but when you
accept a licence you accept that as the T&C's. It's like a driving licence,
there are rules attached to the freedoms. 

The report might be a mess. It's confusing and time consuming but under the
current rules it's probably the best check and balance there is. What would
the alternative be? Submission of all accounts? A visit from ofcom to look
at the books and listen to the tapes? I do agree though some work could be
done in making it user-friendly and maybe this is where the expertise of
community engagement in the sector can help ofcom - who are after all a
governmental agency used to making forms, not filling them in. 

Richard

University of Sunderland

http://www.sunderlandradio.co.uk

-- 
Phil Korbel
Director
0161 237 5454

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