[cma-l] Adverts on Canalside Radio
Ian Hickling
transplanfm at hotmail.com
Thu Oct 27 15:05:26 BST 2011
Nick
I am fully supportive of what you want to achieve.
So I think I am in Category 7?
This doesn't go against all the other stuff I've written in this subject - because it would seen to me that if you are broadcasting ads free of charge, then it's no different from the advertiser talking about his product in an interview.
You are not obtaining pecuniary advantage from airing an ad so you are not taking revenue from it - which suggests that you have not broken the spirit of the advertising restriction under which your Licence is issued.
I agree that the "No Advertising" and the "50% Rule" restrictions were bad legislation in the first place and should never have been included in the Regulation. I see it as no more than sour grapes from the then CRCA to attempt to defend the indefensible.
My one concern is that breaking a law is not the way to get it changed.
That said, you have given fair notice of what you intend to do, and if you have not been cautioned of the severity of your intention or of your liability to legal action, then you could say that approval has been given by lack of opposition.
------------------------------------
Ian Hickling
Partner
transplan UK
From: office at ccr-fm.co.uk
To: office at ccr-fm.co.uk
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:18:23 +0100
Subject: [cma-l] FW: Adverts on Canalside Radio
Dear All
This debacle will now be acted out in full view of our fraternity. I repeat and I will state one more time that we have no remorse, no shame and no embarrassment regarding our comments and behaviour on these deplorable rules that STILL exist and make life extremely difficult for Canalside and another 15 stations in the Country.
We’ve not just got different rules with commercial radio but we have different rules within our own club ………… who thought that one up ??? !
Firstly, I have sent the contractual agreements through to Ofcom and the various tariffs (OFF-AIR) that 3 Companies are on. I am not getting dragged into a discussion regarding the other 16 just yet as they have no adverts going round our system on rotation.
We have been running adverts for 48 hours and they are FREE
I suggest that ALL in our fraternity reads this e-mail even though long winded and possibly tiresome. It in my opinion sums everything up and takes us to a place where these rules as long as they exist was always going to take us to ………… it’s called ‘nonsense-land’
We are prepared to be exiled to ‘nonsense-land’ as we are fighting a worthy and valid cause and will continue to do so. We are not turning back now and we will see it through right to the bitter end.
This can now be viewed by all the people in this debate :-
1) Those who are completely not interested at all (and they are entitled to be)
2) Those who are interested but wish to soldier on regardless
3) Those who are very interested (I’m all right Jacks’) but choose to let others do the fighting for them
4) Those who should be interested but don’t want to rock any boats
5) Those who are interested but possibly frightened to stick their heads up (but are grateful and secretly agree)
6) Those who have come out strongly and expressed their opinions, but gone no further
7) And ------------ those who have given us their full support (not many) but better than nowt’
On behalf of everyone at Canalside I would like to say thankyou.
When we started this venture in 2004 I for one never expected to end up in this situation where on a message board one becomes a nuisance, an irritation, an embarrassment or even possibly in some cases a hated figure. I also never wanted or wished to invite scrutiny by the authorities or get into a ding-dong with the Government.
I am NOT that type of guy and will always take the pleasant none confrontational route.
BUT ……………………. I will not be bullied, and I will stand up for all our volunteers and volunteers from other stations. I will defend the ethos of Community Radio against injustices and if it means that at the end of it all I achieve is the afore mentioned then so be it. I’m man enough and big enough. I will be at the consultation and I suggest that the chairs are laid out at a distance giving me a wide birth.
There is nothing left to be said. Read the dirty laundry that is being washed in public, I think it says it all ………….. this is where WE <> CCR are at at the moment. We seem to be by ourselves, but we have resilience, we have guts, we have Rhino skin, we have no shame and in my opinion we have justice on our side.
Some may dig their heels in …….. I hope not ………….. but if they do, we’ve got heels as well.
I’ll keep you posted. I would also appreciate a comment or two from some of those who have got 75 splinters in their backsides for being sat on the fence so long.
Even if you think the course of action is foolish or ill timed, let us know. At least we can gauge how many troops we have.
Perhaps I could change my on-air name to MC General Custer J
Regards
Nick another wasted morning of my life on the e-mail !
From: Office - ccr-fm [mailto:office at ccr-fm.co.uk]
Sent: 26 October 2011 12:29
To: 'Susan Williams'
Subject: RE: Adverts on Canalside Radio
Soo & Ofcom
The contracts that we have in place are with the following :- (currently Ukash / Henshaws / Church House) no others apply at the moment as we have no adverts in place or on air.
(these Companies signed up with us for the Packages explained on the attached sheet. (these are old agreements, ad hoc agreements and ongoing agreements) Our agreement included ‘NO AGREEMENT’ regarding on-air advertisements. We have played by the rules for the last 3 years (actually it’s 7) as we didn’t run adverts on the RSL’s either strange but true !
Canalside operates on a ‘good will arrangement’ because of our set-up and our not-for-profit nature we find that this arrangement works. We have been let down in 7 years by only 11 Companies who have had advertising, received philanthropic thankyou’s (not contractual) only to not actually give us the money once the invoices had been submitted 2 / 3 months later. Totally unacceptable and I’m sure that knowing me now as you do, they were not let off lightly.
I have no issues in naming and shaming these Companies as their behaviour and morals leave lots to be desired. (not necessary in this debate though)
I wish to mention this to prove that our contractual agreements are quite simple and straight forward.
1) The potential customers are visited. They are given the details and they have the ‘rules’ explained. We agree on off-air advertising only. They are then handed a document (see attachment) explaining exactly what they have signed up for. Our fundraiser (sometimes me) then leaves the customers office and the customer is left with a complete puzzled and bemused look on their face !???
2) Customers are invoiced Monthly / Quarterly and/or Yearly for example Henshaws <> Monthly / Church House <> Quarterly / Ukash <> Per-annum
3) Customers can cancel their agreements at any time as long as they give us a months notice. Sometimes this hasn’t been the case, but being the ‘’goodwill’’ people that we are we take it on the chin and move on. We are used to it now as we have had to take a lot more on our chins than others.
So, to conclude :- the proof that we have is three fold
1) The customer will have a document from the original meeting. If not, we can easily send them another copy. In fact, they should have several copies as on many occasions when we issue an invoice we send a copy of the tariff sheet with it. ‘fact’
2) We have loggers going back 7 years (all backed up) (all programmes) proving that the likes of Henshaws / Church House n’ all have been with us for ‘donkey’s years’ and that ‘no adverts’ paid for or free have not been forthcoming. I can willingly send Ofcom all our hard-drives of all our transmissions.
3) If the customer comes onboard way before the free advert then this in itself is clear proof of no misdemeanours ---------- which they have.
In a court of Law I have always argued and pointed out the fact that this may come down to something in simple terms. Do Ofcom / or a Judge believe us or not. I believe that Ofcom / DCMS have no reasons whatsoever to not believe us. We have over the past 4 years been more honest, more open and more straightforward and truthful than possibly any other Radio Station in the Country. By God we’ve had to be. I have drawn attention towards us, so we have to be squeaky clean. I do not want this attention as I would rather channel my energies into positive stuff ……… but in a case of having no other options and being backed in a corner, we will do what we have to do.
We do however of course have one issue going down the route that we have no other option but to take …………. That is that giving free adverts out needs to apply to EVERYONE (well spotted) even those people in our neighbourhood who have never been in any contract with us.
I have stated that we have no intention of ‘broadcasting’ pardon the pun !! the fact that we are giving free adverts out, as we could end up in a rather tricky situation. I don’t fancy going to my maker after being trampled on in a stampede J However, do we not have a right to refuse ……. For example, a pub is open to all, but a landlord can refuse entry. Our refusal could be on the basis of ‘’whatever??’’ providing it is not discriminatory on race, religion, creed or colour then no laws are broken, also it mustn’t be on the fact that these Companies have never been with us before …………….. I’m sure we could run a competition amongst our volunteers on the best excuse.
This really is getting silly now isn’t it???
I have examined every single avenue in this debate and I am still peeping into nooks and crannies. We could go down the sinister route and play the commercials at their own game.
EG:- supposing we received a grant for £80,000 + our current donations, we would I believe be able to see this current licence to its conclusion. We could approach every single sponsor and advertiser that Silk fm have and offer them a great deal. Free adverts for two years if they stop advertising with silk ! from my calculations on how some scrupulous business owners operate, I reckon they could lose 60% of their customers.
Instead of them being the big boys calling the shots they could too be staring at the abyss and out of business in 3 months.
Conclusion and result = both Stations in the area gone belly-up ! a wonderful wonderful achievement by the DCMS er not !
There is more than one way to skin a cat. Of course we don’t want this, we simply want to be treated with some respect, some decency and be allowed to get on with what we are supposed to be doing …………… which isn’t may I say falling out with silk fm. We have trained 4 people who now work there for goodness sake.
All this will go away if Mr Hunt and Co get rid of the rules. The rules in my opinion will only go now by exposing them for what they are …. Which is immoral, wrong, illegal and born out of sheer greed.
I believe this is the nonsense that these rules and laws have created and I also believe that it is our willpower and morals that should be praised and for at least having the guts to do something.
I am extremely angry (yes extremely) with all concerned that an award winning Station that spends ALL of its meagre donations back into its own community is being subjected to this sort of scrutiny.
We are not just fighting an issue here we are fighting for moral standards and our community. We are also fighting for our very existence.
I accept that you need legal requirements and this is no criticism of Ofcom, you are doing your job ……….. but I repeat, the commercial stations and the spineless DCMS have dropped you in it. I’ll even go so far as to say that I bet there ain’t one person in Ofcom who agrees with these Laws ………. They simply just keep their heads down, beaver away and get on with their job.
The evidences’ that I can send you are the above attached ‘’tariff / recommended donation’’ plus a time line via loggers of ALL our supporters the list of those who we intend to make Christmas come early for as we are nearly at the season of goodwill and the season to be jolly. Our goodwill runs 12 months of the year, it’s a pity that we get none back from the BULLY-BOYS this whole thing as far as we are concerned from the outset with commercial radio is abhorrent towards community radios existence. A strong description I know but nonetheless true as far as we are concerned.
We shall fight this whole thing to the death ! its death I hope !
As you know we threw caution to the wind a long time ago, and we have been washing our dirty linen in public and on notice boards. We have no guilt or remorse for doing this as these rules deserve to be treated with absolute total and utter contempt. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would be doing this 4 years down the line, but as they say, life is never easy.
Obviously I shall send a list of the donors in question …………….. this is possibly no one else’s business, but the rest certainly is.
I am a very very angry person at the moment and fired up beyond anything that words can describe.
On a legal front as well, could I please ask that Ofcom do a full report regarding coverage and MCA / TSA relating to silk fm. A radio station that CLEARLY ups its anty and CLEARLY states that it no longer just broadcasts to the Borough of Macclesfield but has actually changed its name to CHESHIRE’S SILK is playing the rules and laughing at the authority and intelligence of Ofcom personel.
They (silk) are booming all over the County as far as the outskirts of Chester, the outskirts of Blackpool, way beyond Stoke on Trent and the two things put together give a coverage of a hell of a lot more than 150,000 adults. And yes I am talking about MCA and not TSA ……….. they themselves have claimed Cheshires silk not us.
This is not a shambles by the DCMS but sadly on this particular front a nonsense at Ofcom. Remember that this is not Canalside making this statement and these gestures but silk themselves. If they wish to change their name from Silk fm for Macclesfield to Cheshire’s Silk and be part of a conglomerate including Dee at Chester then this does not constitute a small independent commercial broadcaster.
The whole thing stinks to high heaven and we are now fighting on two fronts. My figures have added up to 245,000 MCA with a TSA OF EVEN MORE. Could I please have the date when Ofcom are going to revisit this miscalculation ? as this would take us out of this ongoing debate anyway.
Poor Canalside Radio is being laughed at, taunted and bullied and we will come out with our boxing gloves on ready for a scrap.
Finally, thankyou very much indeed for always remaining polite and professional, I only wish I could do the same,,,,,,,,,,,,,, sadly we all have our crosses to baer.
Regards
Nick
PS:- as I can’t find a place to put this in my war and peace recital ….. J we have been running ‘free adverts’ for years we have advertised lots of Council things (no contract) lots of businesses that run open days etc which are indirect adverts, activities and live’ events in pubs which take financial gain from those events but give us nothing in return we take 12 interviews every-week from Independent Media News / News Data and others who indirectly are always plugging P/O Ferries / Asda / Thompson Holidays / Stately Homes / Video Games / Ipods and Phones to name but a few but we receive nothing in return. Actually, they send us a few bottles of wine at Christmas ……… (NOT CONTRACTED) So, adverts are abound, but we don’t get paid. This actually makes the whole thing even more laughable
I’m afraid that Mr Hunt, Mr Vaizey and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport have got you chaps presiding over possibly the biggest joke of the Century ……. It is a sorry state of affairs for all concerned ………… even them.
PS again :- we have over the years received the ‘odd donation’ from the likes of Age UK / RSPCA / St Johns Ambulance / Air Rescue / Churches …. Etc we have Promoted and ADVERTISED their events, campaigns and plea’s for funding ………………………….. PERHAPS THE DCMS COULD EXPLAIN TO THEM WHY WE HAVE STOPPED RUNNING THESE FOR THEM … WE DON’T WANT TO BREAK THE RULES NOW DO WE.
It’s a sham ………….. trust me.
Regards again
Nick
From: Susan Williams [mailto:Susan.Williams at ofcom.org.uk]
Sent: 26 October 2011 10:03
To: Office - ccr-fm
Subject: Adverts on Canalside Radio
Importance: High
Dear Nick
The attached letter has been put in the post to you today.
:: Soo Williams
Manager, Community Radio and RSLs
Direct line: 020 7783 4319
susan.williams at ofcom.org.uk
:: Ofcom
Riverside House
2a Southwark Bridge Road
London SE1 9HA
020 7981 3000
www.ofcom.org.uk
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