[cma-l] FW: Weekend Digest

Thu Mar 10 11:37:29 GMT 2011

Murray

I’m afraid on this one I can’t even agree to disagree !
unless we get the basics right, we will be seen as divided and not singing
from the same hymn sheet. People in authority who implement rules and have
no intention of changing them will always look for division. If they see it,
the battle is as good as over. Whinging ain’t gonna’ change anything 

demanding and taking some kind of unified action is 

 I’m not talking
here about rioting or throwing fire extinguishers through shop windows or
dropping TV’s out of high rise flats onto Police --- !   none of that
nonsense 

.   But certainly demanding and at least making some kind of
decision which forces some kind of reaction. At the moment we haven’t even
got a reaction 
.. we’re just simply ignored.

I seem to be on Groundhog day again on this one ??!          there is
absolutely NO POINT WHATSOEVER, in clubbing together, getting a descent,
substantial and worthy sum of money for our community pot 

. If 40
Stations all walk off with £40,000 each and the other 29 who applied go away
with nowt’ 

.. ie:- not even a piss-pot !       sorry to be blunt.

We need to knock two skittles down with one shot here 

.. if everyone gets
the same, then that guarantees your licences paid for 

. No worries, no
worries, no worries ******     if the fund is bigger, then there will be
more on top for ‘6 months electric bill’   for example 

. Plus, you can
actually get on with doing what you are supposed to be doing, which isn’t
sat behind a bloody desk all day writing out pointless applications and
filling forms in !

I suggest we have true democracy here 

 those who wish to have a
guaranteed fund 
.. be it only £2,500 per-annum come and stand in the
naughty little boys corner with me, and the others who want a free-for-all
with the chance of getting nothing this time, or the next time, or the next
and the next 

go and stand in the red corner

 by the time that comes along

.. we’ll already have a nice guaranteed little pocket full of TEN GRAND

 DEMOCRACY, FAIRNESS, OPPORTUNITY, CHOICE, EQUALITY is what we stand
for 

.. let’s not be hypocrites.

If a hundred want a free-for-all then divide it up % wise and if 89 want the
guarantee then divide that as well 

.. the £500,000 would possibly
end up at about £280,000 for the free for allers and £220,000 for the
guarantee-ers 

 I’ll take eighteen hundred quid anyday !
CHOICE !

Furthermore, it’ll make the ‘’I’m all right Jack Brigade roll their sleeves
up and join in with the mini protests’’

The current way this is being organised is a shambles that seems to me to be
running into a cul-de-sac 

. It’ll be like this in 10 years time if
we’re not careful.

I hope (Canalside) still has a licence then ???      I don’t mind losing it
if we ain’t fulfilling our commitments, but I’ll be damned if we lose it
because we dared to ask questions and challenge 

. Which of course could
happen 

?             NOT WITHOUT A proper RUMPASS at this end though.

Regards

Nick

  _____  

From: Murray Dawson [mailto:shmudirector at gmail.com] On Behalf Of Murray
Dawson
Sent: 08 March 2011 16:34
To: Office - ccr-fm; 'CMA-L'
Subject: Re: [cma-l] FW: Weekend Digest

I think we'll have to agree to differ on this one Nick/Trevor. 
It'll never happen.

Let's move on and concentrate on creating a larger fund.

Murray
-- 

Murray Dawson
Project Director
Station House Media Unit
Station Road, Woodside
Aberdeen AB24 2WB

t +44 1224 515013
e murray at shmu.org.uk
w www.shmu.org.uk

Office - ccr-fm <office at ccr-fm.co.uk> wrote:

Looks like one or two are starting to drift round to my way of thinking ??
quite interesting really. Get your 2K and THEN go back to your local MP and
ask the question     ‘’is someone taking the Michael ??’’                he
might take you seriously 

.. however, with some getting £30,000 and
others getting sod-all our whole ethos and the very basis of us pleading
poverty all the time goes out the window.

Have some faith in your whinging Uncle Nick 

.. at least try it for a
couple of years 

. Anything is better than the shambles we’ve got at the
moment.

The pot would grow of course by at least £100,000 coz’ you wouldn’t need a
grants panel !    just a monkey with a cheque book 

.. monkeeeee magic !

Regards

Nick

  _____  

From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
[mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of Ian Hickling
Sent: 05 March 2011 16:34
To: cma-l
Subject: [cma-l] Weekend Digest

Whilst I appreciate Trevor's desperation to get things done, sharing a
paltry sum equally is no solution.
The only sensible way to allocate a given sum is as at present - by
application stressing need.
But - as he says - we do need vastly more funding in addition to that which
is available if you look - and fight - really hard.
All the CR stations we deal with need to enhance their transmission systems
to capture more listeners and thereby attract more funding.
That would require a lot of money but it also needs Ofcom to clear every
single new transmission application.
Ofcom has said it cannot even consider any such applications at present
because it has over 200 new potential stations to process and new
broadcasters  have precedence over existing licencees.
That's another very real need that CMA needs to address please.

  _____  

Weekend Digest

It's been a busy week, and I have some comments to make. I must stress they
are my personal opinions, and do not reflect the views of the Council, of
which I am an elected member.

This week Nick said that he believed the Community Radio Fund money should
be shared equally. Whilst it remains at under £500K that gives each licensed
station about £2k. At my station it means that our 100 volunteers can expect
a cup of coffee occasionally. In any case we give £850 to OfCom just to hold
a licence so the nett cost, after 20% VAT, will be marginal.

Importantly it means we can tell all our listeners (is that an estimated 13
million) that we only receive £2K. I think the BBC's 44 stations spent over
£600 million last year. So who gives value for money? We should
tell our listeners how we are treated.

If everyone gets the same money there will be no need for a committee to
decide (I wonder what that costs in coffee and biscuits?). It will certainly
save OfCom money.

That anyone should judge whether a licensed station is more worthy than
another is not a valid argument. OfCom issued the licence - so we are all
worthy until exposed as charlatans.

Such a paltry sum can be turned into a lever to make the government
recognise our value. We can provide services they require - all they have to
do is recognise our existence.

This raises a much wider problem. We are all scrabbling around to find
funders. Many stations employ full-time fundraisers, when it would be more
productive to recognise the value of community media, and to allow us to
take over some of the functions of local BBC, and to relax the restrictive
practices that discourage entrepreneurship within our sector.

CMA should
consider employing outside expertise, and carefully chosen some of those
could also provide funding. Advertising agencies, IT and equipment
suppliers, joint licensing and many other options could be considered.

We have the opportunity to create a real sense of national pride, to build
local communities, to train and support local talent. We just need to be
given a modicum of support.

Such financing can arise through providing services. One significant example
is that we should be the first suppliers to the Central Office of
Information. We know we can provide services at a competitive price and we
have a deeper reach into society than any other media. 

I believe we should use the BSkyB decision to further our aims and
aspirations. A significant portion of the media is now in the hands of one
Australian and his son. That helps my sense of national pride, but
importantly offers us all an opportunity. We can provide local news, and we
can supply real information about the mood of our people. Increasingly other
media are separated from the people. Commercial radio agglomerates,
newspapers and satellite stations are monopolistic.

We are the only media in touch with real people.

I'll repeat these are my opinions - not those of the Council.

Trevor

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