[cma-l] CR Power Allocation

Wed Dec 9 15:20:03 GMT 2015

Without boring everyone we were well stitched up on this one ...quite
conveniently for the local ILR Station.

I was always on the understanding that if a mistake is made, and it's gets
spotted and can be amended and fixed fairly quickly then you run with it
...clearly not in this Industry.

What we do in this Industry is invent a plethora of excuses as to why
something can't be done as opposed to how it can be done. In most cases we
already know the answer but you are dealing with folk who are hard of
hearing, wearing blinkers and suffer from selective memory loss.

Because of an off-shoot of the restrictions, we couldn't put the transmitter
where we needed it. It couldn't go there anyway because the area we wanted
to cover, we couldn't cover ....  in fact silk fm via the rules were
dictating where we could go      ie:- tail wagging the Dog.

The restrictions do not apply any longer because they were given a power
boost .so if the rules don't apply, why can't we go back to Plan A as
opposed to Plan B, without having to make up ridiculous methods and pretence
......I have never witnessed anything like it in my whole life, and I'm 56
now

The mind still boggles

Senor Confused ?

  _____  

From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
[mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of Ian Hickling
Sent: 09 December 2015 14:31
To: The Community Media Association Discussion List
Subject: [cma-l] CR Power Allocation

As I have first-hand experience in this area of our Industry for 18 years
and experience in the technology going back some 60 years, can I offer you
my current view on this?
Ofcom originally said that the onus was on the Applicant to specify his
Community and how he proposed covering it.
That inevitability involved the location and power required to produce
viable coverage.
Very subtly they then introduced this concept of "typically a 5km radius"
which is not as far as I can see laid down in legislation anywhere - and was
essentially a guide for the uninitiated.
Ofcom now however seems to be trying to use it - quite wrongly I submit - as
a statute of limitation.
The fact speak for themselves:

Of the 229 CR FM stations currently on air, 38 (17%) have been allocated
power in excess of the 25 + 25 "norm" - either because they put in a sound
case for it - or were awarded it by Ofcom by virtue of taking over an
existing allocation or in compensation for illegal broadcast activity in
their area.

Of the remainder, 209 are using 25W vertical, but only 48 (21%) have taken
the sound step of employing a horizontal component in addition.
The sad truth is that very few CR Licensees are sufficiently clued up on how
best they should be serving their audience - and 83%  have not achieved more
than the the basic "offer".

Ian Hickling

Partner

 <http://www.transplanuk.com/> 

Office: 01635 578435  (7am-11pm UK time)

Carphone: 07530 980115 (only responds when driving)

6 Horn Street, Compton, NEWBURY, RG20 6QS

  _____  

From: tlr at gairloch.co.uk
To: cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 2015 11:29:33 +0000
Subject: Re: [cma-l] 4ZZZ accounts

Well for our licence they certainly looked at the business plan, and went
out on a limb to award a licence even though a hard look at the figures
would have had an accoutant shaking his head. The assessment of our licence
application included this:

"Members recognised that financing the operation of the service could prove
challenging over the long-term. However, the financial model proposed by Two
Lochs Radio is similar to other rural Scottish services which, although run
on minimal budgets, and with unconventional operating arrangements, have a
good track record in sustaining local radio services."

Which we thought was pretty pragmatic and recognized the realities. Happily,
so far we have proved their assessment correct (it certainly is
challenging!).

That is not to detract from your general point about transmission power.

Alex

----- Original Message ----- 

From: Alan <mailto:alan.coote at 5digital.co.uk>  Coote 

To: cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk 

Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2015 11:40 PM

Subject: Re: [cma-l] 4ZZZ accounts

Alex, 

As far as I'm aware Ofcom don't verify the estimates from sponsorship and
advertising. If they did I'm confident they would see that the revenue per
listener from most 25W community stations isn't enough.     

The question should be, 'Given the type, location and competition from other
radio stations, what is the desired coverage to deliver a sustainable
service ?'

Answer; significantly greater than 25 Watts! 

Alan  

From: <cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk> on behalf of
"tlr at gairloch.co.uk" <tlr at gairloch.co.uk>
Reply-To: "cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk" <cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk>
Date: Tuesday, 8 December 2015 at 17:09
To: "cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk" <cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [cma-l] 4ZZZ accounts

Alan Coote wrote: I've long contended that Ofcom have a responsibility to
only license stations that stand a fair chance of being financially
sustainable. 

Isn't that a legal obligation on Ofcom when awarding licences, Alan? It
certainly is a primary consideration when licensing commercial stations. In
fact, while they aren;t in orde rof priority, it happens to be the very
first of the criteria laid down in the Broadcasting Act, Section 105, which
says:

Ofcom is required to have regard to...
(a) the ability of each of the applicants for the licence to maintain,
throughout the period for which the licence would be in force, the service
which he proposes to provide;...

Maybe it's not the same for community licences, I haven't checked, but I
thought it was.

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