[comradio-l] [cma-l] Community Radio and the Sony Radio Academy Awards

[CMA-L]

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Bruce Rodger <Bruce.Rodger at strath.ac.uk>

On Tue, 28 Oct 2008, Joanne Schofield wrote:

> ... it has been suggested that the results of last year's Sony Radio
> Academy awards did not reflect our efforts as a sector at all.
>
> - Was it because we didn't enter? If not why not?

I won't be able to attend the event, but I've been browsing thru
the Sony entry conditions. I note that there is an entry fee of 100
pounds per entry.

To the "big boys", this is petty cash - little more than lunch
expenses.  However, to a community radio organisation, reliant
entirely on volunteers,  it's a significant chunk of our operating
costs. For example, it's equal to 3 months Canstream streaming
costs, or a new microphone, or any of a dozen other essential operating costs.

However, to someone like the BBC, with around 3 billion funding per
annum, it's less than the revenue from 1 license-payer! Or the amount of money
they pay Jonathan Ross every 9 minutes - even when he's sleeping.

There is certainly good content out there in Community Radio land,
but we would have to make a very strong internal argument to justify
the entry fee.

Would it be too radical to suggest that the Sony entry fee should
be waived for Community Radio, or that the fee should be scaled
pro-rata by annual turnover? We're not asking for special favours,
just a fair and level playing field.

Bruce.
-- 
Bruce Rodger Celtic Music Radio