COMMUNITY RADIO TOOlKIT AllY FOGG, PHIl KORBEl AND CATHY BROOKS COMMUNITY RADIO TOOlKIT Published by Radio Regen 12 Hilton Street, Manchester M1 1JF [email protected] Registered Charity No. 1077763 Radio Regen is supported by Manchester City Council and Manchester College of Arts and Technology © Copyright 2005, Radio Regen. All rights reserved. ISBN-10: 0 9551707 0 2 ISBN-13: 978 0 9551707 0 6 This book is intended to provide information for people making community radio – so we want you to use its contents. If you want to reproduce bits of it, please just ask – we’ll be happy to permit use, either for free or for a small licence fee if you’re likely to earn income from its reproduction. Please email: [email protected] to discuss. Authors Ally Fogg, Phil Korbel, Cathy Brooks, Steve Lee Photography Aowyn Sanderson, Cathy Brooks, VIP On Air, Constantine Tofalos Paul Hermann: [email protected] Illustrations P J Polyp Contributors Cathy Aitchison, David Armes, Fay Armstrong, Sangita Basudev, Bill Best, Martin Blissett, Christine Brennan, Karen Cass, Mary Dowson, Roger Drury, Phil Edmonds, Alex Green, John Gretton, Jason Griffiths, Magz Hall, Ann Harbin, Sylvia Hills, Haydn Insley, Darren Jenkinson, David Kay, Mark Kelly, Jason Kenyon, Amarjit Khera, Kerryn Krige, Matthew MacDonald, Kathleen MacIver, Danielle Porter, Diane Reid, Vicky Richardson, Java Sattar, Ajit Singh, Dave Stearn, Chris Sumner, Poppy Turpin-West, Robin Webber-Jones. Design and layout Final Film: Graphic Design [email protected] Go to www.communityradiotoolkit.net to get updates of this book and to discuss its content. The site will be fully operational by the end of 2005 and will also contain FAQ’s and ‘bright ideas’ from community radio people for community radio people. This book and website were commissioned and funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport with additional support from the Community Media Association (Equal) COMMUNITY RADIO TOOLKIT FOREWORD Foreword from James Purnell MP, the Minister for Creative Industries and Tourism It has been said that community radio “promises to be the most important cultural development in the UK for many years”*, so it gives me great pleasure to provide a foreword to this comprehensive guide to setting up and running a community radio station. We are now seeing the fruition of many years of work undertaken by my Ministerial predecessors, the regulators, groups such as the CMA, and lastly, but perhaps most importantly, the many radio enthusiasts who said that community radio was possible. It is now up to this new wave of broadcasters to make sure that community radio is sustainable. The success of the pilots suggests that it can be, but the road will not always be an easy one. This book should provide an invaluable reference to those wishing to run a community radio station and help ensure that this new tier of radio firmly establishes itself in the UK. The social benefits of community radio could be substantial. In particular, disadvantaged communities, who are so often not directly catered for by other forms of media, will be given a voice, and in many cases be at the forefront of community radio stations. Opportunities will be there for them to present shows, help with the fundraising, or simply receive training that would otherwise have been difficult to access. The superb work that Radio Regen, and the other pilots, have done is testimony to what can be achieved. I would like to wish each and every one of you setting out on the path to community radio the very best of luck. James Purnell, MP Department for Culture, Media and Sport *From Anthony Everitt’s independent evaluation of the 16 pilot stations, New Voices, www.ofcom.org.uk 1 CONTENTS – COMMUNITY RADIO TOOlKIT CONTENTS FOREWORD 1 5. MANAGING YOUR STATION 59 James Purnell MP Key principles Mixing staff and volunteers INTRODUCTION 4 Staff roles and responsibilities What a manager needs A MESSAGE FROM AFRICA 6 Line management Zane Ibrahim Human resources management Motivation and stress 1. THE GREAT COMMUNITY RADIO 9 Managing volunteers SWITCH ON Marketing Why start a community radio station? Relationships with other radio stations What is community radio? A very brief history of community radio 6. MONEY AND MONITORING 75 ‘Access radio’ versus ‘community radio’ Managing on low resources Defining your community and the Radio Regen Basic financial management approach Budget management ‘Community’ versus ‘radio’ Broadcast licences Community radio and social gain Projecting income and expenditure The legal framework Matching resources to tasks Radio organisations Finding core funding Cash flow and overdrafts 2. FIRST STEPS 23 Monitoring and evaluation Getting a group together Evaluating your audience Key partners Resources 7. ACCOUNTABIlITY 89 Legal matters Company structures Your first RSL Your Board The role of staff 3. APPlYING FOR YOUR lICENCE 33 The role of volunteers The frequency of frequencies Representing your funders When should I apply? Feedback What’s in the form? Sticking to your principles Filling in your form: background information Filling in your form: practical tips 8. BROADCASTING RUlES 101 After you apply AND lAWS The law 4. TECHNICAl mATTERS 45 Ofcom regulations Paid technical staff or volunteer technicians? The Ofcom Broadcasting Code A very simple look at radio waves Recording of transmission The Ofcom Engineering Code The Ofcom Engineering Code Buying your equipment The Advertising Standards Authority Code Your studio Your own rules Between desk and transmitter What to do when things go wrong Transmitters Recording of transmission (ROT) system Automation Maintenance schedule Your website 2 COMMUNITY RADIO TOOlKIT 9. PROGRAMMING 113 13. TRAINING INDIVIDUAlS 161 Broadcasting not narrowcasting Training methods Understanding listeners Planning your training ‘Community’ versus ‘radio’ Non-radio skills Quality of output Your trainers Impact in the community Turning training into revenue Speech output Your partner college News Other training opportunities Programme sharing Educational partnerships with schools Music programming Ongoing training and professional development Specialist shows Access versus quality 14. FUNDING COMMUNITY RADIO 173 Rotating schedules Grants Station branding Making the right contacts Core costs versus project funding 10. VOlUNTEER SUPPORT 131 Successful form filling The radio station as community centre Advertising and sponsorship The volunteer dynamic Community radio as social enterprise The role of staff What you are selling Drawing the line Advertising and ethics Identifying and accessing other support agencies Advertising and editorial freedom Appraisal and supervision Volunteers and advertising Recognising unmet needs Advertising and listeners The role of volunteers Finding and keeping advertisers Volunteer induction The ASA Code and script clearance Mentoring Quality control Other commercial activities 11. ACCESS AND DISABIlITY 141 Local fund-raising, support in kind and donations Your legal obligation Disabilities 15. SEllING YOUR SERVICES 189 Improving access and usability Contracts versus advertising Communication and personal support Grants versus contracts Fair employment practices Not selling your soul External support and advice Dealing with different agencies Disabilities and programming 16. RURAl RADIO 197 12. DEVElOPING COMMUNITIES 149 Forest of Dean Radio The benefits The need for rural community radio Laying the foundations for community outreach Technical issues Sustaining your outreach work Practical problems for rural community radio Ethnic representation Funding and finance Non-English language programming Rural programming Working with young people Marketing and branding Working with religious communities Setting limits to community outreach SOME ClOSING WORDS 206 INDEX 208 3 COMMUNITY RADIO TOOLKIT INTRODUCTION Community radio UK stands proudly at the dawn of a new era. Britain’s first long-term, full-time community radio stations have just taken to the air. The breakthrough follows a highly successful series of pilot stations which have been on air since 2002. Two of these were established and run by Radio Regen here in Manchester. In creating and running these stations, Radio Regen You’ll also find very little in this Toolkit about radio has had many successes. We’ve also had a few production, or about the technicalities of radio and – failures. Sometimes we’ve tried our luck and come save for one chapter on technology – sound up trumps, and sometimes we’ve fallen on our engineering. There are countless textbooks, advice faces. We’ve met countless amazing individuals and guides and even degree courses available which can watched them bond together into great teams. teach you to make a jingle. We restrict ourselves We’ve seen bursts of joy and floods of tears. And here to the unique problems and opportunities we’ve learnt lessons. Lots and lots of lessons. offered by community radio, and the situations which are not addressed in mainstream media This book and the accompanying website literature. Our task is to help you get on air and stay (www.communityradiotoolkit.com) are our way of there, to the greatest benefit of your community. sharing the lessons we have learnt. We do not claim to have all the answers to every problem you will This is not a manual, and it is certainly not a recipe face. We are aware that some of our friends in book. If you are starting a station from scratch you community radio might offer different advice on could, we hope, use this Toolkit as a drawing board some of these pages, and may have had many and a benchmark. Follow our advice from start to different experiences. The nature of community finish and we believe that you will make yourself radio is that it appears in many different forms, and an excellent community radio station. But we don’t takes many different shapes. That said, we hope expect you to do that. We want you to create the that the common sense of the advice that we offer community radio station that your community speaks for itself. really needs, not the one that we tell you it needs.