[cma-l] is there anybody in there?

Thu May 26 11:08:53 BST 2011

Julian and All

Firstly 

 I asked for the opinion of all our fraternity a few months on
the issue of the bog standard payment for PRS 

. I got diddly squat
reaction. Even though the question was quite simple

Has anyone paid over the £700 ??         not a difficult question and seeing
as we are all not-for-profit and operate very openly to our communities then
answering the question in my opinion is NOT an issue 

 if someone wishes
to ask me about our finances I am quite willing to give the information to
that person even down to dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s         as I
said I drew a blank.

Will you draw a blank on this one I dunno’ 

??             However, one
thing is for sure, this Radio Bill of 2002 gets dafter and dafter as each
day goes on.

Example 

.. we have a number of repeated shows, we have them for ALL the
reasons given in Julians statement (good lad / well written)       we
actually don’t have a request show as such, as people (within reason) can
request songs on ALL our shows if a Presenter is in the studio.

We got a brilliant phone call only 3 weeks from a Mr John Garner (who was
listening to the 70’s show one Sunday afternoon)     he answered the TV
teaser that Matt Isaacs set. The show was repeated on the Thursday and
included the teaser, even though no presenter was in the studio 

. John
Garner was listening to the show and heard his name read out ‘again’ 

.
He said to his Missus     ‘’ I didn’t ring up did I’’  ??
he spoke to me about it and found it quite amusing as many others have.

In a world where people are starving, a world where suicide bombers kill
people in crowded markets, where people fight for freedom and democracy,
where people endure hardship, ill health and disability I think some people
should GET A LIFE !                          Who is this clown who rang
Ofcom up in the first place 

. The person is clearly a jerk and the person
who answered the phone and went to the committee with the complaint isn’t
much better either.

We have had to endure the most ridiculous red tape, bureaucracy, nonsense
etc for 4 years, this is another addition to the garbage 

. I want to
know when the CMA are going to actually get some ‘blood on their boots’ and
start fighting this nonsense. There is 219 of us and if this isn’t a wake up
call then nothing is !

I am not saying that we run round breaking laws, I am not saying that we get
into a battle with the dcms / ofcom 

. What I am saying though is that we
get in front of a Judge and see what he thinks about all these rules and
regulations, I also suggest you do what I am doing 
. Lobbying your MP
untill he’s sick of the sight of you 

. We’ve already had some movement
with a number of replies from Ed Vaizey and reading between the lines a bit
of optimism and common sense.

We appear ladies and gentlemen to be surrounded by baffoons 

everything that is designed in this bill to deliver good quality community
radio both on-air and off seems to be under attack from nonsense and
nonsensical ideas and rules 

. We have only two options

1) Ignore it 
. Roll over and eventually die, by being beaten to death with
unreasonable rules and regulations                       or

2) Put up some kind of fight 

As I have said 
.. people shouldn’t always be chancers as after the judge
has picked himself up off the floor with laughter he may sway on the side of
common sense.

I would imagine (in answer to Julians observation) that all 219 of us are in
breach 

.. as long as no one is hurt, harmed, insulted or has died
from a repeated programme then ‘’so bloody what’’   !
WE DO NOT, WE NEVER HAD AND WE NEVER WILL DECEIVE OUR LISTENERS, AND IF
ANYONE AT THE DCMS THINKS THAT WE DO THEN I TAKE THAT AS AN INSULT !

As I have said 

 for Gods sake 

    go and get a life !

Has the Station been fined ?      if so, then I suggest we do something
about it as an organisation because this is a sham, and a disgrace.

Regards

Nick

  _____  

From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
[mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of Julian Mellor
Sent: 26 May 2011 09:27
To: CMA-L
Subject: [cma-l] is there anybody in there?

Earlier this week I saw Ofcom's ruling about a breach of the broadcasting
code by a community station not far from here.

Apparently a request show was repeated, a member of the public called in to
speak to the presenter, was told that in fact the show was a repeat, and so
the said member of the public complained to Ofcom that the station was in
breach of rule 2.2 (not to materially mislead).  Instead of find the
complaint malicious and trivial, Ofcom found against the station and said
that they had breached the trust of their listeners.

This raised alarm bells for me as we repeat most of our programmes and most
invite listeners to email or text in with comments (and sometimes requests).
However, rarely, if ever, do presenters give a date stamp during their
programmes so the repeat could be perceived to be live (although there is
absolutely no intent to deceive or mislead and most listeners know our
schedule well enough or look at the website to see if its live or not).
Equally some presenters, especially newbies, often read out the contact
details for want of something to say, but then forget to check the emails
(which could be construed as deception).

I raised the issue with Ofcom of this seemingly draconian interpretation of
rule 2.2 (introduced to stop broadcasters running pseudo competitions on
premium lines) and pointed out that, as a community station staffed entirely
by volunteers, we don't have the capacity to monitor, enforce and edit
everything to the level they seem to be requiring.  I said that it would be
likely to drive away presenters and stop us repeating anything.  Surely, I
said, Ofcom does not want to constrain community broadcasters in this way.

They came back the same day (preferring to call rather than write) and said
it is indeed their intention to constrain broadcasters.  The way around it,
they said, is for any repeated shows to give a date reference when inviting
listeners to make contact.  Furthermore,  presenters must not invite contact
if they are likely to forget to check the messages.

I sent out an instruction to our presenters and already one has come back
saying it will destroy his spontaneity and, given that he can't guarantee
that a date reference will always be given, he is withdrawing his repeats (4
hours of lost programming per week and many saddened listeners).   

I instinctively react against people banging on about nanny states, red tape
etc, but this seems absolute madness and inspires me to move to Tunbridge
Wells from where I shall write to my MP.

How does everyone else deal with the issue?  

(And for the avoidance of doubt this is written live at 9:15am on Thursday
26 May but I may be away from my desk when you reply)

Julian

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