<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div>Hi<br><br></div>Having read through Ofcom's proposal several times, certainly any move to reduce the administrative burden of Key Commitments reporting for community radio stations would be welcome. However I believe that the proposal would reduce Ofcom's workload and significantly increase the workload on individual stations.<br><br></div>The Key Commitments template is simplified and reduces much of the community radio reporting to a box ticking exercise around some quantitative statements about the number of original hours and the number of hours of locally-produced content broadcast.<br><br></div>A greater onus is going to be placed on stations to record their social gain outputs - from Section 3.13:<br><br><div style="margin-left:40px">Under our proposed new approach to Key Commitments, each station would need to take greater responsibility for planning its own social gain, participation and accountability activities. <br></div><br></div>I think the proposed new form of reporting is going to make it difficult for stations to know the level of detail they would need to go into to record their activities and some stations will end up over-documenting their activities and some might possibly under-record. There is an opportunity here for the CMA in conjunction with Ofcom to disseminate best practice and develop some training and education around Key Commitments reporting.<br><br></div>Furthermore the proposed new Key Commitments template places a lot of emphasis on quantitative data - and, unfortunately, replacing qualitative outcomes with quantitative information is not going to be the best method of measuring social gain objectives. In fact the Key Commitments template reduces explicit reporting on social gain to a mere three check boxes:<br><ul><li>the facilitation of discussion and the expression of opinion,</li><li>the provision (whether by means of programmes included in the service or otherwise) of education or training to individuals not employed by the person providing the service, and</li><li>the better understanding of the particular community and the strengthening of links within it.</li></ul><div><div><div><div><div><div>And stations will have to take responsibility for locally and privately recording their delivery of social inclusion, promotion of employment, cultural and linguistic diversity, and so on.<br><br></div><div>Delivery of social gain is what makes community radio unique and any steps to reduce the emphasis on such an important characteristic of community radio would be most unwelcome.<br><br></div><div>Best regards<br><br></div><div>Bill<br>-- <br></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><span><div><div><div><div><div>Operations Manager<br></div>Community Media Association<br></div><a href="http://www.commedia.org.uk" target="_blank">http://www.commedia.org.uk</a><br></div><div><a href="https://twitter.com/community_media" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/community_media</a><br></div><div><a href="https://facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation" target="_blank">https://facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation</a><br><br></div><div></div>Canstream Internet Radio<br></div><a href="http://www.canstream.co.uk" target="_blank">http://www.canstream.co.uk</a><br></div><a href="https://twitter.com/canstream" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/canstream</a></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On 15 October 2015 at 20:07, Associated Broadcast Consultants <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:info@a-bc.co.uk" target="_blank">info@a-bc.co.uk</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div><div>This is massively key for the sector, but I don't see much conversation/energy on this forum about it. <br><br></div><div>I wonder why?<br></div><br></div>Glyn<br>-- <br>Glyn Roylance - Principal Consultant
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<div><a href="http://www.a-bc.co.uk/" target="_blank">Associated Broadcast Consultants</a><br><br><br></div></div><br><br><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div class="h5">On 15 October 2015 at 17:34, CMA-L <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:cma-l@commedia.org.uk" target="_blank">cma-l@commedia.org.uk</a>></span> wrote:<br></div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div><div class="h5"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">Community radio services broadcasting on FM or AM provide social gain and other community benefits on a not-for-profit basis.<br><br>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.<br><br>These service descriptions recorded in community radio licences are called ‘Key Commitments’.<br><br>This Ofcom consultation seeks views on a proposal to streamline and simplify the Key Commitments.<br><br>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.<br><br>Ofcom invites written comments on the questions raised in this consultation, to be submitted by <b>5pm on 21 October 2015</b>. 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.<br><br><a href="http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/key-commitments/" target="_blank">http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/key-commitments/</a><br><br>\\<br><br>Community Media Association<br>--<br><a href="http://www.commedia.org.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.commedia.org.uk/</a><br><a href="http://twitter.com/community_media" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/community_media</a><br><a href="https://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation" target="_blank">https://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><br></div>
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