[cma-l] Community Radio Fund mini-survey

Mon May 23 12:32:18 BST 2016

Yes but   ‘’Houston we have a problem’’

The problem we have is the old infamous Oil Tanker again. Turning it around
is laborious, laboured, slow, long-winded 

. I haven’t had time to read
the response here as that would be yet another spinning plate on top of the
50 odd that we already have 

.the thing that strikes me though is if we had
a response like this (or dare I say no response)  Interestingly there is no
acknowledgement of Question 7 in the Government Response to the Consultation
on Community Radio   ie:- the classic ‘’oh, well ignore that one and they’ll
go away’’      sadly, from all accounts it looks as if we have.

What the hell is the point of having a consultation when before the yay or
nay you don’t even get an acknowledgement ??       this whole malarkey gets
dafter by the Day.

It isn’t my job to be banging on doors and rattling cages, however, if no
one else is doing it then so be it 
..the consultation is dated 2014 and
looking at this we got no response. So the questions here are    1) Why not
?    2) Why wasn’t it followed up immediately to at least get a reply and
get things moving, be that the original Plan A or a Plan B and/or C        I
admit it could have been a genuine mistake as there has been a bit of
too-ing and fro-ing at CMA level and things can get lost.

The word ‘consultation’ has drifted into dispatches again 

the moment I
see that word I think ‘’eh up, here we go again, another six months of my
life whizzing past the front of my very eyes’’      can we simply ban the
word ‘consultation’ and just get on with it. Try it, Suck it and see 
. No
one has anything to lose, not us, not the DCMS, not Ofcom.

On top of that we have a VERY URGENT discussion that needs to take place

I ask the question again and I have asked via my local MP / Mr Vaizey
this money that has suddenly appeared from nowhere to fund Newspaper
Journalists (which has absolutely nothing to do with Radio !)(unless I have
missed something?)     why is Community Radio not getting a 2 Million tickle
£££ from it ?          if this was the case,     ‘THEY’  as in Government /
DCMS would have a more secure Community Radio base which in itself would
deliver better ‘local news’     (which at the end of the day this centres
around)       and a fund equally divided if I have done my maths would give
each Station about = £9,000 quid for starters

 plus a regular little tickle
£££ for the CMA itself.

I ask via our Committee, why oh why yet again are we not even mentioned in
dispatches, not even in the equation and I ask our own Committee    HAVE WE
ASKED THE QUESTION YET ?     I started this debate 2 weeks ago            if
not    when are we putting the question ?             can I suggest it is
this week please and then report back what the answer / response is 

following that response you then deal with it with Plan A / B / C / D
providing we of course have any.

We really have got to start getting our Soldiers in line here as I sense a
going around in circles again, at the speed of the proverbial Community
Radio Oil Tanker.

This might be a game to some, but to others it is very serious with lots
sailing close to wind and staring into the abyss.

Come on guys, ‘get a shift on’ !

Nick

  _____  

From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
[mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of Bill Best
Sent: 20 May 2016 17:45
To: cma-l at commedia.org.uk
Subject: [cma-l] Community Radio Fund mini-survey

Hi

Just in case people didn't see this email buried in the long thread entitled
'Community Radio Fund & the CMA' I'm reposting this in a new thread to give
it higher profile.

The CMA informed DCMS in its 2014 Community Radio Consultation that we had
held a consultation meeting in Sheffield in April 2014 at which members
attending the meeting "unanimously put forward the view that the Community
Radio Fund should be distributed equally to all eligible stations rather
than on a contested basis as is now". However it was apparent at the time
that not all members supported that view.

The original question put forward by DCMS in its 2014 Consultation was as
follows:

Question 7 – How can Community Radio Fund grant funding be better used. 

There are no plans to alter how decisions are taken to distribute the grant
however we welcome views on other ways in which the grant could be better
targeted and how might this be done. 

Interestingly there is no acknowledgement of Question 7 in the Government
Response to the Consultation on Community Radio here: http://bit.ly/1XmMLaA

The advice I have received on this so far is that a change to how the
Community Radio Fund is distributed would not be impossible. However to
distribute the Fund equally between all licensed stations would require a
substantial change on which DCMS "would probably need to consult".

The agreement between DCMS and Ofcom is written by DCMS - the Fund belongs
to DCMS and is merely administered by Ofcom. The Funding Agreement for the
next four years now requires updating. For the current year (2016/17),
substantial change is not envisaged - the first round of the Fund
<http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/radio/community-radio-fund/>
is already open for applications and closes next week on Thursday 26th May.

Going forward, DCMS will look more broadly at the CRF to reflect the secured
funding of £400,000 for community radio for 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19 and
2019/20. Other options for distributing the Fund will be considered.

This week, the CMA has again indicated to DCMS that a proposal to distribute
the CRF equally amongst licensed stations remains popular and the CMA will
collate the views expressed on this mailing list and submit them to DCMS and
to Ofcom. There is also an online form here for members to submit their
feedback:

http://bit.ly/2016CRF

We will keep this 'mini-survey' open until 30th June.

Best regards for now

Bill Best

-- 

Operations Manager

Community Media Association

http://www.commedia.org.uk

https://twitter.com/community_media

https://facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation

Canstream Internet Radio

http://www.canstream.co.uk

https://twitter.com/canstream

Book your tickets now for the Community Media Conference 2016:
http://bit.ly/2016CMAConf

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