[cma-l] Closure of Stroud FM and the Consultation

Thu Feb 13 23:26:44 GMT 2014

Very eloquently said. But I think one of the key point that you make is about the Added Value of community radio. When I set up Stroud FM at the heart of my vision for the station was that it was both a community radio station - and a resource that could be used for the good. To that end, I targeted training courses at marginal groups, such as recovering addicts, the long term unemployed, kids at risk of being excluded, NEETS, and got grants and formed partnerships with the local college. I was literally bowled over when, not only those groups, but the general public poured through the doors. It wasn't all earnest do gooding tho. We also did a cabaret, held a live OB question time in the run up to the elections, with a packed audience and supported the fringe festival, as well as other various larger festivals. We did plays and stories and some really experimental radio. shows.  And the grants, whilst not plentiful, were there and for the first
 couple of years we had a turnover that reached as high as seventy thousand pounds. The local college also chipped in, paying for our tutors and renting our premises.  And not only did we provide radio courses - we also held IT courses for silver surfers, we did work placements in the office for long term unemployed, for media students and anyone who wanted to get involved. One of the schemes we had was providing work placements in the office for the long term unemployed on the New Deal. Sure, you could say they were being exploited, but I always ensured they were trained up and we had an eighty per cent success rate of those people going on to jobs or further training. Our other courses had similar high success rates and in some cases, we literally turned lives around - addicts in recovery who went on to jobs - some in mainstream broadcasting. But organising such disparate groups needed careful managing, leadership and paid staff. But then the
 government changed and with the Con Dem coalition came the Big Society. Suddenly all of us in the third sector were somehow expected to do our jobs for free just for the good of the community. The underprivileged were condemned and vilified instead of helped. The grants didn't just dry up slowly - they disappeared overnight.  The New Deal programme closed down, and with that went our extra office staff. The college cut back on its outreach courses and so it was bye bye to another income stream. And so the station faced its first financial crisis in 2011. I left - having worked for three months for free I was in danger of going under financially myself too.  Bless 'em though, many of the volunteers who had been swept up in those early heady  days rallied round, got the community involved and the station was saved.  And they have tried their best to keep it going on thin air. But what I sensed when yesterday I had a long chat with the last man
 standing, the station manager, was that they decided to close because they were overwhelmed with the enormity of the task of keeping the needles wagging with no money and no viable steady income stream. They literally ran out of hope and energy, as well as money. Today, the response has been quite touching. I set it up so that there was something for everyone - no fixed demographic - and those listeners and volunteers who have bid it a fond farewell come from across the whole community.  For me, the sadness is not just over the lose of a station, the end of dreams, but also that the powers that be don't see that community radio's added value is in its ability to transform some lives. It was a community hub as well as a station that sought to educate, entertain and inform. Whilst on those principals so cherished by the BBC, trust me, there ain't no way community radio will ever get any of the licence fee. So to those of you still holding
 the touch, I salute you, But until its value is appreciated, supported and funded, its always going to be a near impossible uphill struggle.   

 Claire Penketh. Founding member and former Station Manager, Stroud FM 

On Thursday, 13 February 2014, 20:36, "donald at donaldmack.co.uk" <donald at donaldmack.co.uk> wrote:

Hi All

It's interesting to note how this Strand about the closure of Stroud FM has degenerated into the usual barrage of complaints about the 50% rule.
I've added my tuppence worth to the overall debate by responding to Richard Hilton's accurate post (below) which comes with facts about the sector as a whole.

First and foremost my condolences go to the staff, volunteeers, listeners and other stakeholders that are/were involved in Stroud FM.
Secondly, it seems highly ironic that the day after Stroud FM announces its closure that Ofcom finally publishes the Consultation document. 

The closure of any community station must be desperately traumatic for all those involved and so it should be for the entire sector. The BBC makes cuts, the commercial stations generally merge, but we close down. The reasons for 95% of the closure are the same: Financial. No other radio sector runs on the shoestring and goodwill (of volunteers) levels that we have to endure. And yet, this aspect is not part of the Consultation or part of the debate on this Forum. I acknowledge that the financing of the Community Radio sector is not on the Agenda at this time, however who's fault is that?  

Community Radio has a rich history of providing Added Value to some of the most underserved, deprived and ignored sections of society. I am unaware of any other Community Enterprise or voluntary organisation, for that matter, that is capable of generating so many general and specific positive outcomes. But here we are struggling for survival and the only way that I can see we will eventually overcome these problems is the expansion of the Community Radio fund along the line of some of the European models. 

Surely after decades of campaigning and broadcasting we are collectively both strong and influential enough to attain meaningful change on a National level. We need to strengthen the CMA and continue to build the sector as a whole. Individual stations bemoaning their luck at being geographically close to a Commercial station is an historical problem that does not effect every station. But if most stations remain myopic and only pushes its own individual agenda I can guarantee that one by one almost every station will shut down. 

Our  focus should not be upon these rather minor changes (I acknowledge that it is not minor to those directly effected) but upon targeting Government and the rest of the Radio and broadcasting sectors to establish a more workable model for Community Radio and TV funding. A genuine partnership with the BBC, Channel 4 and other Public Service Broadcaster should be sufficient to open up the License Fee to all those providing genuine social gain. But first we need to work more effectively together.

For the record, I am generally in favour of the 50% rule simply because I believe that genuine Community Radio stations should have a mixed income and not be reliant on any one sector. I worry when I hear stations complain about missed advertising revenue opportunities when 'all' they need to do is increase their level of grant aid to balance their income. Simples!!

Best Regards

Donald

----- Original Message -----
From: Richard Hilton [mailto:Richard.Hilton at bitc.org.uk]
To: radio at bayfm.co.uk,terrymechan at live.co.uk,cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk
Sent: Wed, 12 Feb 2014 18:17:23 +0000
Subject: Re: [cma-l] Closure of Stroud FM

Re Media UKs prediction; has anyone done any research on how much the dropping the 50/50 percentage rule will help the sector?

Ofcom’s 2013 Communications Market Report has detailed information on our sector.  Overall in terms of income in 2012 29% came from On-air advertising and sponsorship.  Grants made up 29%, SLA’s 7%, donations 14% and other 20%.  

So how is abolishing the 50% rule is going to help?  At 29% it’s not that the sector overall is close to hitting 50% limit.

Ofcom break these income categories by type of station. Their figures show the % for On-air advertising and sponsorship as follows:-

Geographic town / rural           32%
Geographic rural                     23%
Minority ethnic                       43%
Military                                   7%
Religious                                 31%
Youth                                      28%

So for minority ethnic stations at 43% the abolition of the rule might help but I can’t see it helping others. Personally speaking I think the rule was set up for all the right reasons; it encourages diversity in our funding models and makes us less dependent on one source of income.  Subtly it governs our sound and ethos. Maybe argue to push it to, say, 60% but I believe this fight is a red herring. 

A far most justifiable fight to pick would be to campaign for those community stations that aren’t allowed any on-air advertising and sponsorship as they have a small commercial station broadcasting near them. Their case is far more important. That is where we should be concentrating our fire power.

The Ofcom report is fascinating and well worth reading.  It will be on their website or email me and I’ll forward you a pdf.

Regards

Richard

From:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk [mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of Bay Fm Radio
Sent: 12 February 2014 16:15
To: terry mechan; cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk
Subject: Re: [cma-l] Closure of Stroud FM

Another station to switch off, this news about Stroud FM is very sad indeed. 
Is there any news regarding the removal of the restrictions before anymore of us switch off too? 
I keep hearing "The consultation is in two weeks" but, when is it actually going to happen?
I see one of the radio predictions on Media UK for 2014 is...
2. The community radio 50/50 rule will get abolished as a percentage rule, but community stations will still have to be funded through additional sources, as the government will not allow community radio to be wholly funded by advertising.
Does he know something we don't?
Andy.
Bay FM.

________________________________

Return-Path: <cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk>
Received: from mailman.commedia.org.uk (mailman.commedia.org.uk [195.10.228.42]) by enkompassmail1.ukdns.biz with SMTP;
Wed, 12 Feb 2014 15:04:56 +0000
Received: from mailman.commedia.org.uk (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1])
by mailman.commedia.org.uk (Postfix) with ESMTP id C1B794A0DE0;
Wed, 12 Feb 2014 15:05:19 +0000 (GMT)
X-Original-To: cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk
Delivered-To: cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk
Received: from dub0-omc2-s20.dub0.hotmail.com (dub0-omc2-s20.dub0.hotmail.com
[157.55.1.159])
by mailman.commedia.org.uk (Postfix) with ESMTP id 21A5E4A0DA2
for <cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk>;
Wed, 12 Feb 2014 14:54:45 +0000 (GMT)
Received: from DUB130-DS4 ([157.55.1.136]) by dub0-omc2-s20.dub0.hotmail.com
with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.4675); 
Wed, 12 Feb 2014 06:54:45 -0800
X-TMN: [c9F6bekIzneK92iJRVdBmXwimS9/FYsjYAL/46UPmR8=]
X-Originating-Email: [terrymechan at live.co.uk]
Message-ID: <DUB130-DS44988FAAD2CFAA11267C89A920 at phx.gbl>
From: "terry mechan" <terrymechan at live.co.uk>
To: <cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk>
Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2014 14:54:45 -0000
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
Importance: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Windows Live Mail 15.4.3555.308
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V15.4.3555.308
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 12 Feb 2014 14:54:45.0223 (UTC)
FILETIME=[5E2F2F70:01CF2802]
X-Mailman-Approved-At: Wed, 12 Feb 2014 15:05:16 +0000
Subject: [cma-l] Closure of Stroud FM
X-BeenThere: cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.8
Precedence: list
List-Id: The Community Media Association Discussion List
<cma-l.mailman.commedia.org.uk>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l>,
<mailto:cma-l-request at mailman.commedia.org.uk?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/pipermail/cma-l>
List-Post: <mailto:cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk>
List-Help: <mailto:cma-l-request at mailman.commedia.org.uk?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l>,
<mailto:cma-l-request at mailman.commedia.org.uk?subject=subscribe>
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="===============1251212423=="
Sender: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
Errors-To: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
X-Rcpt-To: <radio at bayfm.co.uk>
X-SmarterMail-Spam: Commtouch 3 [value: Unknown], SPF_None, DK_None, DKIM_None
X-CTCH-RefId: str=0001.0A010205.52FB8DC5.0047,ss=1,re=0.000,recu=0.000,reip=0.000,cl=1,cld=1,fgs=0
X-SmarterMail-TotalSpamWeight: 0 (Trusted Sender - User)
Stroud FM closing due to lack of money at midnight tonight 12/02/2014

Full details on

http://www.stroudfm.co.uk/

________________________________________________________________________
This e-mail has been scanned for all viruses by Star. The
service is powered by MessageLabs. For more information on a proactive
anti-virus service working around the clock, around the globe, visit:
http://www.star.net.uk/
________________________________________________________________________
Business in the Community

Registered Office 137 Shepherdess Walk, London N1 7RQ

Registered Charity No 297716

Company Limited by Guarantee Registered in England and Wales No 1619253

Please access the attached hyperlink for an important electronic communications disclaimer: 

http://www.bitc.org.uk/fulldisclaimer

_______________________________________________

Reply - cma-l at commedia.org.uk

The cma-l mailing list is a members' service provided by the Community Media Association - http://www.commedia.org.uk/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/community_media
http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation
Canstream Internet Radio & Video: http://www.canstream.co.uk/
_______________________________________________

Mailing list guidelines: http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/
_______________________________________________

To unsubscribe or manage your CMA-L mailing list subscription please visit:
http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/pipermail/cma-l/attachments/20140213/b93a0db9/attachment.html>