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<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>Just for info, in the North of Scotland we have
agreement from BBC Radio Scotland for the seven community-based
stations to take their regional news bulletins from the BBC Inverness
opt-out. The decision (several years ago) was fully referred up within the BBC
and they were aware that we take commercial advertising.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>Our problem wasn't with the BBC, but with Ofcom, who
weren't at all happy at the idea. I recall this was because it represented a
'loss of plurality' to any extent that the BBC regional news overlapped in
content with our local news, and that Ofcom licensees are there in part to
provide an alternative service independent of the BBC.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>We take our national and international news from GMG
Smooth Radio Glasgow. The IRN/Sky services are not really suitable in Scotland
as their 'national' items are mostly England or even London-centric, and will do
things like assuming this week is half-term (it was last week in Scotland).
Smooth Glasgow serves 'Glasgow and the West' and is a good complement to our
service, fitting in nicely with the character of our service. (It is also rather
cheaper, as we have a no-fee/no-obligation agreement with GMG.)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>The main downside is that their idea of an
'on-the-hour' news bulletin starts anything from 30s to 2m30s after the
hour, so our presenters have become skilled in playing music (or even talking)
with one ear, while monitoring Smooth Glasgow in the other ear, and doing a neat
crossover at the right moment. Couldn't do it under automation
though.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>Alex</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=phil.korbel@googlemail.com
href="mailto:phil.korbel@googlemail.com">Phil Korbel</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=jaqui.devereux@commedia.org.uk
href="mailto:jaqui.devereux@commedia.org.uk">jaqui devereux</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A title=cma-l@commedia.org.uk
href="mailto:cma-l@commedia.org.uk">cma-l</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, February 23, 2011 3:29
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [cma-l] Community radio -
get your news from the BBC?</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT><BR></DIV>back in the day, Wythenshawe FM took
live news on the hour from what was BBC GMR. Worked well and we got a
good local-ish news service for nowt, just had to cue up w 'and now the news
from BBC GMR...', possibly a back anno too.</BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>