[cma-l] FW: FW: Ofcom to investigate over 50 community radio stations
Canalside's The Thread
office at thethread.org.uk
Tue Nov 18 14:55:37 GMT 2014
_____
From: Canalside's The Thread [mailto:office at thethread.org.uk]
Sent: 18 November 2014 14:55
To: 'Two Lochs Radio'
Subject: RE: [cma-l] FW: Ofcom to investigate over 50 community radio
stations
Alex
Thanks for that
you learn something everyday. I just put that in as I fly
around the keyboard hitting anything that comes to hand LOL :-) I’m
not one of the brightest chaps around I’m afraid, certainly from a high
educational background
the only level I left school with was a ‘spirit
level’ :-) LOL straight into Radio and straight into the Factory and
then my DJ-ing
.. I’m 55 next birthday though, and what I lack slightly in
grey matter is more than made up by a grand understanding life and rolling
ones sleeve up and getting stuck in. I understand how people work, I spot
small print, I never get outwitted and all of this is bread and butter to
me.
People have to play fair though, and I do not believe the DCMS have played
fair.
You may ask ‘’what a bizarre statement ?’’ it isn’t, because when
things are pointed out time and time again that are wrong and you still do
nothing about it, you have to ask the question who is failing who here ?
Community Radio is not failing through any fault of its own .. it is being
let down by others. Mainly Ministers and the DCMS.
Sorry, these are my thoughts and I ain’t changing em
And thanks for the ‘considered discussion points not rants’ I’ll try to
remember that even though they are rants LOL
Nick
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From: Two Lochs Radio [mailto:tlr at gairloch.co.uk]
Sent: 18 November 2014 14:04
To: Canalside's The Thread
Subject: Re: [cma-l] FW: Ofcom to investigate over 50 community radio
stations
Hi Nick
I love your rants (er, considered discussion points), but just to be picky,
re number 10 can I point out that <> is the symbol for "does not equal" !
The idea from your previous mail of just putting an overall cap on income,
from whatever source, is attractive, though might cause accountign
difficulties for stations that do a lot of npon-radio work as well.
Alex
----- Original Message -----
From: Canalside's <mailto:office at thethread.org.uk> The Thread
To: 'The Community Media Association <mailto:cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk>
Discussion List' ; 'Dom Chambers' <mailto:chair at commedia.org.uk> ; 'Bill
<mailto:bill.best at commedia.org.uk> Best'
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2014 1:49 PM
Subject: [cma-l] FW: Ofcom to investigate over 50 community radio stations
Ooops only just seen this
. However, if you take my ramblings and
plonk it alongside this report (well done Bill and Dom) even though
unorthodox, we ain’t a millions miles away
Key words / sentences pop up though don’t you think ? :-
1) Lack of funding
2) Lack of assistance
3) Lack of understanding
4) Bureaucracy
5) More Bureaucracy
6) Even more Bureaucracy
7) Community Radio actually doing very well under difficult circumstances
8) Circumstances that can be changed if someone in authority has got the
.*****
.. to stand up and be counted
9) Even Ofcoms job is unworkable
10) Major key word <> DEBACLE
I rest my case
. Oh I forgot, I did that ten years ago and here we are
still talking instead of doing.
Nick
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From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
[mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of CMA-L
Sent: 18 November 2014 11:58
To: cma-l at commedia.org.uk
Subject: [cma-l] Ofcom to investigate over 50 community radio stations
The CMA has issued a statement below in response to yesterday's news that
Ofcom intends to investigate more than 50 community radio stations:
http://media.info/radio/news/ofcom-to-investigate-over-50-community-radio-st
ations
\\
Whilst it is of significant concern that 53 community radio stations are to
be investigated by Ofcom to determine if those stations have breached their
key commitments, it is important to note that such an investigation does not
imply that the broadcaster is automatically in breach. Not all
investigations result in breaches of the licence or other regulatory
requirements being recorded.
The Community Media Association (CMA) cannot comment on the details of any
individual station in public as we would not wish to prejudice or otherwise
pre-empt the outcome of any investigation. However a community radio station
and CMA member under investigation has advised us:
"When responding to the investigation, we realised that we had in fact
over-delivered on the key commitments in question. Our reason for ticking
‘no’ was because we felt that our work had not fitted the exact wording".
Bill Best, Operations Manager of the CMA:
“A number of stations that we have counselled informed us that they had
misunderstood the reporting form and checked the wrong box in error.
Furthermore, it is possible that some stations have not offset volunteer
hours against advertising and sponsorship, and might appear to be in breach
of the 50% restriction. We urge all member stations to contact the CMA if
they require assistance with the Annual Return. The CMA looks to Ofcom for
further guidance on this matter which we will disseminate to the sector”.
CMA members report that Ofcom is usually sympathetic to the issues that
stations face when working to address potential shortfalls in their Annual
Report. Previously the Community Radio Team has assisted stations to more
accurately redraft their key commitments where targets may have been
over-estimated, and the CMA expects that Ofcom will continue to support the
sector in this regard. The CMA fully supports the role of Ofcom as the
regulator in ensuring that social gain, as defined in the Community Radio
Order 2004, remains at the core of community radio broadcasting.
In spite of an unprecedented adverse economic situation community radio
continues to do an outstanding job in delivering social gain outcomes with
minimal central funding - and any issues with compliance reporting should be
understood within that context.
Community radio stations are working with very few resources to hand and no
formal training on completing the Annual Report. The CMA calls for the
Community Radio Fund to be enhanced in order to make funding available to
support the education of community radio stations around compliance issues
and best practice.
Ofcom’s Communications Market Report 2014 advises that over the past five
years, the average income for community radio has fallen from £84,000 to
£55,500 per year. This represents a 33.9% decline over the period. Median
income (the value at the mid-point in the distribution of incomes) now
stands at £33,250 per year, a decline of 5.6% in the last year.
However over a full broadcast week of 168 hours, a typical community radio
station broadcasts live for 78 hours, with an average 90 hours per week of
originally-produced output. Speech output averages 30% of daytime output and
the average station works with 82 volunteers.
Dom Chambers, Chair of the Community Media Association:
“It is a matter of great concern that around one quarter of community radio
licensees are being investigated by the regulator in the area of key
commitments. I know what extraordinary levels of social impact are achieved
in our sector so we need to analyse where there are shortfalls in getting
that information back to the licence regulator. Ofcom investigations can be
very demoralising to those operating from a volunteer base. I am also
concerned at the length of time it has taken for these investigations to
come to light nor that this was brought up in our last quarterly meeting. As
one who has filed five annual returns on behalf of a licensee I very much
look forward to discussing this situation with Ofcom as CMA chair when we
attend our next meeting in December.”
Notes:
Information on community radio regulatory issues including guidance on
volunteer input, changes to stations’ key commitments and details on
complaints may be found on the Ofcom website here:
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/radio/community/regulations/
\\
Community Media Association
--
http://www.commedia.org.uk
https://twitter.com/community_media
http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation
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