[cma-l] Writers contacting community radio stations

Fri Nov 7 14:23:19 GMT 2014

Hi Adam,

I concur with Glyn, and a I believe we are the one of the largest regular
distributors of content to Community Radio, my 2 pennies worth are;

.         Make it easy for stations to schedule. That means frequency and
duration. E.g Let's Talk Business is always 27' 30" long and delivered every
Sundays ready for TX from Monday mornings.

.         Help busy station managers with their online promotion of your
programme (Facebook and Twitter). Give them swipe copy they can cut and
paste.

.         Always distribute to the station manager plus their nominated
contact. Often, you'll think you're going out on a station but actually it's
a well-meaning presenter who is the only contact and may have even left. We
had this issue with one station in the early days, but thankfully it's no
longer the case.

.         As we produce very valuable advise we encourage stations to sell
advertising around our content which then makes airing it a no brainer. I
suggest you allow this in your T&C.

Here's the sad bit; My mantra is that there is very little money to be made
in radio (especially local radio). If you're doing this for the love of it,
you won't be disappointed.    

Kind Regards

Alan

 <http://www.letstalkbusinessonline.com/> Hear Alan Every Week on Let's Talk
Business The UK's Premier Radio Programme For Current and Future
Entrepreneurs - Now Broadcast To 4.8 Million People  

Email -  <mailto:alan.coote at 5digital.co.uk> alan.coote at 5digital.co.uk

Phone - 0800 949 6655

Mobile - 07801 518858

Twitter -  <http://www.twitter.com/TheAlanCoote> @TheAlanCoote

Web -  <http://www.5digital.co.uk/> http://www.5digital.co.uk 

Let's Talk Business

Twitter -  <http://www.twitter.com/LTBShow> @LTBShow

Web -  <http://www.letstalkbusinessonline.com/>
http://www.LetsTalkBusinessOnline.com

cid:image001.gif at 01CE03CD.223AC920

The Media Production, Broadcasting and Training Company

From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
[mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of Associated
Broadcast Consultants
Sent: 07 November 2014 13:21
To: The Community Media Association Discussion List
Cc: cma-l; Adam Carpenter
Subject: Re: [cma-l] Writers contacting community radio stations

Hi Adam,

Sounds interesting - I am sure lots of stations would be interested by the
prospect of free or low cost and high quality material - especially to
spice-up their automated periods.  From my experience there are several
things it would be important to get right - here's a random and most
probably incomplete list in no particular order

1.	Royalties - if it's original work will they be waived or will
stations need to buy another licence?
2.	Advertising - if it includes some kind of promotion to encourage
people to buy books or whatever it would need to comply with Ofcom and ASA
guidelines.  I'm thinking here particularly the requirement for a clear
distinction between advertising and content
3.	Broadcasting code - all the stuff about protecting minors,
defamation, swearing etc.
4.	Length - in my opinion (others will disagree), talk and drama works
best in small bites - especially on music radio (2-5 minutes I'm thinking
for the latter).  Maybe talk format stations can take longer segments, but
they still need to fit between advert breaks and news.  20 minutes might be
maximum.
5.	Audio quality - if you have not done stuff for broadcast before, get
advice and read lots of forums and websites. If you are starting from a
blank canvas I'd say a Zoom H4 portable audio recorder is the cheapest
entrance into broadcast-quality audio recording.  BUT it is essential it is
used in the right acoustic environment - ideally a studio, if not a room
with lots of soft furnishings and the minimum of hard surfaces that reflect
the audio and make it sound horrible on-air!  Record minimum 192kbps mp3,
ideally .wav format.
6.	Submitting recordings - don't clutter their inboxes.  Host the files
on a website (where they could also be available for stations searching for
such material) and send them links.
7.	I'm sure there are many other things to think about!

Regards, 

Glyn

-- 

Glyn Roylance - Principal Consultant

Associated Broadcast Consultants <http://www.a-bc.co.uk/> 

On 7 November 2014 12:02, CMA-L <cma-l at commedia.org.uk> wrote:

---- Forwarded message -----

Hi there,

I am a presenter with CHBN Radio in Truro and I am writing an article
for a magazine called Writers' Forum
(http://writers-forum.com/contact.html) about how best for writers to
go about making contact with their local community radio station to
get their work out there - whether it be short stories, novels that
they are happy to be serialised, radio plays or non-fiction works.

The idea being that it is not just a way to promote their work but it
is also to the benefit of the stations involved as it is a good way
for them to have speech content to broadcast (in the case of CHBN, our
live content needs to be 30% speech to meet our community radio quota)

Obviously I have ideas of my own but I was hoping to gather thoughts
from members of other community radio stations and I wondered if CMA
members would like to put forward any suggestions or thoughts that I
could use - not just actual ideas but ways that potential contributors
could make it easier when approaching stations, such as the best way
to submit MP3 recordings.

My article will include links to find community radio stations so that
readers can find their local station easily and hopefully be inspired
to produce material that listeners will enjoy hearing.

Many thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Kind regards,

Adam Carpenter
e: adam.carpenter123 at btinternet.com
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