[cma-l] Closure of Stroud FM and the Consultation
Mark Smith
mark at aliveradio.net
Fri Feb 14 01:20:43 GMT 2014
Ahem ... plenty of talk about the 50% rule, but in our situation, we're landed with the 0% rule, because we overlap with a commercial station with less than 150,000 potential adult listeners.
This means we have never been allowed to raise any income from on-air advertising or sponsorship. Let me tell you, that's a handicap! We're still going, after nearly five years, but it's horrendous trying to keep the finances coming in.
We'd love to see this cruel rule abolished.
Mark Smith, Alive Radio, Dumfries.
-----Original Message-----
From: "donald at donaldmack.co.uk" <donald at donaldmack.co.uk>
Sent: 13/02/2014 08:35 PM
To: "cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk" <cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [cma-l] Closure of Stroud FM and the Consultation
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.
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Stroud FM closing due to lack of money at midnight tonight 12/02/2014
Full details on
http://www.stroudfm.co.uk/
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