[cma-l] Optimism
Ian Hickling
transplanfm at hotmail.com
Sat Dec 12 09:29:40 GMT 2015
If you're not an optimist there's not a lot of point in being in this area of the Industry.
I repeat the assertion that the 5km concept is a guide - not a limit.We all know you can't make EMR obey political rules - although I'm sure some people in of Ofcom will tell you it has to.
Ofcom now works on 54dBuV/m as the parameter, with 48 as a sensible lower limit for resolved mono.
I don't understand the reference to "local RF pollution".
Let's talk about illegal uses, poor receiver selectivity and adjacent channel relationships.
There is adequate scope for many more CR allocations across the whole of Band II.It just takes a little effort on everyone's part to make it happen.
We're working hard for our Clients - both with Ofcom and the DCMS.
I feel a few more should try doing the same.
Ian Hickling
Partner
Office: 01635 578435 (7am-11pm UK time)Carphone: 07530 980115 (only responds when driving)6 Horn Street, Compton, NEWBURY, RG20 6QS
Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2015 08:22:22 +0000
From: ravensound at pilgrimsound.co.uk
To: transplanfm at hotmail.com
CC: cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk; roy at rplradio.com
Subject: Re: 4ZZZ & born to fail
Ian, you are clearly an optimist to be
working for community radio - long may you succeed. Perhaps we
should rename this thread "regulated to fail" instead as the issue
is more about the environment in which CR has to exist than a
defect at birth.
I think Roy's point was that coverage was king in the urban
environment. My point is that this issue arises from the well
debated analogue coverage policy document March 2011 (which was
preceded by the Aegis report March 2000 from where the 3-5 km
urban radius emerged) where a secondary service in the national
sub bands was envisaged in urban areas. However, the report could
not take into account the impact of local rf pollution which Roy
refers to.
Ofcom policy defines the 5 km coverage radius as not suitable for
commercial radio but possibly suitable for community radio. It
also quotes 64 dB field strength as a realistic contour. While
this may be based on secondary usage such as in a National sub
band it also cannot allow for urban rf pollution.
Given that coverage is important rf pollution implies higher field
strength in urban areas, something which has already been
recognised for the sallies.
Tony Bailey
On 09/12/15 13:34, Ian Hickling wrote:
I thought I was a miserable old pessimist Tony -
but you're obviously much better at it than me.
Just a few points:
The awful term "Sallie" - allegedly short for "Small Scale
Alternative Location Local Licence" is often used by the
unenlightened to describe stand-alone commercial stations -
whereas none as far as I can find were ever put in place under
that scheme.
Ofcom requires a detailed Business Plan in a CR Application -
so, as it's fact, it's feasible - regardless of the form of
animal husbandry at that location.
We all know how local commercial licences have been traded,
but that's irrelevant with Community Radio.
There are currently 236 CR stations on air, only 7 of which
are on AM, 7 with licences have yet to launch and 21 have
failed out of a total of 281 licences awarded.
Agreed, some are run as a hobby and few are operating with a
sensible level of business income.
But there are a few which are doing the job successfully and
there are moves afoot to spread their expertise for the
benefit of the others.
That, I suggest, is a positive side to the argument.
Ian Hickling
Partner
Office: 01635 578435 (7am-11pm UK time)
Carphone: 07530 980115 (only responds when driving)
6 Horn Street, Compton, NEWBURY, RG20 6QS
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 2015 10:52:13 +0000
From: ravensound at pilgrimsound.co.uk
To: cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk; roy at rplradio.com
Subject: Re: [cma-l] 4ZZZ & born to fail
Absolutely Roy,
I haven't run a full time license but my experience over
the years of being involved in applications, ranging from
county wide ILR to sallie and community was that all of
them were a licence to spend money!
As you know, the frightening costs involved in the old IBA
regs meant huge borrowings and eventual sale (weren't GWR
famous for buying most if not all their stations?). Some
people managed to get round the rules by using office
space (then virtually impossible due to floor loadings).
At least you were guaranteed coverage although you
couldn't overlap anyone else.
The "incremental" licence followed, I suspect had more to
do with unlicensed than licensed broadcasting, one well
know operator was busted by the enforcement brigade on a
virtual daily basis and eventually was given a licence. I
think they spent a small fortune over the years in trying
to provide what was probably one of the first genuine
community services.
The pattern was repeated with the infamous sallie (small
scale alternative location local licence) a scheme of
dubious legality, also I think "light touch" whatever that
means. I remember working out that based on local press
rates it was barely possible to balance the books even if
you sold all the spots and all the sponsorship. The only
salvation with that scheme was you could sell the licence
after a year to avoid liquidation.
In my opinion the requirement to have a business plan that
delivers a profitable outcome for the duration of the
licence would only be feasible in flying pig land. A case
I an aware of amply demonstrates this: a licence awarded
to a prospectus with a no profit forecast and eventually
sold on after a year to a tax loss enterprise. Another
case where the licence was awarded and withdrawn due to
fiscal irregularities.
With this background the draft of the community radio
licence scheme always looked like it was designed to bring
about a rapid demise of the whole proposal.
Put all this lot into a city like London, add a dose of
heavy politics to the mix and a total lack of commitment
to develop a third tier and it becomes a no-go area -
easy.
It is nothing short of a miracle that a dedicated band of
people who believe in community radio (all right, media)
still manage to soldier on in spite of the impossibilities
of the regime they have to work with.
Regards, Tony Bailey
On 08/12/15 21:24, Roy Parsons wrote:
Hi Tony,
As far as I know the JFMG contract is now with Ofcom.
I would like to call this post born to fail.
I have personally worked on over 100 rsl stations as
the equipment provider and many have gone on to win a
full time licence.
Why do many of these stations still struggle?
And what about the ones that sold out to commercial
concerns
The take the money and run attitude that was the
result of the Sallie licences (remember them)
Another licensing shambles.
OK Richard Branson and Chris Evans did Ok from it but
people thinking that playing with radio in order to just
make money is part of how this system works.
The funding is a big part but the lack of coverage to
get any commercial support is always the final killer.
We can go a long way on 25 watts but in an urban
enviroment with bad terrain and local RF pollution it is
a no hoper.
Link FM in Havering Essex gave back their licence for
this reason and are not the only ones.
I really only do community stations now abroad where
we can have 1kw FM transmitters!
Roy Parsons
RPL
Worldwide Broadcast Equipment Suppliers
Radionet House
4 Greenock Road
London W3 8DU
England
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8992 7109
Mob: +44 7970 92 3526
Web site: www.RplRadio.com
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----------------------- Original Message
-----------------------
From: Tony Bailey <ravensound at pilgrimsound.co.uk>
To: cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk
Cc:
Date: Tue, 08 Dec 2015 18:20:34 +0000
Subject: Re: [cma-l] 4ZZZ accounts and
parameters
Alex:
There has probably been more contention about delivering
that part of Section 105 than any other and not confined
to community radio either.
I hadn't heard that JFMG no longer had that contract, it
looks like the new contractor bounced it.
I thought that most radios used a high local oscillator
which would start around 98 megs? Is the other one an
image?
I also thought that one of the arguments for low power
(<=25 W) was that overseas co-ordination wasn't
required.
The point about users having control over the assets is
that the parameters can be changed.
Regards, Tony
On 08/12/15 17:09, Two Lochs Radio wrote:
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.
Tony Bailey wrote: Actually now may be the time
for the CMA to bid for this, if the authorities wish
to devolve licensing? For special events (JFMG) and
radio amateurs (RSGB) are doing it already.
Didn't Ofcom most recently move in the other
direction - I thought they brought JFMG back in-house?
It would be easy to underestimate the amount of
work that would be involved in administering a
community sub-band. The coordinating body for such a
sub-band wouldn't have a free hand within that band,
since as well as keeping clearances within the band,
you also have to keep clear of local transmissions
that are +/-10.7MHz from any given frequency, and
around the periphery also coordinate with the
French/Dutch/Irish and co. That's a fair bit of work,
and potential duplication of effort in parallel with
the same coordination done for BBC/ILR frequencies. If
the frequency coordination and clearance paramters
weren't changed it seems unlikely that a separate body
could do a much better job - it's the parameters being
used for frequency planning that generally control the
way things end up, not who does the leg work.
Alex
----- Original Message -----
From: Alan Coote
To: cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk
Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2015 12:59 PM
Subject: Re: [cma-l] 4ZZZ accounts
A prominent person at Ofcom told me that there
wasn’t a community station in the country that
doesn’t want more power – which tells you quite a
lot about Ofcom and their willingness and ability
to support the sector!
I’ve long contended that Ofcom have a
responsibility to only license stations that stand
a fair chance of being financially sustainable. It
stands to reason the larger the audience the
greater the potential revenue.
Kind
Regards
Alan
Alan
Coote
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