[cma-l] UKRD wants public notice law change

[Office - ccr-fm]

Martin n’ all

 

Are we yet again talking about ‘’paid-for’’ notices and information or is it
a free-for-all ??               the reason I ask is that only last year we
had a huge debate on our station regarding planning proposals from a local
firm. It was a hot potato in our community and we covered it in a fair and
balanced way. The company applying for the land and building rights refused
to comment after about 4 weeks and therefore ended up out of the debate. Not
our fault of course as the airwaves were there for them should they have
wanted to use them 





. Also, we are constantly everyday talking about
road closures 



 many of our listeners say this is very valuable part of
our Breakfast and Drivetime programmes 



 they are not paid for by anyone

..

 

We were asked at the outset by Ofcom to consult (there’s that damn word
again)(consultation)      our communities and ask them what they wanted 

.
Seems odd that when you come back with the info’ some jerk has already made
a law to prevent you from doing it. It gets dafter everyday 

. I wouldn’t
change it for the world, you couldn’t write a script like this even if you
tried.

 

It looks like Canalside have been breaking the Law 



 LOL
another Law obviously made by complete nongy-nongs !

 

I could possibly announce this on drivetime in an hours time 


.   No more
road closures and as of tomorrow all drivers will have to tootle along in
their vehicles whilst reading a newspaper !          there may be a bit of
windscreen showing if one is in a BMW, however you’ll be driving blind if
you happen to own a smart car.

 

I wonder how many Laws there actually are that our brotherhood have no idea
of 





. Plenty I reckon.

 

Furthermore, in all the war and peace documents that we receive none of it
is ever written in laymans english so one has to be the next rung down from
a Professor to understand it. 

If you were stood in a pub with a guy who was talking the rhetoric of the
rules and regulations, you’d walk off after two minutes.

 

We promote lots of things on Canalside, and we embrace them. Road closure
announcements help the environment and prevent traffic jams 

 not a crime
in my book 



 public notice Law my arse !            what a load of
cobblers and a new one on us.

 

Then again, as I always say 


.. perhaps I’ve got the wrong end of the
stick?

 

It does appear me though that as well as licking the backsides of commercial
radio ‘they’ ‘ whoever’ ?      are giving the newspaper society a tickle as
well 



  my word, there has been a lot of wining and dining going on 





I didn’t get an invite though.

 

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: 28 June 2011 13:30
To: CMA Discussion List List
Subject: [cma-l] UKRD wants public notice law change

 

Certainly something to think about and discuss.. maybe consider action on
your own (station and individual) or a CMA thing? This could be of huge
benefit to community stations and the communities they serve.

 

http://radiotoday.co.uk/2011/06/ukrd-wants-public-notice-law-change/?utm_sou
rce=feedburner
<http://radiotoday.co.uk/2011/06/ukrd-wants-public-notice-law-change/?utm_so
urce=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+radiotoday+%28Radio+Tod
ay+-+News%29>
&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+radiotoday+%28Radio+Today+-+News%29

 

 

Local radio operator UKRD is calling for ministers to change the law which
means public notices about things like road closures and planning
applications have to be carried only in local newspapers.

The group’s Chief Executive, William Rogers, told RadioToday.co.uk the
current legislation was ‘out-dated and very old fashioned’.

Along with the Managing Directors of UKRD’s portfolio of stations – which
includes Pirate FM, Eagle Radio, Minster and 2BR – William is campaigning to
open up the use of all media for public notices so that councils and
government departments can choose the marketing solution most appropriate to
get their information across.

William told us: “It is a reality in today’s world, that circulation of
local newspapers has been falling and their effectiveness to deliver the
messages various public bodies want to get across to communities they serve,
has diminished as a result. Whilst they still provide strong local editorial
content and are a valuable resource, it is clearly ridiculous that public
bodies are not able to make a judgement about how best to deliver their
messages to local communities and are restricted by law from making that
choice.”

He added that he would like to see a change in the current law, so that web,
local radio and local newspapers could all be considered. “This may seem
like a small change but there is no question that local radio, along with
other media, has been denied the opportunity to play a role in this area for
far too long and should now be allowed to participate along with local
newspapers and others,” said Rogers.

We’re told UKRD’s managers around the country are lobbying local MPs through
letters and meetings, setting out the case for change and arguing that
public sector organisations should be given ‘the widest choice to ensure
effective and cost efficient delivery of their notices into local
communities’.

Only
<http://www.lgcomms.org.uk/blog/lgcomms-newspaper?blog=experts-call-for-200m
-saving-on-public-notices> last month an organisation representing
communications departments from local councils wrote to the Department for
Communities and Local Government calling for a change to allow notices to be
placed on their own websites to save £200m over five years in press
advertising costs.

Previously, organisations like the Newspaper Society have
<http://www.newspapersoc.org.uk/2/jul/09/ns-raises-local-government-advertis
ing-concerns> called for the restrictions to stay in place to support the
local press industry. Many local councils began publishing their own weekly
free newspapers as a way of reducing the amount spent on press advertising.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/pipermail/cma-l/attachments/20110628/1ee7a5b0/attachment.html>