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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
Canalside's The Thread [mailto:office@thethread.org.uk] <br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> 29 June 2015 13:00<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> 'Canalside's The Thread'<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> RE: [cma-l] Community
Media Association response to Ofcom's Community Radio Annual Reports 2013 - Key
Commitment and other licence breaches</span></font><span lang=EN-US><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Dear All<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>I repeat and refer to my original
correspondence on this matter when the news first broke. What Dom says is
absolutely correct …….however as I said … the word
‘’INVESTIGATION’’ is a very dangerous and negative word
… it should NEVER have been used with reference to these incidents which
at the end of day (as I said at the time) would in the main be storms in
tea-cups/mountains out of molehills --- and most mishaps would have ended up a
mishap through either ignorance, genuine mistakes, misunderstanding, lack of
experience or dare I say, lack of staff / volunteers / bodies to do the admin
work whilst at the same time trying to keep the places afloat and operational.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>We are Community Radio …. I would
imagine that apart from a ‘few’ most were simple mistakes and NOT
intentional.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>The situation [we] found ourselves in was
absolutely pathetic and the word ‘Investigation’ should never have
been used. It wasn’t an investigation at all … it was a letter and
a couple of phone calls. If ‘guilty’ then ‘after the
event’ by all means use the word (past
tense) INVESTIGATED until
then, leave it in the dictionary.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>A completely barmy set of events and
unnecessary …….. I hope lessons have been learned.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Nick<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
cma-l-bounces@mailman.commedia.org.uk
[mailto:cma-l-bounces@mailman.commedia.org.uk] <b><span style='font-weight:
bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>CMA-L<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> 29 June 2015 11:11<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> cma-l@commedia.org.uk<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> [cma-l] Community Media
Association response to Ofcom's Community Radio Annual Reports 2013 – Key
Commitment and other licence breaches</span></font><span lang=EN-US><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The Community Media
Association welcomes the conclusion of Ofcom's investigation of 38 community
radio stations, 15 stations having been exonerated and removed from the
original list of 53 that was announced last November. It appears that most of
Ofcom’s investigations were concerned with technical or low offending
compliance issues in the reporting.<br>
<br>
Bill Best, Operations Manager of the Community Media Association (CMA) advises:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<div style='margin-left:30.0pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>"The CMA was aware from the outset that a number of community
radio stations appeared to have had difficulty with Ofcom's key commitments
self-reporting system and that some stations could not meet key commitments
that either had been too rigidly drawn up or were no longer relevant to the
stations' operations. The CMA and Ofcom are here to help all community radio
stations with regulatory compliance and we urge all stations to get in touch
with us for assistance if required. The CMA applauds Ofcom's decision to take
no further action with all but three community radio stations that have been
found to be in breach. The CMA understands that Ofcom is considering a more
streamlined and targeted approach to the reporting process that is expected to
be a more appropriate system going forward and we welcome all improvements in
this area".<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
Dom Chambers, Chair of the Community Media Association and station manager of
Somer Valley FM said:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<div style='margin-left:30.0pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>"This has been an uncomfortable episode and one that I feel has
attracted unnecessary negative publicity for community radio at a time when we
are trying to meet significant funding challenges. We must all make sure
nothing like the scale of these investigations happens again. The CMA will
continue to work with Ofcom and DCMS to ensure compliance monitoring is a more
straight forward process. After all we must remember that so much work in our
sector is reliant on the good will of volunteers. Maintaining morale is key to
what community broadcasting achieves as a positive social force".<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
<a
href="http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/enforcement/broadcast-bulletins/obb282/Issue_282.pdf"
target="_blank">http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/enforcement/broadcast-bulletins/obb282/Issue_282.pdf</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color="#888888" face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#888888'>Community Media Association<br>
-- <br>
<a href="http://www.commedia.org.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.commedia.org.uk/</a><br>
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<a href="http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation</a><br>
<br>
Canstream Internet Radio & Video<br>
<a href="http://www.canstream.co.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.canstream.co.uk/</a><br>
<a href="https://twitter.com/canstream" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/canstream</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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