[cma-l] RadioCentre unimpressed with community radio changes
Phil Edmonds
lists at philedmonds.info
Fri Jan 23 14:53:44 GMT 2015
The Radio Centre's reply is totally expected. They represent a group of
commercial businesses. Any change of legislation with a possible
negative impact on the revenues of their members would obviously not be
welcomed.
If all 200 odd Community Radio stations went out and sold their extra
£15k allowance then then whatever size of the commercial radio company I
was I'd be at least taking notice that a third of a million of the
sectors income being redirected to community radio.
Now that's taking the view that this extra community radio income is
coming from commercial radio's 'slice of the total advertising pie' and
not from local press or on-line's 'slice'. There is also a case to be
made that these extra community radio advertising sales may serve to
increase the size of the pie, by bring on board small businesses who
previously didn't make a media spend.
At the end of the day it's all relative.
Nick mentioned Tudno in Llandudno. What is their possible impact on the
local small commercial radio station? Their local analogue commercial
radio licence, formally "Marcher Coast", is now part of the shared North
Wales 'Heart' which then changed to be a 'Capital' service.
A breakdown of sales for each licence area is not public, but the
accounts for 'Marcher Radio Group' in year ending 2012 report a turnover
of 2.7 million. Llandudno Community Radio turnover at the same time was
29 thousand.
In the intervening years Marcher Radio Group's turnover has increased to
3.4 million last financial year. The community radio group started
filing abbreviated accounts, so I haven't got turnover figures for
following years, but can assume that they have broadly remained the same
in line with sector averages as reported by Ofcom.
So for each community radio station in Marcher Radio Groups patch (I can
think of at least four off the top of my head), under the new 15k rule
could mean that they could loose up to 0.5% of their revenue per
community station next year. But in the past two years they have
actually increased their revenue by 25%. Having said that last year was
the first year since 2005 that Marcher Radio Group didn't make a loss.
I'd wager that Marcher Radio Group's renewed success will be down to
being part of a big group and would be reasonable to assume having a
"better" sales operation.
Community radios impact in North Wales can only be extremely minor on
the finances of commercial radio at this scale. I can't realistically
see any North Wales community station being able to bring in hundreds of
thousands of increased advertising sales, especially as it still needs
to be 'match funded' to some degree.
Is the impact likely to be more significant somewhere else in the case
of a small independent standalone commercial radio service overlapping
with a community station? That'll be one for another day to try and
crunch some numbers.
Phil.
On 23/01/2015 11:09, James Cridland wrote:
> You're not really comparing like with like. For the Global and Bauer's
> of this world, they account for a large chunk of national advertising
> and large regional advertising. Community radio isn't in this market.
>
> Small local commercial stations rely most heavily on smaller, local
> advertisers. Where some have two or three community stations in their
> patch, the prospect of potentially losing £35k of ad revenue a year is,
> of course, going to be a concern.
>
> RadioCentre represents many different operators, not just Global and
> Bauer. It is right to acknowledge that for some smaller independent
> operators - many of which do not make appreciable profit - this change
> will not be welcome.
>
>
> On Fri, 23 Jan 2015 10:45 Den Packer <d.packer at csrfm.com
> <mailto:d.packer at csrfm.com>> wrote:
>
> It would seem that way Cat. And even more of a reason to ignore them
> when you read these stats from the link that Glyn posted.
>
> "Community radio currently has a 0.7% share of radio advertising in
> the UK (source Ofcom Communications Market report 2014). If all CR
> stations take 100% advantage of the new £15k advertising ability it
> will increase to around 1.4% – hardly earth shattering."
>
> 'nuff said?
>
> Den
> CSR FM
>
> *Dennison Packer | Media Co-ordinator | CSRfm
> **Tel:***01227 816101 | *Website*: *www.csrfm.com
> <http://www.csrfm.com> | *97.4 FM in Canterbury | @CSRfm
> <http://www.twitter.com/csrfm>
>
>
> On 22 January 2015 at 18:51, <cma-l-request at mailman.commedia.org.uk
> <mailto:cma-l-request at mailman.commedia.org.uk>> wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: RadioCentre unimpressed with community radio changes
> (Cat Lake)
> 2. Re: RadioCentre unimpressed with community radio changes
> (Two Lochs Radio)
> 3. Re: RadioCentre unimpressed with community radio changes
> (Canalside's The Thread)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 18:35:09 +0000
> From: Cat Lake <connect at catlake.uk <mailto:connect at catlake.uk>>
> To: martin at martinsteers.co.uk
> <mailto:martin at martinsteers.co.uk>, CMA-Mailing-List
> <cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk
> <mailto:cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk>>
> Subject: Re: [cma-l] RadioCentre unimpressed with community radio
> changes
> Message-ID:
>
> <CAAERnb4dYhHtn7kwAV3sr9OMudzV8biCpTK0fD2Wfk-D2zxcSA at mail.gmail.com
> <mailto:CAAERnb4dYhHtn7kwAV3sr9OMudzV8biCpTK0fD2Wfk-D2zxcSA at mail.gmail.com>>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Just ignore this. It's not like we've gone from no advertising to
> unlimited. We've been competing for local advertising for years
> now. Stupid
> people.
>
> Cat
> On Jan 22, 2015 2:52 PM, "Martin Steers"
> <martin at martinsteers.co.uk <mailto:martin at martinsteers.co.uk>>
> wrote:
>
> > Via Radio Today:
> >
> http://radiotoday.co.uk/2015/01/radiocentre-unimpressed-with-community-radio-changes/
> >
> > RadioCentre, the industry body for commercial radio, says
> changes to the
> > way community radio stations can fund themselves is a concern for
> > commercial stations.
> >
> > The Government today said
> >
> <http://radiotoday.co.uk/2015/01/community-radio-order-updated/> the
> > not-for-profit stations can now make the majority of its
> income from
> > advertising, rather than the previous 50% rule.
> >
> > Siobhan Kenny, Chief Executive of RadioCentre said: ?This is a
> > disappointing outcome and will be a real cause for concern
> for small
> > commercial radio stations where margins are already squeezed.
> >
> > ?The changes proposed by the Department of Culture, Media and
> Sport (DCMS)
> > risk blurring the lines between community and commercial
> stations and puts
> > them in direct competition for limited local advertising,
> alongside local
> > press, local television and online.
> >
> > ?Community radio can perform a valuable complementary role to
> commercial
> > radio and the BBC, but it must offer something significantly
> different to
> > the communities it serves. Any changes must be accompanied by
> a renewed
> > emphasis on enforcement and compliance with the key
> commitments of these
> > stations.?
> >
> > The Government?s announcement follows a consultation carried
> out by the
> > DCMS launched in February 2013.
> >
> > More details on today?s changes can be found here
> > <http://radiotoday.co.uk/2015/01/community-radio-order-updated/>.
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> >
> > Reply - cma-l at commedia.org.uk <mailto:cma-l at commedia.org.uk>
> >
> > The cma-l mailing list is a members' service provided by the
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 18:43:44 -0000
> From: "Two Lochs Radio" <tlr at gairloch.co.uk
> <mailto:tlr at gairloch.co.uk>>
> To: "The Community Media Association Discussion List"
> <cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk
> <mailto:cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk>>
> Subject: Re: [cma-l] RadioCentre unimpressed with community radio
> changes
> Message-ID: <F87C18B650A048FEA0BA4A100D30EEC0 at wwpc04>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> I agree that with a ?15,000 cap there is no serious threat from
> community stations to most commercial stations, but I'm not sure
> you're right regarding spot rates. Many very small commercial
> stations charge ?4-12 per 30s spot. Is that an order of
> magnitude higher than those CR stations that can sell commercial
> time?
>
> I might have a distorted picture from the commercial/community
> overlap that exists in Scotland, but I always had the impression
> there was significant rate overlap in the ?5-10/spot region
> between CR advertising rates (where available) and very small
> commercial station ratecards.
>
> Alex
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Geoff Rogers
> To: The Community Media Association Discussion List
> Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2015 6:21 PM
> Subject: Re: [cma-l] RadioCentre unimpressed with community
> radio changes
>
>
> Even the smallest commercial radio stations have advertising
> rates an order of magnitude higher than many (most?) Community
> Radio stations. (I work in both sectors so I think I have the
> right to comment here.)
>
>
> Therefore customers of Community Radio stations would be very
> unlikely to take out advertising on the local commercial
> station, so RadioCentre do not have a point here.
>
>
> It's this kind of comment that further alienates commercial
> radio operators while co-operation between the two, can and does
> work.
>
>
> These opinions are my own.
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 18:49:33 -0000
> From: "Canalside's The Thread" <office at thethread.org.uk
> <mailto:office at thethread.org.uk>>
> To: "'The Community Media Association Discussion List'"
> <cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk
> <mailto:cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk>>
> Subject: Re: [cma-l] RadioCentre unimpressed with community radio
> changes
> Message-ID:
>
> <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAJdWVmK8n0ZDnFrnt7yKPuLCgAAAEAAAAIoYk2n0xVNBmtTHf+krZdcBAAAAAA==@thethread.org.uk
> <http://thethread.org.uk>>
>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> The middle bit is the key bit here SOMEONE IN THE
> COMMERCIAL
> SECTOR DOESN'T HAVE A POINT
>
>
>
> That has always been the point, my point, your point, the
> Community Radio
> point .. They don't have a point, never have and never will,
> there is no
> point.
>
>
>
> Finally, has no one ever thought that if the rules go and the
> 50% even gets
> wavered, we could reduce our prices right down on an individual
> basis (which
> we do anyway) and then business4es in the Community could run
> with both
> and it wouldn't cost that much more and then we would all be happy.
>
>
>
> I am desperately trying to walk away from this debate and weigh
> up the
> options . they ain't looking good at the minute. I can't walk
> away because
> I'm getting wound up again. I wanted to remain calm ....why are
> words like
> 'cop-out' 'hoodwinked' 'shafted' 'conned' 'bottled out'
> springing to mind ?? something must be amiss
>
>
>
> I would like to receive an e-mail from someone / anyone who
> thinks this is
> brilliant ! I'm not going to argue or fall out as you are
> entitled to your
> opinion, and if you think that something has been gained (which
> I'm not sure
> if you add the others bits to the debate) it's just a bit of
> a token
> gesture.
>
>
>
> There's another one 'token gesture'
>
>
>
> Thoughts please ? obviously we have to be careful
> here that we
> don't undermine the efforts of Bill and Dom .. This is NOT a
> criticism of
> them, they have got out of this all that could be got out of it
> as it is the
> mindset at the top and the mindset in Government that has
> swerved. Well it
> hasn't, it was never on the straight and narrow from the outset.
>
> Number 6 deserves a pat on the back for everyone though .. and I
> mean
> everyone .they have moved well over half-way on that one.
>
>
>
> Nick
>
>
>
> _____
>
> From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
> <mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk>
> [mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
> <mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk>] On Behalf Of
> Geoff Rogers
> Sent: 22 January 2015 18:22
> To: The Community Media Association Discussion List
> Subject: Re: [cma-l] RadioCentre unimpressed with community
> radio changes
>
>
>
> Even the smallest commercial radio stations have advertising
> rates an order
> of magnitude higher than many (most?) Community Radio stations.
> (I work in
> both sectors so I think I have the right to comment here.)
>
>
>
> Therefore customers of Community Radio stations would be very
> unlikely to
> take out advertising on the local commercial station, so
> RadioCentre do not
> have a point here.
>
>
>
> It's this kind of comment that further alienates commercial
> radio operators
> while co-operation between the two, can and does work.
>
>
>
> These opinions are my own.
>
>
>
> On 22 January 2015 at 16:58, Alan Coote
> <alan.coote at 5digital.co.uk <mailto:alan.coote at 5digital.co.uk>>
> wrote:
>
> "[CR] must offer something significantly different to the
> communities it
> serves";
>
>
>
> True. I think many of my commercial radio friends would agree,
> that's a bit
> rich coming from the head of a sector which is better resourced
> and funded
> than CR, yet over the years has lacked innovation and all but
> erased any
> creativity.
>
>
>
> Just a thought.
>
>
>
> Alan
>
>
>
> From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
> <mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk>
> [mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
> <mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk>] On Behalf Of
> Martin Steers
> Sent: 22 January 2015 14:46
> To: CMA-Mailing-List
> Subject: [cma-l] RadioCentre unimpressed with community radio
> changes
>
>
>
> Via Radio Today:
> http://radiotoday.co.uk/2015/01/radiocentre-unimpressed-with-community-radio
> -changes/
> <http://radiotoday.co.uk/2015/01/radiocentre-unimpressed-with-community-radio%0D-changes/>
>
>
>
> RadioCentre, the industry body for commercial radio, says
> changes to the way
> community radio stations can fund themselves is a concern for
> commercial
> stations.
>
> The Government today
> <http://radiotoday.co.uk/2015/01/community-radio-order-updated/>
> said the
> not-for-profit stations can now make the majority of its income from
> advertising, rather than the previous 50% rule.
>
> Siobhan Kenny, Chief Executive of RadioCentre said: "This is a
> disappointing
> outcome and will be a real cause for concern for small
> commercial radio
> stations where margins are already squeezed.
>
> "The changes proposed by the Department of Culture, Media and
> Sport (DCMS)
> risk blurring the lines between community and commercial
> stations and puts
> them in direct competition for limited local advertising,
> alongside local
> press, local television and online.
>
> "Community radio can perform a valuable complementary role to
> commercial
> radio and the BBC, but it must offer something significantly
> different to
> the communities it serves. Any changes must be accompanied by a
> renewed
> emphasis on enforcement and compliance with the key commitments
> of these
> stations."
>
> The Government's announcement follows a consultation carried out
> by the DCMS
> launched in February 2013.
>
> More details on today's changes can be found
> <http://radiotoday.co.uk/2015/01/community-radio-order-updated/>
> here.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> Reply - cma-l at commedia.org.uk <mailto:cma-l at commedia.org.uk>
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>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Geoff Rogers
> Programme Director
> Susy Radio, Local Community Radio for Redhill and Reigate
> On-air across Sussex and Surrey on 103.4FM NOW
> Web: susyradio.com <http://susyradio.com> <http://www.susyradio.com>
>
> Susy Radio Ltd. A company registered in England and Wales.
> Registered Office: 54 Nutfield Road, Merstham, Redhill, Surrey,
> RH1 3EP.
> Registered Number: 06748586
>
>
>
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