[cma-l] Cat Among The Pigeons...!

Wed Jan 21 13:49:10 GMT 2015

I agree, those are two clearly identifiable poles in community-based radio. The Highlands and Islands stations, including us, are firmly in Group B, but in the urban areas there's more of a tendency to Group A.

Alex
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Pippa at Curly Radio 
  To: 'The Community Media Association Discussion List' 
  Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2015 1:21 PM
  Subject: Re: [cma-l] Cat Among The Pigeons...!

  The ‘letting volunteers do their own thing’ debate is an interesting one and I think it boils down to what your objectives are as a station, and how you measure success.  At this point we need to recognise that we are not all trying to create the same thing – and funding comes into this debate too.

  So to take two extremes-

  Group A using radio as a vehicle to deliver community projects – funded by grants – measure success by number of people trained, skills delivered, employability, development of media to support a health campaign etc 

  Group B providing a local radio service where the commercial alternative is inadequate (because the only local element is the news and ads) – measure success by audience numbers, community cohesion, recall and recognition for local organisations who have benefitted from coverage, and yes Revenue which is then re-invested.

  Neither approach is wrong or right imho.

  I’m firmly in the B camp.  Content strictly controlled to appeal to target audience during core hours.  The best presenters in the key slots, with new volunteers working alongside.  Volunteers on their way up the ladder in the evenings and weekends.  Succession plan in place.

  Great content = audience = revenue = resources for growth

  And ‘growth’ doesn’t refer to geography, but in many other ways (subject for another discussion).

  Have a great day everyone and thank you for your inputs.

  Pippa

  From: CMA Forum 
  Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2015 11:32 AM
  To: 'The Community Media Association Discussion List' 
  Subject: Re: [cma-l] Cat Among The Pigeons...!

  Hi Richard, 

  I think you miss the point…if I have 100 presenters doing their own thing I have a station not worth listening to. In this scenario ‘the lunatics have taken over the asylum’ and unfortunately that is what some stations sound like… listeners are not stupid and will go elsewhere!

  If I have 100 presenters who present programmes of any kind that have been subject to documented discussion and agreement in advance by the person who holds overall editorial control (setting a standard) you have a managed station output monitored and focussed. 

  Community station managers forget that YOU HAVE TO MANAGE YOUR OUTPUT. Regardless of the fact that you are a community station, your output is your product.  If you don’t… Take next turn left down the road to Ruin.

  Presenters are expendable… However, lose a sales person and you lose six months revenue and that’s another story.

  Rgds

  Terry Doyle

  From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk [mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of Richard Berry
  Sent: 21 January 2015 10:44
  To: The Community Media Association Discussion List
  Subject: Re: [cma-l] Cat Among The Pigeons...!

  There is a problem here, and one that is probably unique to community radio. As stations we want to allow people to make the programmes they feel their community want to hear. We should also allow them access to the airwaves. However, there is a balance between leaving the studio open for anyone to wander in and start broadcasting, and dictating what they need to say in every link. At times it can feel like presenters have the whip hand, after all without them we’re screwed. If we don’t pay them, then how far can we push them into doing stuff they don’t want to do. Can we make the music fan interview the local charity group about their fundraising bike ride if they really don’t want to? It’s tricky. 

  I’d agree it’s about explaining what the responsibility is off being on the air, and who it is who actually the owns the airtime. It’s also about the community of the station, and persuading volunteers that what they collectively is important but only if they pull together, and in the same direction. I’m often torn about the sound of a station. I love the fact that when I put on some community stations I hear music I’d never normally hear, and voices I’d never normally hear at all times of the day. Marginalised voices are there front and centre in the middle of the day, and not cast aside to the wee small hours. At the same time, some stations try this and just seem to lurch around with no clear sense of what it is they are trying to do. This is where good management comes in, people who can steer the ship on a steady course but still allow volunteers to feel empowered enough to do their own thing, but motivated enough to listen to direction and see the station as a whole, to which they contribute. 

  I’d agree we don’t want one sound, but we also should be a network. A network that shares ideas, content, people, equipment and support. We should work (and join) the CMA to help us speak with one voice. In the same way that we are discussing whether presenters have too much control to do what they like, is there a sense that as a sector we often don’t speak with the same voice enough? And if we did, that voice might stand a greater chance of being heard? 

  I’m sure there is a research project in there…. If only I had the time

  Richard

  Richard Berry
  Senior Lecturer in Radio / Spark FM Station Manager
  Room 101B, David Puttnam Media Centre,
  University of Sunderland, SR6 0DD
  (+44) 0191 515 2239

  From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk [mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of Neilm
  Sent: 20 January 2015 18:28
  To: The Community Media Association Discussion List
  Subject: Re: [cma-l] Cat Among The Pigeons...!

  At last sense! Have spent the last week with my finger on the delete button !

  Neil

  Susy Radio

  Sent from my iPhone

  On 20 Jan 2015, at 17:33, CMA-L <cma-l at commedia.org.uk> wrote:

    ---------- Forwarded message ----------
    From: Terry Doyle <terrydoyle at nnbc.co.uk>

    Hi

    I have spent some time reading through some of the threads here and my temperature is rising slowly as my anger threshold gets closer.  Two points!

    1.Presenters With Their Own Agenda?

    What are they doing on your station in the first place and more importantly, why do you allow them to broadcast in the first place?

    It doesn’t matter if they are volunteers! Just because you don’t pay them does not give them the right to use your station to broadcast the little radio station in their heads.

    Solution! Get them to sign a voluntary agreement that says they follow the station format/guidelines designed by you - The Station Manager (you have got a written station/programmes format… don’t you?).

    If they don’t sign this agreement, they don’t get within fifty yards of a mic. If they do sign and break the rules then… you can wave goodbye and replace them with someone who will follow station direction…simple!

    Presenters on air with their own agenda = weak programme management.

    2. Common Station Imaging Across Community Radio

    NO NO NO.  We are NOT a network and when we start to think we are… we move towards our own downfall!

    Think individuality, creativity and innovation.

    Terry Doyle

    NNBC

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