[cma-l] is there anybody in there?

Thu May 26 15:19:36 BST 2011

 Sorry pressed send instead of save..  it follows the case of Liz Kershaw and a faked phone in programme on BBC 6  in 2008 .. which was a bit of landmark case. See below..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7497168.stm

So OFCOM are unlikely to change their point of view, and make a special case for community radio. 

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

--- On Thu, 26/5/11, Office - ccr-fm <office at ccr-fm.co.uk> wrote:

From: Office - ccr-fm <office at ccr-fm.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [cma-l] is there anybody in there?
To: martin at martinsteers.co.uk, "'CMA-L'" <cma-l at commedia.org.uk>, "'jaqui devereux'" <jaqui.devereux at commedia.org.uk>
Date: Thursday, 26 May, 2011, 11:36

Martin n’ all

I forgot to mention in my rant)       we (CCR) plug all week long that some of our programmes are repeated ….. ie:- 60’s / 70’s / 80’s etc     by doing so PROVES that we are not wishing to deliberately deceive our listeners.

I was on-air last week and mentioned that ‘’the next programme is a repeat of Sundays seventies show’’  (as I do everyweek)           whilst the show was playing, three people rang up in the first 20 minutes of the show, all of them said ‘’oh nevermind I’ll ring back on Sunday’’ …………..

I fully understand the rules and I fully understand that they are there to protect listeners and Joe public …………. It is unfair to encourage listeners to text / ring shows knowing that they will get no reaction / no answer and be charged …………… certainly if it is being charged at premium competition rate.

We don’t have any charges at our station, that is not what we are about and we take every opportunity and care to ensure that listeners are not deceived ………..

So, my conclusion is this ………….. rule 2.2 needs changing !                               it either states clearly that repeated shows are NOT permitted full stop, as this argument will always rear up it’s ugly head or it is left alone and everyone gets fined ………… I don’t think there is a community station in the Land that hasn’t dropped a clanger on this one.
Volunteers simply do not have the time or the will to then finish there show and go searching and editing out everytime they mention a phone contact.

However, having had my rant I do accept completely that rule 2.2 should exist, but not if common sense can’t be applied.

The station in breach …… have they been fined ??               damn shame if they have.

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: 26 May 2011 10:26
To: Julian Mellor
Cc: CMA-L
Subject: Re: [cma-l] is there anybody in there?

Although I never like to see a station get breached, I must admit in this case they did break the rules, if you read the previous cases and the statement ofcom made at the time they where trying to clamp down on recorded, non line calls to action, and I dont think I disagree with it.

If your doing any listener based show that relies heavily on listener engagement be it song requests, thoughts and feelings or any form of voting etc then this can not be pre-recorded, and if its repeated I think you need to make that clear as often as you can to your listeners.

The case that got breached wasnt a repeat, as far as I can tell it was a pre-record.. 

And not to be harsh.. but I am afraid "we don't have the capacity to monitor, enforce and edit everything to the level they seem to be requiring." goes against what the station signed up for when you applied for your license and started broadcasting, as a station you have a responsibility for everything you broadcast and it must all be code compliant.

I dont know if I agree with having to use the time and date all the time, do your volunteers have an extra 15 minutes to edit their shows? Would a generic "Your listening to a repeat of XYZ show from the XYZ date, any requests taken wont make it to this show but we will try out best to put them in the next show" and get them to stick it at the start of the show, and at regular points during the show (maybe over the original calls to action). You might want to double check with ofcom, but you might find thats a good step in the right direction and maybe all you need to do. Other things you could do is make it clear on websites etc that its a repeat, but use this as a positive to encourage people to listen to the live shows, maybe also look at either auto replying to any incoming messages explaining that its a repeat and you hope to get their request next time.. Either automated or by hand..

The rules and code are there to protect the listeners and broadcasters, it has to be the same rules for everyone regardless of the amount of listeners, demographic or if your charging £1.50 a txt.

Martin

On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 9:27 AM, Julian Mellor <julian at 10radio.org> wrote:

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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