[cma-l] FW: Weekend Digest

Thu Mar 10 12:44:49 GMT 2011

Murray n’ all

Simple question really 

.. we (CCR) are ticking all of the boxes,
without a shadow of a doubt we are ticking all of the boxes, we are also
filling in all the holes, plugging up all the dykes, uncovering all the
grids, ticking more boxes, and then a few more 

.. in fact that many,
that we have now run out of boxes and paper and ink !
and yet we have had   SOD ALL from the actual lottery 

       we have
had a few very nice letters though, it is ever so nice to receive letters

.. but not the ones that say 

.. UNFORTUNATELY, your application has
not been successful this time 
AGAIN

.. after going through about three
processes and answering extra questions 

. I thought I was taking my
11 plus again ?!

The fact that we are operating and the fact that an organisation like Ofcom
have faith in us giving us the licence in the first place and letting us
keep it, should in itself speak volumes 

.. the people on these panels
clearly fraternise & move in the same circles as the little green men from
planet zog at the DCMS.

I’m really sorry to be rude, I really am 

. But one word has been
visibly clear to us over the past four years --- it’s called = FRUSTRATION !

Nick

  _____  

From: Murray Dawson [mailto:murraywdawson at gmail.com] On Behalf Of Murray
Dawson
Sent: 08 March 2011 20:52
To: Associated Broadcast Consultants
Cc: Office - ccr-fm; CMA-L
Subject: Re: [cma-l] FW: Weekend Digest

Sorry, I was replying from my phone in frustration at reading that the best
way forward was to give everyone the same - as been said a number of times
on the list, it's a bad idea.

Here's a suggestion to everyone who likes the idea of sharing out the whole
fund and making good use of the £2,000 they receive.  Spend around the 2hrs
or so that it takes to complete an Awards for All Lottery application, and
if your project is sound, you're very likely to receive £10,000 - five years
worth of evenly shared out Community Radio Fund awards.

The key to all of this is outcomes - if you are delivering 'Social Gain',
you are ticking 'outcome' boxes for most of the major funders.  That's where
the real, and sustainable money is (i.e. 3-5 year funding arrangements).

Murray

On 08/03/2011 20:03, Associated Broadcast Consultants wrote: 

Seems like a great idea to me.  Although some people think it's a "paltry
sum", it would take our advertising a team a long time pounding the streets
to raise £2k.  That amount could go a long way to paying some of the fixed
costs. 

Regarding the "never happen" comment, the same could arguably said about
creating a larger fund!

Glyn

On 8 March 2011 16:33, Murray Dawson <murray at shmu.org.uk> wrote:

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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please reply to
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Murray Dawson
Project Director
Station House Media Unit
Station Road, Woodside,
Aberdeen  AB24 2WB
Tel - 01224 515013     

www.shmu.org.uk

listen to our community radio station live on 99.8FM and at www.shmufm.net

SHMU is a charity registered in Scotland - SC034211 and a registered Limited
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