<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:Helvetica Neue-Light, Helvetica Neue Light, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, Sans-Serif;font-size:16px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421399746437_6421">Thats great Nick. It lierally takes 1 minute to fill in the online form as theres only one question.</div><div dir="ltr">Must do a full catch up soon!<br></div><div><span></span></div><div> </div><div class="signature"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0, 0, 127);font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><i><br><br>Beannacht De,</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><font color="#00007f" size="2"><b><i>Shane M.J. Mc Breen.</i></b></font></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0, 191, 96);font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="" rel="nofollow"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="1"><br></font></a></b></span></div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="color:rgb(255, 0, 0);"></span></span><br><span style="color:rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-style:italic;"> </span></span></div><br> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421399746437_6424" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue-Light, Helvetica Neue Light, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, Sans-Serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421399746437_6423" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, Sans-Serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div dir="ltr"> <hr size="1"> <font size="2" face="Arial"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> Canalside's The Thread <office@thethread.org.uk><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> 'The Community Media Association Discussion List' <cma-l@mailman.commedia.org.uk> <br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Friday, 16 January 2015, 11:23<br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [cma-l] URGENT - Community Radio Consultation deadline Friday at 5pm<br> </font> </div> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421399746437_6422" class="y_msg_container"><br>Shane et al<br clear="none"><br clear="none">I'll get round to this when I get five mins .... a bit manic a the moment<br clear="none">and when I'm writing e-mails I get behind on other stuff.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">I suggest everyone reads my/our timeline from 2004 ...... I have always<br clear="none">maintained that a simple idea (ie Community Radio) has been made<br clear="none">difficult by allowing folk who have got nothing to do with 'Community' to<br clear="none">poke their noses in and interfere. These such 'people' are only interested<br clear="none">in lolly £££ and nailing peoples hats on and feeding us bland white wash<br clear="none">garbage and celebrity ....... Community Radio ought to have been celebrated.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">You may argue ''well it has'' yes ! by us and not the ones who should<br clear="none">be making things easier and better for us. Instead it has been like running<br clear="none">round the track in Gateshead and at 15 yard intervals someone in a grey suit<br clear="none">comes running out and chucks a 20 foot hurdle and water jump in front of<br clear="none">you.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">I sum it up as before ......... don't use Black and White rules implemented<br clear="none">by Grey suits, use Grey area rules (allowing for common sense and room for<br clear="none">manoeuvre) implemented by sensible reasonable people in Black and White<br clear="none">suits.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">I don't want anyone to take this to literally and I am not saying everyone<br clear="none">in the DCMS or Ofcom has taken leave of their senses, as they operate under<br clear="none">these rules as well and their hands are tied ..... but come on, for goodness<br clear="none">sake, let's have a bit of down to Earth eee-by-gum laymans common sense<br clear="none">simple talk and a simplistic way of applying these guidelines .... not<br clear="none">rules, but guidelines. At the end of the day Community Radio is abound with<br clear="none">rookies, novices, students, people with disabilities, community minded<br clear="none">people who have a tendency to trip up ... their hearts are in the right<br clear="none">place but there are hiccups ..... as long as the mistakes are not done<br clear="none">deliberately or in a sinister way then the authorities need to chill out a<br clear="none">bit and back off.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">These are my thoughts for what they are worth.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Please note .... when you have just black and white rules then the easy<br clear="none">option to simply say ''NO'' to every suggestion becomes so straight-forward<br clear="none">... and of course a 'cop-out'<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Regards<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Nick<br clear="none"><div class="qtdSeparateBR"><br><br></div><div class="yqt5606715425" id="yqtfd17860"><br clear="none">-----Original Message-----<br clear="none">From: <a href="" class="removed-link" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:cma-l-bounces@mailman.commedia.org.uk">cma-l-bounces@mailman.commedia.org.uk</a><br clear="none">[mailto:<a href="" class="removed-link" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:cma-l-bounces@mailman.commedia.org.uk">cma-l-bounces@mailman.commedia.org.uk</a>] On Behalf Of Shane Mc Breen<br clear="none">Sent: 15 January 2015 20:41<br clear="none">To: <a href="" class="removed-link" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:shirleyludford@btinternet.co">shirleyludford@btinternet.co</a>; The Community Media Association Discussion<br clear="none">List; 'Dom Chambers'; Bill Best<br clear="none">Subject: [cma-l] URGENT – Community Radio Consultation deadline Friday at<br clear="none">5pm<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Dear fellow Community Radio Practitioner,<br clear="none"><br clear="none">RE: Community Radio Consultation deadline Friday at 5pm.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Like all of you, we at Blast106 Community Radio in Belfast mourn the loss of<br clear="none">great community radio stations across UK & Ireland through lack of finance.<br clear="none">But how many of you are aware that Ofcom tried to close down a really<br clear="none">successful station in Belfast last summer – Blast106? <br clear="none">In June 2014 the Broadcast Licensing Committee voted to close the station<br clear="none">despite its success and the widespread support from all sections of the<br clear="none">community in Northern Ireland. Blast106 had support from all the political<br clear="none">parties here (a rare event in Northern Ireland to have the party leaders,<br clear="none">MPs, MEPs, MLAs, Lord Mayors & Councillors all come out together in support<br clear="none">of something). But Ofcom ignored all that and pressed ahead with trying to<br clear="none">close the station.<br clear="none">However, Blast106 went to the High Court and the Judge found Ofcom to have<br clear="none">acted unlawfully in a number of their actions and the High Court ordered<br clear="none">Ofcom to renew the licence for the full 5 year term. We believe that this is<br clear="none">a first and a unique situation.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">It should be said that it took some courage and determination to take on<br clear="none">Ofcom with their resources in defence of our community and our station.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">The learned Judge also quashed Ofcom’s previous finding that the station had<br clear="none">breached its licence and Ofcom were forced to change the text of one of its<br clear="none">Broadcast Bulletins (although interestingly they have never sent an email to<br clear="none">advise people that a Broadcast Bulletin had to be amended). Page 24 on the<br clear="none">following link:<br clear="none"><a href="" class="removed-link" shape="rect" target="_blank">http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/enforcement/broadcast-bulletins/ob</a><br clear="none">b2541/obb255.pdf<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Similarly, we think Blast106 is unique in that our application to make<br clear="none">changes to our Key Commitments have been put out to public consultation. Do<br clear="none">any of you know any other station this has happened to? Please let us know.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">In any case, the consultation closes on Friday at 5pm. <br clear="none"><a href="" class="removed-link" shape="rect" target="_blank">https://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/blast-106/howtorespond/form</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none">We hope that our community will have engaged with and supported our changes<br clear="none">which resulted from our own widespread positive consultation prior to making<br clear="none">the application to Ofcom.<br clear="none">As fellow Community Radio people, please feel free to respond to the<br clear="none">consultation and show your support for a station dedicated to going the<br clear="none">extra mile to stay on air for our community. <br clear="none"><a href="" class="removed-link" shape="rect" target="_blank">https://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/blast-106/howtorespond/form</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none">Alternatively if you disagree with us, feel free to reject our proposals –<br clear="none">that’s the nature of democracy – and we have no doubt that big commercial<br clear="none">interests with no community connection to Northern Ireland will be<br clear="none">responding so we feel that Community sector interests across the UK should<br clear="none">feel free to contribute their support/opposition. We would love to have a<br clear="none">big response either way.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">In any case, it takes 1 minute to fill in the online form and have your say<br clear="none">and we would be grateful if you would take that one minute now to respond to<br clear="none">the online consultation. Thanks.<br clear="none"><br clear="none"><a href="" class="removed-link" shape="rect" target="_blank">https://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/blast-106/howtorespond/form</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none">All you have to do is type YES if you support the station to the single<br clear="none">question consultation, and No if you disagree.<br clear="none">It would also be great if you dropped us a quick email back to let us know<br clear="none">if you voted so we can keep some track of numbers. You don’t have to tell us<br clear="none">what way you voted.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Thanks very much from All the Volunteers at Blast106 Community Radio.<br clear="none"><br clear="none"><br clear="none">A quick summary of the key proposals:<br clear="none">1. Music Speech ratio of 85:15 during term time similar to other community<br clear="none">radio stations in NI and 90:10 out of term time.<br clear="none">2. Increasing music variety including a minimum music database of 3,000<br clear="none">songs to choose from but choice will continue to be based on volunteer &<br clear="none">community tastes.<br clear="none">3. Increased use of social media in debate & discussions and improving<br clear="none">coverage of news, sports and politics including local bulletins and a<br clear="none">minimum of 20 news bulletins per week.<br clear="none">4. Increasing guaranteed live output to 76 hours per week term-time and 40<br clear="none">hours per week out-of-term.<br clear="none">5. Improved provision for ethnic and minority group programming.<br clear="none">6. Introducing a definition of our core target community age group as 18-30<br clear="none">(although anyone can listen!!).<br clear="none">7. Removing the possibility of introducing membership fees for people to be<br clear="none">involved, so Blast106 will always be free.<br clear="none">8. Defining that term-time will be the dates published by Queens University<br clear="none">each year.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">More detailed information on the proposals are contained on the Ofcom<br clear="none">website consultation section.<br clear="none">Thank you for your time.<br clear="none"><br clear="none"><br clear="none">Please vote NOW!!!<br clear="none"><a href="" class="removed-link" shape="rect" target="_blank">https://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/blast-106/howtorespond/form</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none"><br clear="none"><br clear="none">Sean Og Mac Braoin<br clear="none">Volunteer Chairman at Blast106.</div><br clear="none">_______________________________________________<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Reply - <a href="" class="removed-link" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:cma-l@commedia.org.uk">cma-l@commedia.org.uk</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none">The cma-l mailing list is a members' service provided by the Community Media<br clear="none">Association - <a href="" class="removed-link" shape="rect" target="_blank">http://www.commedia.org.uk</a><br clear="none">Twitter: <a href="" class="removed-link" shape="rect" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/community_media</a><br clear="none"><a href="" class="removed-link" shape="rect" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation</a><br clear="none">Canstream Internet Radio & Video: <a href="" class="removed-link" shape="rect" target="_blank">http://www.canstream.co.uk/</a><br clear="none">_______________________________________________<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Mailing list guidelines:<br clear="none"><a href="" class="removed-link" shape="rect" target="_blank">http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/</a><br clear="none">_______________________________________________<br clear="none"><br clear="none">To unsubscribe or manage your CMA-L mailing list subscription please visit:<br clear="none"><a href="" class="removed-link" shape="rect" target="_blank">http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none"><br clear="none">---<br clear="none">This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.<br clear="none"><a href="" class="removed-link" shape="rect" target="_blank">http://www.avast.com</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none">_______________________________________________<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Reply - <a href="" class="removed-link" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:cma-l@commedia.org.uk">cma-l@commedia.org.uk</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none">The cma-l mailing list is a members' service provided by the Community Media Association - <a href="" class="removed-link" shape="rect" target="_blank">http://www.commedia.org.uk</a><br clear="none">Twitter: <a href="" class="removed-link" shape="rect" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/community_media</a><br clear="none"><a href="" class="removed-link" shape="rect" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation</a><br clear="none">Canstream Internet Radio & Video: <a href="" class="removed-link" shape="rect" target="_blank">http://www.canstream.co.uk/</a><br clear="none">_______________________________________________<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Mailing list guidelines: <a href="" class="removed-link" shape="rect" target="_blank">http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/</a><br clear="none">_______________________________________________<br clear="none"><br clear="none">To unsubscribe or manage your CMA-L mailing list subscription please visit:<br clear="none"><a href="" class="removed-link" shape="rect" target="_blank">http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l</a><br><br></div> </div> </div> </div></body></html>