[cma-l] Review of the approach to community radioKey Commitments

Fri Oct 16 16:05:56 BST 2015

Yeah - you say that about the 25W transmitter Nick - but as I've pointed out just once or twice before - 37 out of the current 232 CR stations on air have convinced Ofcom that they need more than that - and have got it.
100W is not uncommon - one has 850W!
The time to do it is when you get your frequency and power allocation - after that it gets much harder - but it's still been done.
You have to present an argument which says that without the right power allocation you cannot run a viable business.

Ian Hickling
Partner

Office: 01635 578435  (7am-11pm UK time)Carphone: 07530 980115 (only responds when driving)6 Horn Street, Compton, NEWBURY, RG20 6QS

From: office at thethread.org.uk
To: cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2015 12:47:47 +0100
Subject: Re: [cma-l] Review of the approach to community radioKey	Commitments

Richard et al

I have submitted the ‘rant’
as some in our fraternity will of course call it    (I think
not)   all I am is merely a person who is sick to death of going
around in a circle for 9 long years arguing and debating the same old debacle
on a ground hog day basis. Commercial Radio influencing decisions and poking
their conks into a project that has NOTHING at all to do with them. I don’t
interfere with them but they have influence on what we do. They seem to be able
to have power boosts, change programming and key commitments at the drop of a
hat and yet we’re trying to work in a straight jacket and jump through
hoops with only a quarter of the resources.

I’ll tell you the biggest
restriction we all/each have     A 25 WATT TRANSMITTER
!        we don’t need anymore
restrictions, that alone is enough. We’re trying to provide a service to
people and for people who can’t hear us ???   and then they put
restrictions on us          
who thought that one up ?  a madman !?? 

I try when possible to ad a bit of humour
into the situation because if we didn’t laugh we’d go bonkers. Some
would argue I already have      LOL    

For the record, the submission was made
clearly saying that I don’t care who reads it. I have long gone past all
of that /confidentiality nonsense’      what you
see is what you get, like it or lump it. Too much pussy-footying around, being
walked all over, we need to stand up and be counted with a bit more thrust and
determination. Remember that most of the comments coming back having a pop at
me are from the ‘’I’m alright Jack brigade’’

Under the confidentiality section I have
written   ‘’announce it to the World’’    
my name is on it, so we don’t have Mr Anon or Mrs pseudonym facebook or
Mr AKA Twitter …..stand up and be counted.

I notice others on the message board who
also place posts that are quite forthright, I know quite a few of these folk,
they are fine …. They’re just fed up with the going round in
circles as well. Then of course there’s the silent majority. I know this
because they contact me and tell me …. They don’t want the aggro so
don’t get roped in … they still support the sentiment. So let us
not underestimate the ‘will’ to overcome.

I will make my statement one more time.
Yes, we here at Canalside did understand the rules and implications at the
outset (we didn’t agree with them, but hey, such is
life)      what we DID NOT EXPECT THOUGH, is to be
arguing about the same things 12 years down the line and listening to hot air
coming from Ministers saying how much they support Community Radio ……………do
something about it then.

I’ll try to copy and paste …….(copy
and rant)   J

Restrictions = Get Shot of the Lot

Regulate the spend and not the earn ..
this way there would be technically a limit (it would remain
not-for-profit)   money earned would have to be re-invested into the
project and there is an element of protection for Commercial Radio

Key Commitments ------- most of these
were written (me included) with all good intentions .. but in reality some not
achievable. They contained items that ticked boxes, wouldn’t offend
commercial radio and looked fluffy and nice ……. I was cringing
whilst writing them as I would imagine many others were. We were being pushed
down a road that we didn’t want to go down by the way the rules have been
laid out.

The final straw for me is seeing people
being hauled over the coals for completely trivial matters and words like ‘investigation’
‘in breach’    etc   being attached to
that Station. Completely unacceptable.

Setting the Bar high and ‘’’at
least avin a go’’’ should be commended, not ridiculed if you
fall slightly short. This is obviously one of the reasons why this ‘consultation’
has come about .however, like with everything else it ought to have been done 3
years ago when folk like me and others saw the warning lights flashing. It
would possibly have saved me in total about a month of my life off the e-mail
and phone.

I stick by the word I first mentioned 8
years ago    ‘debacle’     I
think this was the word that upset one or two as I was on the receiving end of
a lecture. It of course went straight over my head.

Of course life is about opinions, some
will agree, some will disagree ….but one thing is for sure, if you do
nothing about it, don’t get involved, don’t roll your sleeves up,
you will forever be trodden on.

Time to cut-loose and let Community Radio
really flourish.

By the way, read the comments from 3
years ago   re:-TV ………….. correct again. It
was never going to work and the money ought to have been put into Community
Radio. We’d have a descent Pot, Commercial Radio would be protected (they’d
like that)   and we’d only need to rummage through a few
adverts and everyone’s a happy bunny.

I can’t remember the Minister at
the time (Jeremy Hunt possibly?)   but my exact words to him
were   ‘’don’t you think you ought to be sorting
out Community Radio first, before mIthering with Community TV?’

I’ve virtually covered the entry,
but I send it over

Love you all  xxx   keep
on truckin’

Sir Hamster Wheel-Wright [University of Pott Shrigley]

By the way …… I think Ofcom
have read it as there has been correspondence this morning .and I reckon it’s
food for thought. My command of English isn’t good & sadly I didn’t
get A Level or O Level English as you can see ……. The message is
clear though and that’s what matters.

From:
cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk [mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk]
On Behalf Of Richard Hilton

Sent: 16 October 2015 09:26

To: The Community Media
Association Discussion List

Subject: Re: [cma-l] Review of the
approach to community radioKey Commitments

Glad you have done
this.  Is it possible to share your submission as a guide and
encouragement to others to get involved in this vitally important
consultation?  

Richard

From:
cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
[mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of Canalside's The Thread

Sent: 15 October 2015 19:35

To: 'The Community Media
Association Discussion List'

Subject: Re: [cma-l] Review of the
approach to community radio Key Commitments

Done  and Dusted !

Seek under the headline/title 
----   ‘’not pussy-footying
around’’   [part 1 ‘’hot under the
collar’’]  [sub clause 4 ‘’haven’t we been
here 20 times before?’’]  [sub section 2b ‘’seeing
is believing’’]   [clause 5 ‘’it’s
about time’’]

Sir Nicholas Henry Hamster Wheel-Wright
[Professor of Community Radio Economics] [University of Pott Shrigley]

From:
cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
[mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk]
On Behalf Of CMA-L

Sent: 15 October 2015 17:35

To: cma-l at commedia.org.uk

Subject: [cma-l] Review of the
approach to community radio Key Commitments

Community radio services broadcasting on FM or AM provide social gain
and other community benefits on a not-for-profit basis.

Each station is required to provide the service described in its licence, which
is based on the proposals it made during the application process for the
licence.

These service descriptions recorded in community radio licences are called
‘Key Commitments’.

This Ofcom consultation seeks views on a proposal to streamline and simplify
the Key Commitments.

This will free up community radio stations, enabling them to focus on serving
their target communities, adapt better to the changing needs of those
communities, and deliver social gain.

Ofcom invites written comments on the questions raised in this consultation, to
be submitted by 5pm on 21 October 2015.
Ofcom strongly prefers to receive responses in electronic format and their web
form will allow you to indicate your data protection preferences and send your
views to the team responsible for this consultation.

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/key-commitments/

\\

Community Media Association

--

http://www.commedia.org.uk/

http://twitter.com/community_media

https://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation

Canstream Internet Radio & Video

http://www.canstream.co.uk/

https://twitter.com/canstream

  This email is free from viruses and
  malware because avast! Antivirus
  protection is active. 

The information in this email is confidential and may be privileged. It
is for use by the addressee only. If you are not the addressee or if this email
is sent to you in error, please let us know by return and delete the email from
your computer. You may not copy it, or use its contents or disclose them to
another person. No liability is accepted for viruses and it is your
responsibility to scan any attachments. 

				This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.

_______________________________________________

Reply - cma-l at commedia.org.uk

The cma-l mailing list is a members' service provided by the Community Media Association - http://www.commedia.org.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/community_media
http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation
Canstream Internet Radio & Video: http://www.canstream.co.uk/
_______________________________________________

Mailing list guidelines: http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/
_______________________________________________

To unsubscribe or manage your CMA-L mailing list subscription please visit:
http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l 		 	   		  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/pipermail/cma-l/attachments/20151016/1d28638d/attachment.html>