Life FM Newsletter Jan 2006
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Life FM Newsletter Jan 2006 Meet the new staff of Life FM! Dave Heffernan has volunteered to be Life FM’s station manager. He has 15 years experience in managing local radio stations - including the merger and turnaround of East Coast FM and the successful launch of Radio Kerry. He has also trained radio volunteers in both church and community settings. He currently works with YWAM and has a vision to see Christian radio stations established in Ireland. Dave has helped several Christian groups to apply for licences in recent times – including our own application for Life FM. Dave is also the driving force behind Spirit FM in Dublin. This station has operated on temporary Dave Heffernan – licenses for two years. Initially Dave will operate from Cork Station Manager for a few days a month and will move to Cork later this year before the station goes on air. Bláthnaid Marry will be our Station Administrator for the first year – establishing administration and accounting systems and training volunteers to continue in these roles. Bláthnaid has a Social Science degree from UCD and several years experience of property management. Both David and Bláthnaid are joining Life FM as unpaid volunteers. Vacancies: senior music presenter, speech editor, & part-time staff We still need at least two other full-time people to help operate the station – a senior music presenter and a speech editor. A further 100 volunteers are needed for on-air work at night and on the weekends. We hope to be on-air part-time by mid-2006, and full-time by the end of the year. Help us meet BCI membership requirements The BCI want evidence of your support for the station! In particular, we need church members (not just pastors!) who agree to become members of Life FM and help elect a board of directors for the station – this is a legal requirement. Since Life FM is a joint project of the Christian community in Cork, Life FM members in each church will be invited to elect a director from their own church. The lack of members and directors is currently the greatest hurdle preventing us from getting on air. You can help by signing up today as a member and paying an annual suggested membership fee of €20 – although we can and will accept less! As soon as we have a list of members, we can elect those directors and get on air! Looking for a career in radio? Or a new hobby?!? We urgently need volunteers to help get the station up and running, and to produce a library of programmes before we go on air. Four week training courses have been run on Monday nights at the temporary studios in Togher. Our thanks to those who have come along and are already producing programmes. Enrolment for next training is Tuesday 7Th February. We also need people who can present the vision of Life FM to supporters, especially to church groups. If you have skills in this area, please come and talk to us! Many other talents and skills are useful in radio – often behind the scenes. Please fill in the enclosed form and return it to us. Cork New Life Media – owned and operated by you LifeFM is a Community of Interest Radio Station, owned by Cork New Life Media Ltd. To meet legal requirements laid down by the BCI (Broadcasting Commission of Ireland), we need a board of directors drawn from the Christian community who we claim to represent. Individual churches may not control the station and therefore the directors must be elected by members from several different churches. The plan is for members to elect one director from each of the major churches in Cork. Other directors will represent the volunteer committees who oversee programming, training, promotion, technical, finance, supporter base and station management. If you have already donated to Life FM or set up a standing order, you are automatically listed as a member. If you haven’t done either of those, can we encourage you to sign up and help this station become a reality? (See enclosed sign-up sheet). We cannot finalise the contract with the BCI and go on air until we have a list of members and directors. If you can’t pay a membership fee, you could also become a Friend of Life FM and receive regular updates by post or email. Finally, if you could distribute a few extra copies of this newsletter to friends, please contact us. We need your help in getting the word out! Contact: LifeFM 33A, Togher Road, Togher, Cork Phone 021 4554946 086 8754317 Email: [email protected] www.lifefm.ie Sample Program Schedule As proposed to the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) Time Program 7am - 9.30am Breakfast Show 3min News @ 8&9pm A busy mix of news, views 1min News @7.30 &8.30 & short feature interviews 9.30am – 10am Great outdoors / Mums & Toddlers / etc. 10am – 12 midday Let’s Talk Magazine programme 12pm - 12.30pm Focus on the Family 12.30pm – 5pm Afternoons News @ 1pm Music, inspirational readings and a radio drama for kids 5pm – 7pm “Drive” time News @ 5 & 6pm Repeats of the best breakfast features, live local sports coverage and youth news programmes. Initially this programme will be recorded by the breakfast presenter; and later by a volunteer presenter or staff member as the station grows. 7pm - 8pm Ceol & Craic (A different program will air Behind the Walls each weeknight) Core Issues Across the Street …Around the world. Back to the 60’s 8pm – 12 midnight Youth Life A contemporary-music-driven version of the daytime programming, geared for a younger audience Programming principles: we worked hard to come up with a programming list that satisfies our goal of sharing Christian values and principles in a user-friendly, seeker-friendly way – catering to both Christian and pre-Christian audiences! These principles will also be reflected in our choice of music. If you have suggestions for possible feature programmes or interviews, please contact Life FM staff. Office space We are currently looking at office space in the Waters Munster Glass building in Togher. There are two offices available of about 900 and 500 sq ft which would be ample for our needs and allow a little room to grow as our staff expands in the future. One of these rooms could be fitted out with our soundproof studios and the other used for programme editing, office space, a reception area, etc. This building has a number of points in its favour – the rent is reasonable, it’s accessible by bus and there is some parking space available for our volunteers. However we need to raise about €1,500 a month to cover the rent. Can you help? Could you give us a standing order to help cover this cost? If a large number of people give small amounts, the rent is easily covered. Any donation will help, no matter how small. Alternatively, if you know of any other building that is available and may be more suitable, please let us know – urgently! Start 1st Yr Funding status Up Runing Some churches and individuals have given very generously, Cost Cost but we still have a LONG way to go before we can get Life 200K . FM on air permanently. The graph to the right shows our progress to date. If we could sign up at least 500 people as members of Life FM, the BCI would be impressed and we 150K . would also meet company requirements – since members are needed to vote in a board of directors. More membership also equals more funding – if everyone gives a little, it soon adds 100K . up! For example: 10 people giving €100 per month 50K . + 25 giving €50 per month + 100 people giving €25 per month + 200 people giving €10 per month 0K . = about half the money we need annually to run the station! We need about €150K to get the station set up and a further €150K in operating costs for the first year. Paid advertising will cover some of this, but most of the funds must come from donors (this is also a legal requirement). Our Web Site – www.lifefm.ie We now have a new website – www.lifefm.ie. A volunteer has done some great work improving the site in recent months and there’s more to come. Please see the website for more regular updates on Life FM! Standing Order Form Please complete in BLOCK CAPITALS To The Manager at: _______________________________________________ Name and full address of your bank or building society Bank Name _______________________________________________________ Sort Code _______________________________________________________ Bank Address_____________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Please Pay: LifeFM Account No. 65640032 Sort Code 985488 At Ulster Bank, High Street, Wilton, Cork The sum of €______________ (figures) _____________________________Euro (words) Commencing on ___________________ (date) and continuing thereafter monthly/quarterly* until further notice. * delete as required Account to be Debited: Your Name: _______________________________________________________ Your Bank Account No. _____________________________________________ And Sort Code _____________________________________________ Your Home Address ________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Signature _______________________________________________ (Required) Date ______________________________________________________________ I would like to sign up as a Member* / Friend of Life FM Name _______________________________________________________ Address _____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Church / denomination attended __________________________________