[cma-l] FW: Apprenticeship Slot 8th Feb

Sun Jan 30 23:58:26 GMT 2011

  Nick, I adore your passionate defence of community radio and long may you  keep shouting. Particularly agree with the idea that because we embody everything to do with the Big Society, that somehow its fine and dandy for us to exist off thin air.
However, like  Shirley's station in Swindon, we have close links with one local FE college and another has expressed interest in hiring our facilities. Both are looking to deliver a Level 3 qualification ( bit like an A level equivalent in old money) , with the teacher's  and student's provided by the colleges. All we do is hire out our training studio. Last year I raised  almost seventy grand in grants, (including dosh to build a training studio), but this year there's been little on the grant front that hasn't been oversubscribed.. so have instead concentrated on running courses in partnership with schools, colleges, for agencies who want to improve the job prospects of  long term unemployed, silver surfer IT courses etc etc.

We are allowed to run adverts... but to be  honest the thing we always run up against is the poor reception - so people would rather spend more money at Heart FM because at least they can be heard everywhere.. and I can't say I blame them . We need to boost our power, because as I have said before on this forum.. we are really badly hindered by mad topography round here. It's lovely living in these hills, but rubbish for reception. Approached OFCOM last week about the possibility of maybe having a second frequency to reach one of the harder to get to valleys and was told it's unlikely. Will now be making a concrete case for increasing our power. Wish me luck.

Claire Penketh 
Better to have given it a go than never to have tried at all

--- On Sat, 29/1/11, shirleyludford at btinternet.co <shirleyludford at btinternet.com> wrote:

From: shirleyludford at btinternet.co <shirleyludford at btinternet.com>
Subject: Re: [cma-l] FW: Apprenticeship Slot 8th Feb
To: "Office - ccr-fm" <office at ccr-fm.co.uk>, "Steve Suttie" <stevensuttie at aol.com>, "CMA-L" <cma-l at commedia.org.uk>
Date: Saturday, 29 January, 2011, 18:24

Hi

You have been asking for a reply to your messsages.

For info:-
Sorry you've had such response.
In Swindon we have a developed a good relationship with good mutual benefits with one of the two local colleges.   The other has just made approaches to us which could lead to another positive relationship.  

Regarding power issues, perception and response:  
We are currently formulating a draft letter to be sent to Ofcom, backed by MP, Council and Community support requesting consideration for an increase in power, amongst other things, based on the kind of issues you have highlighted.   We are having a go.

 Shirls

Shirley Ludford

Station Manager.   Media Trainer
SWINDON 105.5
www.swindon1055.com

From: Office - ccr-fm <office at ccr-fm.co.uk>
To: Steve Suttie <stevensuttie at aol.com>; CMA-L <cma-l at commedia.org.uk>
Sent: Saturday, 29 January, 2011 13:30:01
Subject: Re: [cma-l] FW: Apprenticeship Slot 8th Feb

Steve n’ all

Erd nowt’ ?? ………….. to be honest, I didn’t expect a reply. The problem I have is that due to events over the past 7 years I have unfortunately become tactless and back people into corners without any room for them to manouvre unless they of course openly insult me ……………. It is all to regular an occurrence now whereby they never reply or they try to avoid you. In otherwords, the majority of them them are spineless prats !             I’m not really saying that this girl is (she seems quite pleasant) and I ain’t having a pop at her ……………. But what I am having a go at is this general perception regarding community radio.

It is very frustrating for us / me at the moment as I feel very assured that I know exactly every nook and cranny that there is regarding community radio. Remember there are others in our fraturnity who I KNOW have experienced exactly the same and they want something doing about it, but they are fearful of matters arising !??

We have a different view :-

All of this radio venture has gone exactly the way I new it would ………… and without sounding arrogant there ain’t many tricks that I have missed.

1)       We start off with the restrictions. We know that they are going to cause problems but hey … we roll our sleeves up and get on with it.
2)       We deliver everything that we said we would (and more) and become a big hit in the area.
3)       Good enough to the extent that as well as the restrictions the local commercial station decide that restrictions are not enough and go into a dirty tricks campaign. No worries there …………….. because of the type of guy I am (British Bull-dog)  it has the opposite effect and instead of putting me off it fires me up and the rallying cry to our volunteers gets their peckers up as well …… bad move by Mr commercial radio
4)       Everything is new, it is fresh and it is a novelty …… but, we make such a success of it against a lot of adversity the novelty runs the distance and individual sponsors hang in with us. Our grant success is not brilliant, so technically we have run at least half the project on goodwill from private donors ………. Many of whom I know personally (lots of contacts and all that jazz)                   I think thus far it is a familiar story for most
5)       However, it now starts to get tricky. Recession hits and bites …. Things get a bit tight and firms start drawing their horns in. Thet want more for their money --- but ! the restrictions do not allow us to give them more ………………. All along this journey the same COMPLAINTS keep coming back at us …………..Well you are only small !    yep we are only small because we daren’t have anymore that 25 watts even if in our own community we have interference from the bully boys …. Also, why can’t we have an advert ??  even if it is just an ickle one ------------------ sorry --- not permitted due to restrictions.
6)       As we continue along the community path all the parasites and vultures keep decending upon us wanting their pound of flesh and yet our revenue sources which are basically there for our mere survival and not to make profits are going down, down, down, down.
7)       Still the Government don’t budge ….. the CMA (bless em’)   do their very best --------------- they negotiate on our behalf, they get little bits and bobs like volunteer time etc etc ………… which is a good thing but only adds to more and more uneccessary admin and when the 50% gets fired off it becomes pointless anyway.
8)       Through the years a perception develops ………………. Hence the reason for my e-mail ……………….. THIS IS WHERE WE ARE AT IN FEBRUARY 2011.

Our perception is that we are a FREE-RIDE !         Our funding streams are now albeit EXHAUSTED unless we can offer our supporters a touch more, and the same complaint keep hitting our doorstep ……………. The signal is POOR !                         listeners will only complain for so long and then they will SWITCH OFF.

The problems can all easily be solved without anyone getting hurt or harmed. I would be massively grateful if a government spokesman could give their opinion on my rants and/or Ofcom …………. With of course coming back stating the black and white rules ………………. GREY AREAS are what we need right now, so that there can be a bit of room for manouvre.

How long can one bang on and bang on and bang on about these issues?? Whilst at the same time give 100% to our own project. It is exhausting, it is soul destroying …………. BUT !                     the old British Bulldog won’t roll over …………….. we still stand up and face it head on.

What’s good enough for the pirates (who now have licenses) is certainly good enough for me ………………. We will always keep our nose clean and we will not and never have break the law ……………….. HOWEVER !                       if we end up down to our last penny and the end is nigh …………… we will stand up and be counted and we will do whatever it takes before rolling over and dieing !

As I have said a thousand times before ……………… I am not 100% certain that the man in the silly wig would actually back the governments stance in a court of law ……………… the loopholes in the trading standards and fairtrading have been broken ten times over …………… they may end up with egg on their faces.

This e-mail is yet again very longwinded, but I believe it is the ‘’sorry’’ side / the ‘’sad’’ side of community radio compact and rolled into a short essay. We shouldn’t even be here …….. we should be focusing on the successes ……………………. Times are tough, times are hard ……………… we are looking for a little bit of common sense and a lit bit of help ………………. We have been honest, clear, precise and upfront …. We cannot do anymore ……………………….. the e-mail at the beginning of this e-mail regarding ONE incident at the college, sums it up for me.
There have been many more and I know that others in our fraturnity have gone through exactly the same thing.

Perception is a problem, restrictions are no longer restrictions they are ‘items’ that could destroy smaller stations and signal strength is losing us listeners which in turn gives you less clout when trying to gain sponsors ……………….. it is all to do with number crunching.

Nuff said

Regards

Nick

From: Steve Suttie [mailto:stevensuttie at aol.com] 
Sent: 28 January 2011 21:04
To: Office - ccr-fm
Cc: CMA-L
Subject: Re: [cma-l] FW: Apprenticeship Slot 8th Feb

At the risk of stating the obvious Nick, theres no reply to your e-mail. So I feel like I just watched an episode of Eastenders and was robbed of the duh duh, duh duh duhs.

What did the college say in response?

Steve

Sent from my iPhone

On 27 Jan 2011, at 19:22, "Office - ccr-fm" <office at ccr-fm.co.uk> wrote:

Dear All

You may remember my e-mail a couple of days ago regarding the ‘’no money’’ situation and the census ………………. In otherwords, the Community sector being voluntary = loosely meaning    free-ride / gratis / second fiddle / nonentity / poor perception etc etc ………… this situation must clearly exist !??     mustn’t it ?    I continue to rack my brains to find an answer …. But can’t.

I get the odd direct response from my postings, but they are odd. My personal perception of this, is that I actually hit on a nerve, point out the facts and the reality …………. I state the things that people are thinking, but they don’t want to get involved for fear of rocking the boat.

My approach is coarse, rough at the edges and at times unprofessional ………….. however, as I have pointed out if this is the only way I know to stand up and be counted, then so be it…. We all have our own cross to bear and none of us are perfect. I can though tell you that my heart is in the right place and I am loyal.

With all of this in mind, I would like to send you an e-mail exchange that I have just had with our local learning zone college. It is VERY RELEVANT and could be an interesting read.

First of all though, I need to set the picture and briefly give you all some history.

1)      In 2004 we approached the college to see if we could work together. After being passed from pillar to post for about three months we gave up as we very busy fund raising and setting up CCR.
2)      In 2005 we approached again offering training and placements in return for ‘ a little tickle’   we were running an RSL ………….. as it happened, they did send us 6 students. We thought the students would be coming down to our place with a teacher  ………….. they didn’t, and proceeded to ‘DUMP’ these students onto us for 4 weeks ……………………. May I say, we received no money at all !                      to make matters worse, the students had got about as much chance of making it in the media industry as I have of becoming Prime Minister !         yes they were that useless !                sorry, but a fact.
3)      Another approach was made in 2006 with further approaches that year regarding our internet etc and then in 2008 / 2009 we really turned the screw and tried to get them onboard ………….. we did even try a marketing approach as well as the community softly softly catch a monkey approach.
4)      2010 came along and we basically GAVE UP ………………………………
5)      2011 arrives and suddenly out of the blue we receive an e-mail from their marketing department wanting us to give them air-time to promote the learners / apprentice weeks.  (we have done this before by the way)

Please be mindful that we have NEVER received a sausage from the college ………….. in fact, I would go so far as to say they have been overall downright rude over the years …not returning calls or e-mails etc         you may not believe it but these were polite e-mails and polite calls ……. I can be very polite when needs be…….. also remember that they have during all this time been LOBBING money at the local commercial station and local paper etc …………… remember, this is the station (silk) that gets restrictions put on us and we can’t get the money but they do get the money and we are the ones with the restrictions ………………………………… ER ------ How the hell does that work then ?    (anyway, I digress)    

So ………….. this is where we are up to …………. Regardless of what you may think, we are letting these people come along, and we will continue to do so, I do a lot of barking, but I’m a big softy at heart …….. we always give people the community ethos …. It is what we do 

Trouble is ….. whilst we are ALL doing it, we are at the same time ALL being treated like something that gets stuck under a shoe ………………

 Please read the e-mail exchange now that the picture is set :-                 I truly believe it sums up where most of us are at this particular Big Society time …… bearing in mind that we have been Big Societying it for 7 years already.

I know it hurts, but I would be grateful of any observations or thoughts on this matter please, be it via the message board or straight to us.

If I appear rude, then please accept my apologies ……… I just feel that these things need to be pointed out.

Start at the bottom and work back. You don’t have to agree and if you do disagree then tell me. Ian and Phil and a few of the others have taken me to task ovewr the years on the odd things …… I do not have an issue with that ………….. jolly good I say               well done chaps ….. no hard feelings.

From: Office - ccr-fm [mailto:office at ccr-fm.co.uk] 
Sent: 27 January 2011 18:45
To: 'Vicky Harvey'
Subject: RE: Apprenticeship Slot 8th Feb 

Vicky

Seeing as it is January and you are saying that the budget is committed for the next 12 months, does this mean that the earliest you can look is December ??        as I have pointed out, this isn’t just a marketing exercise it is an offer for you to send some students as well. Perhaps some who wish to add another string to their bow. Or, do the students at the college have no courses for radio media ??

We are also in the same boat but with no funds to commit anywhere ??       Just as a matter of interest and with a view to helping us get our approach correct could you be so kind as to let me know as to why when you were committing those funds, you didn’t consider Canalside Community Radio. This is a question that by answering it would infact give us some guidance regarding our ‘perception’ in the wider community.

Clearly, when you were looking around for places to promote learners week / apprentice week we were on your radar, but so far as funding is concerned (or advertising if you wish to use the marketing term)    we were not ………… or should I say we drifted off the radar and out of sight.

For the sake of our future we need to get to the bottom of why this happens. We do believe it is perception ?!

The perception appears to be getting worse since the government started banging on about the ‘Big Society’ …………. The idea that we are miniscule / small / unimportant / voluntary / free / an afer thought ----------------------------------- we are battling at present with all of these. They simply are not true.

If you could point us towards any of these or away from these we would be very grateful.

The problem with the Big Society is that it seems to be saying to Community Groups like ours that we are a free-ride ………….. the problem is, we have electric to pay, rent to pay, part-time staff and trainers, equipment ….. etc etc          in other-words, when your guys come down in a couple of weeks time, they will be sat in a warm studio, with microphones, lights on and broadcasting because we have paid thousands of pounds in licence fees. If Mr Cameron wishes to pay these bills for us then we will willingly do everything for free !

Do you catch my drift ??                              in otherwords ……….. the Private sector get paid and the Voluntary sector doesn’t …….. however, both sectors get bills !

As a marketing expert can you shed any light on our dilema, it would help us a great deal. Perhaps your Manager may be able to help ??  In otherwords,     Why does a College that is only 4 miles away from it’s Community Rdio Station not run courses for students ….??     Most stations in the Country (217) have a relationship with their local learning zones and colleges, but we don’t. What are we doing wrong ?        You would be helping us a great deal if you could enlighten us. No money, but at least some good advice.

Many thanks

Regards

Nick ……………………. See you in two weeks.

From: Vicky Harvey [mailto:Vicky.Harvey at macclesfield.ac.uk] 
Sent: 27 January 2011 12:16
To: 'Office - ccr-fm'
Subject: RE: Apprenticeship Slot 8th Feb 

Nick,

I have passed the tariff sheet on to my manager as well as the e-mail that you sent to me. As you can imagine our budgets are very tight this year and we have already set out what we intend to spend and where, so unfortunately we cannot commit to any advertising with you. My manager has said that he will definitely keep hold of the information though to look at again at a later date.

Kind Regards,

Vicky

Vicky Harvey
Marketing Officer 

Macclesfield College, 
Macclesfield Learning Zone,
Park Lane, 
Macclesfield,
Cheshire , SK11 8LF
Tel: 01625 410000 ext. 515
Web: www.macclesfield.ac.uk

From: Office - ccr-fm [mailto:office at ccr-fm.co.uk] 
Sent: 27 January 2011 12:10
To: Vicky Harvey
Subject: RE: Apprenticeship Slot 8th Feb 

Vicky

That’s fine and it is all booked in. We can record the interview and play it out a number of times also.

On a slightly different front, was there any development regarding the funding ??        it opens up another avenue for the youngsters on the media courses and we can provide the training and the air-time ……….. we can also promote anything that is happening at the College.

Regards

Nick

From: Vicky Harvey [mailto:Vicky.Harvey at macclesfield.ac.uk] 
Sent: 27 January 2011 10:30
To: 'office at ccr-fm.co.uk'
Subject: Apprenticeship Slot 8th Feb 

Hello Nick,

Could we please go for the 11.45-12.30 slot with you on Tuesday 8th February. The lady coming down will be Liz Delight, she is the Apprenticeship Co-ordinator for the College and will be able to talk about National Apprenticeship Week and the benefits of Apprenticeships to individuals and businesses.

Kind Regards,

Vicky 

Vicky Harvey
Marketing Officer 

Macclesfield College, 
Macclesfield Learning Zone,
Park Lane, 
Macclesfield,
Cheshire , SK11 8LF
Tel: 01625 410000 ext. 515
Web: www.macclesfield.ac.uk

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