the community radio toolkit

Below are the latest funding and personal development schemes which are currently accepting applications. They are listing in order of deadline and we thank Tamar Millen at the CMA for sending many of them through. At the top of the page is the Funding Central automated update of new funds. If you know of another or would like your scheme to be added to this page, let us know.

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FIRST STEPS IN RADIO BROADCASTING

From Bolton Market Radio

Units
Organisational Skills
i. Negotiation & Planning of Learning Programme
ii. Review of Learning Programme

Health & Safety in Radio Broadcasting Studios
iii. Knowledge of H & S procedures
iv. Knowledge of Hazards
v. Knowledge of Emergency Procedures
vi. Knowledge of First Aid
vii. Maintenance of Studio Equipment

Knowledge of Equipment & Materials Needed to Broadcast on Radio
viii. Knowledge of Equipment needed [ mixing desks, microphones, headphones, CD players, Computer Programs ]
ix. Knowledge of Materials Needed to Broadcast [ music, speech, jingles, adverts ]
x. Following Instructions

Selecting & Using Broadcasting Equipment & Materials
xi. Selecting Appropriate Equipment for a Given Task
xii. Using Broadcasting Equipment & Materials
xiii.Describing the Task

Presentation Skills
xiv. Preparation
xv. Using Correct Techniques
xvi. Achievement of Task – show recorded on CD / Tape
xvii. Evaluation of Task

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Please also see the organisations listed under National and Umbrella Organisations, including Radio Regen and the Community Media Association.

The Association for Progressive Communications
Training materials for community radio and other communications media internationally. http://www.apc.org/english/capacity/training/index.shtml

BBC Radio Training
Online and face-to-face courses covering all aspects of technical and operational radio skills. http://www.bbctraining.com/radio.asp

The Broadcast Journalist Training Council
Courses for future radio and TV journalists. http:/www.bjtc.org.uk

CSV Media
Volunteering & training organisation, including radio skills. Regional organisations available via the website. www.csv.org.uk

I Train Online
Guides to making community radio including writing serials, evaluating programmes, producing content, interviewing, writing for radio. http://www.itrainonline.org/itrainonline/english/community_radio.shtml

Lifeforce Productions
Music production and training facilities. http://www.lifeforceproductions.co.uk/home.asp

Media Training Masterclasses
Training for in radio and TV presentation at the BBC Training and Development centre in Worcestershire. http://www.media-training-masterclasses.co.uk

National Broadcasting School
Tuition in radio presentation and news. http://www.nationalbroadcastingschool.com

NEAR FM (North East Access Radio in Ireland) http://www.nearfm.ie/plm.htm
Community Media Participatory Learning Manual http://www.nearfm.ie/tour.html
Tips for community radio workers and volunteers on preparation, vox pops, interviewing, helpful hints, sample running orders and do’s and don’ts. Online example of a station handbook. http://www.nearfm.ie/handbook.html

Schools radio www.schoolsradio.com

Skillset
The sector skills council for broadcast, film, video and multimedia. http://www.skillset.org/

Radio Active http://www.radioactive.org.uk/training.htm

Radio in London
Radio training organisations in London and the South East. http://www.radioinlondon.com/training/index.htm

The Radio School
Courses in radio presentation and production techniques. http://www.theradioschool.com

Radiowaves Training for schools in making internet radio, video, podcasts and blogs. http://www.radiowaves.co.uk

Solar – Solutions in Audio and Radio
A range of services aimed at getting your radio project up and running. http://www.solaraudioradio.co.uk

Wolverhampton Community Radio Training
Wolverhampton-based voluntary sector organisation providing training and practical experience in community radio. http://www.wcrt.co.uk/

Women’s Radio Group
Training and information for women in radio http://www.womeninradio.org.uk/

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A short guide to working with volunteers at a community radio station

Volunteers are central to the successful running of community radio stations. This short guide provides some basic information on roles of staff and volunteers, recruitment, policies and good practice and suggestions for good communication – the essence of positive working relationships in any organisation.

• Other useful information on our website on working with volunteers:
• The Community Radio Toolkit chapter on Volunteer Support providing advice on working with and supporting volunteers without shying away from some of the difficulties you may encounter. There’s also guidance on the role of staff vis-à-vis volunteers, Dos and Don’ts, appraisal and supervision information.
• You will also find some useful information on working with volunteers in the chapter on Managing Your Station
• Links to resources on other websites

Roles – Paid Staff and Volunteers

Most community radio stations are run by a mix of volunteers and paid staff. A licensed station may typically have around three to five paid staff members taking some of these roles:- station/project management

• administration and finance
• community outreach
• training
• business development
• volunteer support worker

Volunteers can be involved in any variety of areas, most commonly:- presentation

• programme making
• technical support
• news gathering
• research
• fundraising
• and many other jobs including answering the phone, reception, joining the management committee

The Student Radio Association has a wiki on running student radio that offers a useful list of station management roles. Take a look on their website at http://www.studentradio.org.uk/wiki/index.php/Station_management

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Resources for anyone who works with or manages volunteers
http://www.volunteering.org.uk/

Training: Excellence in Volunteer Management course
http://www.volunteering.org.uk/managingvolunteers/EVM/

Free good practice guides:
http://www.volunteering.org.uk/managingvolunteers/publications/freeguides.htm

Recruiting volunteers in England using the brokerage of a volunteer centre
http://www.volunteering.org.uk/Local+and+Regional/

Volunteer Development Scotland
http://www.vds.org.uk

Wales Council for Voluntary Action
http://www.wcva.org.uk

Volunteer Development Agency Northern Ireland
http://www.volunteering-ni.org/

Consulting Staff and volunteers: developing a policy
http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/?id=236

Recruitment: finding and recruiting volunteers
http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/?id=226

Managing volunteers: a short check-list
http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/?id=224

VolResource site. Volunteer Management; a list of resources
http://www.volresource.org.uk/briefing/volunteer.htm

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1. Rules around generating advertising revenue: Prohibitions and caps
The following information comes from the Community Media Association (CMA) which advises members organisations on all areas of legislation and regulation for community radio; more information visit the website at http://www.commedia.org.uk

In certain cases, Community Radio stations are able generate revenue through on-air advertising and sponsorship. Where advertising and sponsorship is allowed, the Community Radio station will be permitted to generate no more than 50% of its annual income from the sale of advertising and programme sponsorship.

Community Radio services prohibited from generating on air revenue
The Community Radio Order 2004 contains a restriction that prevents Community Radio services in certain areas from including remunerated advertisements and sponsorship of programmes. The restriction is defined as follows:
Any community radio station with a coverage area which overlaps by 50% or more with a commercial radio station with a *Measured Coverage Area (MCA) which contains more than50,000 adults and no more than 150,000 adults will not be allowed to take any advertising or programme sponsorship.
This restriction was placed in the Order to protect small Commercial stations. The restriction will be reviewed2 years after the first Community Radio station is licensed i.e. sometime after November 2007.

* Measured Coverage Area (MCA) for a Radio station is based on a measurement made by Ofcom. It refers to the vicinity in which the signal strength from the service is strong enough to deliver “adequate” reception for potential listeners. Ofcom’s definition of “Adequate reception” is further explained on their website

Additional sources of revenue for Community Radio.

The restriction on advertising and sponsorship income in the Community Radio Order 2004 refers to remunerated on-air advertisements and sponsorship. This restriction does not apply to income generated from station websites, events and philanthropic donations. Read some of the debate in November 2006 about capping of advertising on the CMA list in our transcript.

2. CRT Handbook chapter 8: Broadcasting Rules and the Law
Our handbook covers legal issues around commercial references (p. 107) and provides information on the The Advertising Standards Authority Code (p. 108) on our website at  http://www.communityradiotoolkit.net/communities/mod/resource/view.php?id=35

3. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)
Read their guidelines on their website at http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/codes/radio_code/Foreword.htm

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We will take you through the basic steps for obtaining advertising revenue for your station. At the end of this information, you will find links to other useful sources of information and an invitation to share your thoughts, ideas and resources via our discussion forum. “Whether you are a charity or a not-for-profit company, what you are doing by carrying out commercial activities is offering services, raising revenue, and re-investing this money into your project to promote social gain.” Community Radio Toolkit Chapter 14.

Your advertising policy

For community radio practitioners advertising is not as simple as just selling advertising space but may present you with some ethical considerations.  What products you are comfortable being associated withstaff and volunteers’ understanding of the need to advertise and how it sits with the community-related side of the station.  How listeners will feel about the advertisinghow to make sure you do not stray from your unique selling point as a community radio in your advertising pursuits.

You can read more about ethical matters in the chapter on Funding in the Community Radio Toolkit.

Preparation #1: Advertising plan

You will benefit from creating a 1-3 year advertising plan for your station; maybe this is already covered in a business plan and just needs expanding on. Here’s some of the content you could include:

• Revenue you are hoping to bring in from advertising
• Establish what mix you’re selling : airtime for spot ads or programme sponsorship, advertising space on your website and/or other forms of promotion
• Identify your target markets. Do you have a niche market? Your community of listeners may help determine who is most likely to be interested in advertising with you.  Likewise the nature of  your programmes will help attract advertising (eg a Punjabi language show will attract Asian listeners)
• Assess what advertising will be appropriate for which shows.
• Consider what can be learned from past successes and failures when planning your future advertising campaigns.

Preparation #2: Your media pack

Create a media pack with everything a potential advertiser needs to know including:

• rate card – Connemra Community Radio sent us a copy of theirs [see Appendix A]
• information about your station and its listeners
• testimonials from past successful advertisers
• maybe a CD with sample ads for them to listen to
• comparisons with other media (in your favour!) both financial and in terms of appeal
• production issues

Keep it clear and concise.Put a shortened version of the media pack on your website. Here are some examples:

- Radio Tircoed in Swansea http://www.radiotircoed.com/advertise.htm
- Ribble Valley Radio at  http://www.ribblevalleyradio.org.uk/sponsorship_and_advertising/sponsors.htm. Listen to RibbleValley’s online recording of their sales promotion – a great way of showing potential advertisers what you can do.
- Seaside Radio http://www.seasideradio.co.uk/advertising.php

Preparation #3: Identifying your targets

Research your potential advertisers by finding out all about the local enterprises you can approach. Include commercial businesses, voluntary sector organisations and public sector bodies, all of which can be interested in advertising on community radio.

• Use whatever links and connections that staff and volunteers’ (and their extended families) can offer to make an approach to a potential client so that it is less of a ‘cold call’.
• Unless you’re lucky enough to have a business development manager or some such role on the staff, enlist staff and volunteers to sell advertising and to consider how they can use any of their links with local enterprises to do so. You might want to include something in your volunteer training to get involved early on.

Making the pitch

Be well informed about a prospective client before you approach them so they are confident you understand their product.

• Make the call. Either way, prepare your opening statement or offer in advance and be confident about your selling of your product, airtime. If an agreement’s not made there and then or the potential client seems unsure, ask to drop by with a copy of your media pack or simply to put it in the post for them to look at in their own time.
• Know what you’re selling: don’t assume that your potential advertisers know any of the benefits of going on community radio eg such as access to sections of the community that can’t easily be reached by other forms of advertising    Remember that community radio is SO much more than just radio!
• At a meeting or on the phone, be ready with answers to negative questions and statements about community radio advertising; arm yourself with information about comparative costs for advertising elsewhere (eg local newspaper) or for comparative impact (eg an advertisement lost amongst others in a newspaper).
• When asked about audience size, direct your answer to audience responsiveness, explaining that experience shows that listeners take more notice of messages from a station they feel is ‘theirs’, that they feel close to.
• If they’re completely new to radio advertising, take a CD for them to listen to a couple of (successful) sample ads.
• Offer incentives for first time advertisers or for trial periods. For example, Dave Miller from the Orkney’s Superstation suggestions throwing in  ]
• Follow-up phone calls and visits with information in writing detailing your pitch – how you can successfully advertise their product on your community radio.
• Market yourself
• Potential clients got no money to spare

Don’t shy away from being business-like, it doesn’t undermine the social value of your work and will impress potential advertisers.  http://www.cbonline.org.au/index.cfm?pageId=15,47,3,458 on page 14.

Creating the advertisement:

Organise a contract or at least confirmation of sale, making sure you have all the correct information about the client and the content of the ad on paper.

• Your clients probably won’t be using a specialist agency to create the advertisement but will need to work with you to do so.
• Have a clear brief when you visit an advertiser, perhaps a pro forma to complete with information covering: their advertising message, their target audience, the tone they want set.
• Create professional sounding advertisements aimed at the listener. Listen to some yourself to see what does and doesn’t work. Work at getting the key message across succinctly. Check out the AIDA model on page 185 of chapter 14 of the Community Radio Toolkit handbook
• the technical process hardly needs to be covered for community radio practitioners! But do try not to get carried away with multi-track wonders and voice effects. The clarity of the message and voice is key.
• Create one or more scripts for your client to approve/tweak. Be clear about the process with them so you’re not tweaking ad infinitum.
• Stick to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) code for radio broadcasters. It protects both the consumers from misleading or offensive advertising and businesses from unfair advertising among themselves. Find out more at http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/codes/radio_code/.
• Clearance is needed on some scripts before broadcast.
• For advertisements on your website, unless you’re simply adding their logo and contact details, send your client a screenshot of any artwork and text for approval.  For ideas, check out how other radio stations present their clients’ and sponsors’ information on their websites.

Airing:

• Balance the frequency of the advertisements so that listeners don’t get fed up with hearing advertisements, for example one or two per hour. Equally, hearing the same advertisement repeatedly can be off-putting.
• Group advertisements so there’s less interruption during a programme.
• Presenters should not feel they have to apologise for the advertisements.
• Try to fit the advertising to the shows with the most appropriate audiences for the product.
• Don’t forget to let your client know when their advertisement is being aired so they can listen in.

You can download a copy of this guide for reading later.

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