Update.. really wish i would stop doing this..
Jul 25th
By that i mean i wish i would stop going for so long without blogging, its not as if i havent got anything to day, or anything to write about, i just seem to lack the motivation or time to do it.. now i would promise to do better, but as we have know from the past that would just be a bit of a hollow promise.. so moving on.
I have been very busy the last few weeks with a work placement at Ofcom as part of the Community Radio Team, in that time i have met some very interesting people, read lots of community radio annual reports, engaging in topical discussions on the future of radio, community radio and well lots of radio stuff. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with Ofcom, and i will state that they are not the bad guys, they are in fact the good guys and mean the best for radio (in all shapes), i have also improved my opinion of community radio and have been left with a renewed optimism of the future of radio, which i suspect will lay with a healthy radio sector including commercial and community stations.
I have also been getting ready for another FM RSL that i am organising / managing in the next few weeks, JAM FM (www.jamfm.org.uk) is another scouting and guiding radio station running as part of the Norfolk jamboree Norjam. Its looking to be a great success for all those involved, who knows i might blog once or twice whilst i am away. For your records its on air from Saturday the 31st of July until Saturday the 7th of August online at the above address and on 87.7fm in the Norwich area.. We are also experimenting with RadioDNS/VIS whilst we are away so might try and blog about that whilst I am away..
Right that will do for now, i have other ideas and projects in motion but i wanted to break my blogging block.. Night all.
Should these new National and Regional Stations still be allowed to carry local advertising
Jun 29th
A quick blog about the advertising element of the recent announcements by GMG Radio (Smooth Radio goes national http://radiotoday.co.uk/news.php?extend.6041) and Global (Heart goes from 33 to 15 super regional stations http://radiotoday.co.uk/news.php?extend.6026).
Now I like other saw moves like this years ago, and agree that if we where to draw what the radio map should look like today it would be very different than it does, with regional and national commercial stations competing with each other and the BBC. These announcements are the first steps in this direction, and they wont be the last…
Now the discussion that I want to ask is should these new national and regional stations still be allowed to carry local advertising or should they just stick to either regional or national advertisers? My thoughts are..
YES.
Part of the reason these groups are making these changes are because of the commercial viability of local radio stations and radio in general, we are seen a shrinkage over the last 3 years of the sector, from stations closing (Both commercial and community) and a scaling back of talent, staff and activities. If these radio groups don’t or are not allowed to continue to carry local advertising, these will make their struggles even worse, because lets face it commercial radio needs every advertiser it can get.
NO.
If these stations are not commercially viable should they then move over and let other stations give it a go, a new breed of IRL Stations and Community stations might be able to grow from the advertising slot void left by these stations. Not to mention that some of these adverts might seem to be the only ‘local’ element at certain times of the day.. Plus with a strong regional and national brand these stations should be able to get all the advertising they need at the new costs of running these stations.
Time will tell what will happen, and I will certainly be very interested to see what happens..
But what are your thoughts, answers on a postcard.
The power of social media, activism live..
Jun 5th
Many articles have been written in the past about the effects of social media in todays society in particular to social justice and activism, the most memorable two (for me at least) are twitters involvement in the documenting and allowing Iranian activists to reach out to the world (http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1905125,00.html) and the most recent one of Big Business Paperchase vs small independent artist Hidden Eloise who managed to raise awareness of their copyright issues of her work (http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/feb/11/paperchase-design-hidden-eloise).
What has excited me most recently is the ability to watch events unfold as they happen, case in point is the current alleged Homophobia against Labour LGBT activists in the Greencoat Boy in Westminster, reports from the LGBT group say they were denied service and the “Manager at The Greencoat Boy near Westminster told members he would have refused the LGBTLabour booking if he’d known it was an LGBT group!” (http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive/10/Jun/0501.htm) as far as I can tell this happened around 7:30pm and immediately the Labour LGBT and some of those present twittered it (http://twitter.com/LGBTLabour/statuses/15503704611) which in true twitter style was retweeted, rewritten and pretty soon became a trending topic as well as sparking blog posts (such as this), and comments on other sites (If you google the Pub this site http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/36/360/Greencoat_Boy/Victoria comes up and note the feedback already). So in just a few hours thousands of people if not more will have seen, read or heard about this, blogs have been posted and even fake twitter accounts created (http://twitter.com/PunchTavernPR).
As far as I can see there has been no official response from Punch Taverns and I wonder how long it will be until there is an official response and what medium they will use (will they engage with twitter and the blog sphere?), in our modern world of social media it does beg the question of how do big brands, businesses and even entities such as local or national government deal with and maintain media relations in this environment. Gone are the days when a story can unfold over days giving PR teams time to get their facts together, draft statements and press releases and deal with the media, do they now need to be active, monitoring and engaging 24hours a day. If they do, they just need to make sure they do it right and use the correct language and tools for the job. Twitter, blogs and the public sphere of the internet can be a harsh world, more harsh then the traditional medium of Print, Radio or TV… time will tell.
Oh and if you want to get involved (other then leaving a comment) head to http://krncr.wordpress.com/2010/06/05/greencoat-boy-pub-refuses-to-serve-lgbt-group-heres-what-you-can-do/ to help take action against this homophobic crime and company.
An update
May 28th
Sorry I haven’t blogged in a while, I have kept saying again and again that I need to start up again. So here is more of an update of what I have been up to and what’s going on with me…
At present my life as been split between the odd bit of work experience and volunteer work (all radio based), working in my bar job (it helps pay the bills) and my various businesses and ventures I am involved with..
Work Experience; During the election period I helped out with my local Star Radio editing election pieces and getting a couple of Vox pops, this came about by a random email I sent their news department following a twitter I saw of theirs.. It was a simple “I have radio experience of xyz, am more than willing to work for free” and it worked, so a good sign to anyone out there wanting to get more experience or just get involved.. Just ask. So I did a few days there, got to meet and work with some great people at the Station as well as see inside a small commercial station and an alternative to Global (Star Radio is a UKRD station), which was an experience within itself. I do have some regrets, I wish that I had done more and made myself more available to get involved, but other pressures meant I couldn’t (see work and other projects). It did also give me an chance to reflect on radio, as to what I want to do.. It did confirm to me that as much as I love radio news and journalism and as much as I am able i don’t think its quite what I want to do, and that I want to work more in the commercial side of the business in maybe sales and marketing. Next task is to get some experience doing that lol..
Other Volunteer experience; I have been setting up and running Scout Radio for the last few years, at present we are only doing radio station at large scouting (and often combined with guiding) events, although I/We hope to do more in the future. The current project I have been working on is Norjam Jamborees Radio JAM FM, we are using a similar broadcasting schedule to before but as ever with me we are refining it to make it sound better. We have managed to form a fantastic project team of current and new members and I think that the station is going to be a huge success. We have been allocated our frequency from Ofcom of 87.7fm and I am sure that there will be more blogs to come.
Work and other projects; I have been doing a lot of hours over the last few months at the Cambridge Union, I work behind the bar and otherwise help out IT, technical and AV wise. Its a fantastic job and I love it, it also helps to pay the bills while I try and get a job in radio / develop my other projects. It helps that I was a member of the Union before I started working there, so it almost feels like I am working for myself and an organisation that I have a lot or respect and time for anyway. Its also good to be working in a place where the customers are bright and intelligent and intellectual so I can happily chat about politics and the world at large and who knows rubbing shoulders with the future leaders of tomorrow. The other project I have mainly been working on is CamPrint my printing business, I had a lot of interest from some of the leads I have generated so its been doing well, it doesn’t quite pay my way but as a business concept its certainly earning money and has the ability to grow and get bigger. My next steps are to generate more business and relaunch the companies website to reflect a lot more products that we are able to offer at some of the lowest prices you will find out there.
Links:
SRA Manifesto – Martin Steers – Chair
Mar 19th
Below you will find my official manifesto for running for the SRA Chair this year, my objectives have been drawn together from my experiences of student radio, the SRA as well as consultation with station managers and stations within the SRA. The SRA should be a strong, supportive and active organisation to serve the needs of student radio and its member stations. I welcome any questions, comments or thoughts martin@martinsteers.co.uk *NEW* you can now txt me just txt ‘SRA’ plus your message to 07786 20 06 90.
Martin Steers – SRA Chair 2010/2011
Hi, I’m Martin and I am standing for the position of Chair of the Student Radio Association. I have been involved in student radio for nearly 4 years now in a variety of departments and have gained a good well-rounded knowledge of student radio and also loved every minute of it! I feel that I would be a great Chair of the SRA and help it move forward and grow as an organisation, working with and supporting the rest of the executive to make sure that the SRA does the best possible job supporting student radio and your station.
My main objectives:
Stronger Sector: The digital migration is a huge opportunity of student radio but we need to make sure that we take full use of this. We need to be working with the government and Ofcom to look into student radio licenses and push for the best option for our members. Community Radio licenses are not always suitable for student stations. However, we need to support those stations that go down that route.
Stronger Regions: More training, development and support for Regional Officers, who should be doing more than just organising the nominations events. They should be the first point of contact for stations who need support.
More Events: More training and development events throughout the year around the country, maybe combining with regional conferences ideally once a term, and opportunities to network, develop as well as hold the SRA to account.
More Support: Develop networks for Station Managers, Heads of Music, etc, grow and develop online factsheets that hold information on everything and anything and specialist committee training events.
Development of the SRA: We already do some great things and now it’s time to grow. We should make the SRA Chart a real asset and grow it, encourage other content sharing or syndicated material like a national news show or music show, make Hearing Aid a huge success and really put the I Love Student Radio agenda on the map within education and media.
My Student Radio Experience / History
2006 – 2007 CUR1350 (Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University) News team member, presenter (news show, politics show and entertainment show), elected Head of Outside Broadcast
2007 – 2008 CUR1350 Started elections coverage at Anglia Ruskin SU, live husting show and live count coverage, increased our presence and listenership at biggest Cambridge Uni Sporting Event (Bumps), Presenter (Entertainment, politics), assisted in engineering, marketing and advertising department, elected Station Manager
2008 – 2009 CUR1350 Wrote successful funding request to Anglia Ruskin’s VC, increased advertising income, co-authored successful FM Community License Application, rewrote stations constitution and documents, implemented HR management documents and systems, re-elected Station Manager
2009 – Oct 2009 CUR1350 Project Managed Studio refurb, secured 2nd studio location, wrote another successful funding request to Anglia Ruskin’s VC
2009 – Present SRA Regional Officer London and East Anglia, organised Nominations Party, assisted with the I Love Student Radio launch, visited and supported regional stations
2009 – Present Radio Academy Regional Committee East Anglia hoping to grow and develop the events and activities of the region
Questions? Comments? martin@martinsteers.co.uk – www.martinsteers.co.uk
SRA Conference
Mar 2nd
After much consideration over the last year I have decided to run for SRA Chair, I think that the SRA is a great organisation and there is alot that I think I can bring to the SRA, I have alot of experience in many different areas which would enable me to help and support the rest of the executive as well as help grow and develop the SRA.
I will fully publish my thoughts and manifesto etc later on, but before I do that, I want to know how you feel about the SRA? what you want from the SRA? What you think needs changing or improving? and how we can support you and / or your station the most?
Please feel free to leave me a comment below or email me martin.steers@studentradio.org.uk as I want to know what YOU want from the SRA.
Martin
Community Licenses and Student Radio
Feb 25th
Ofcom yesterday announced another round of successful community license applications including that of a student / youth station, Insanity Radio at Royal Holloway.
Now having co-authored a successful community radio license with CUR1350 a few people have asked my thoughts on student stations going for community radio licenses.
Now i must admit my feelings have changed over the last 18 months, i must admit i fell in love with the concept of Community Radio and it as a way for the station to broadcast on FM. Now dont get me wrong i am genuine with my feeling towards community radio, i see it as a huge opportunity for the UK, as commercial radio become less local the community does need to be represented and have local content. There are some great examples of community radio stations doing fantastic things.
However i now believe that community licenses are not the way to go for most student stations, granted there are some stations that would do well as a community license, CUR1350 being one of them because of the nature of their community. CUR1350 is also unique in that to date its the only community station that is aimed solely at the academic community (Staff, Students and resident alumni) all the other ‘Student’ community stations are being ‘Youth’ and/or student stations. The biggest problem that these stations will encounter is their out of term time management and broadcasting. A community radio license is 24hours a day 365 days a year, and Ofcom (and the community it serves) will expect a certain amount of activity and programming all year around and like i said this will i fear be the biggest problem for some stations (and possibly their downfall), you also have to ask the question ‘what is student radio?’ and ‘what is a community radio station?’ is there a difference and should we be using one to create the other…
Now thats not to put a downer on any Station that has / is / wants to go down the community license route, i honestly wish them all the best of luck and also offer any support that i can give. I also recommend becoming members of both the SRA and the CMA and using these organisations (as well as working together with other stations in the same situation).
However what i do think is that the SRA should be working with Ofcom, Government and other organisations to make sure that there is an alternative FM license for Student Stations come the digital migration (NOTE NOT SWITCH OFF) i know that its something thats currently being talking about behind the scenes at the SRA, but i think its something that needs to be increased. Its certainly something that i will be promoting and banging the drum off where ever and when ever i can.
Martin
Student Radio Advertising
Nov 26th
My little pet project and fledgling company that I starting planning over the summer (although have been talking about it for years) has finally launched, we are currently still in soft launch phase which we started in October, and will be till just after Christmas. In this period we are looking to create and improve the systems, procedures, website and paperwork for the organisation as well as recruiting stations into the network. Before we hit the streets after Christmas and start banging on the advertisers doors demanding money.. (Very nicely please)
At present we have just under a dozen stations involved with Student Radio Advertising, with more expressing interest all the time, and we have (or currently running) 3 different advertising campaigns, national and local, to prove that the fundmental principles of student radio and student radio advertising works. Now we still have a long way to go, convincing stations of their worth and convincing advertisers that its value for money is going to be the hardest thing but I think its achievable and doable and I am going to work very hard to accomplish this.
Now its worth pointing out that I am not receiving a salary or am I attempting to earn a leaving from SRAd’s (not that’s even possible at the moment) but the organisation does receive an agency fee, the main principles of the organisation are as follows;
- Promote and Encourage Student Radio Advertising, be that Stations to carry or Advertisers to make the commitment.
- Educate, advise and inform stations on how to deal with advertising, from the basic how to’s to the more complicated numbers and legal stuff.. (not that I profess to be an expert!)
- And to sell National and Local advertising to those stations that want it.
Ambitious? VERY Impossible? NO not at all and we are going to prove it.. (and feel free to help)
If your interested in the organisation, from getting involved direct (we have positions free), Station interested in joining us OR an advertiser interesting in advertising to thousands if not millions of students across the UK then please feel free to get in touch or head to the new (and improving all the time) website www.studentradioadvertising.co.uk
Student Radio Awards
Nov 26th
WOW doesn’t time fly, it’s the SRA Awards time again… well the annual getting together of the best of the student radio sector as well as our supports from commercial radio and the BBC is here, well technically it was last night, but that sounded better I think (and at the time of writing this having been in London for 2 days, lots of walking and not much sleep, my brain has fried).
It was an absolute fantastic night, the best student radio awards evening that I have ever been to, with the lovely hosts Fearn Cotton and Scott Mills (with Greg “Hair cut of a 10 year old” James forcing his roaming camera in peoples faces) at the fantastic venue of the Indigo 02, what more could you ask for.. Glitz, Glamour, Great company oh and of course lots of free drink!
I should rewind quickly and mention the fact that some of the nominees had the fabulous pleasure of a tour of BBC Radio 1 and Global Radios Capital Building, this is the first time in my knowledge that we have had a tour of both in the same day, and it wasn’t bad overall, we had a fantastic talk by Ben Copper the 2nd in command to Andy Parfitt controller of Radio 1 as well as a tour of the building and studios (and got an on air wave from Fern and Greg), and a small tour of the vast global HQ with a fantastic visit to the capital studios to visit Roberto whilst he was on air. A huge thank you to both organisations for having us, for Producer Neal (BBC) and Carina (Global) for being fantastic hosts, my only comments (that I have already said to those involved) would be that we have had better global tours in the past, but I think that’s more because in previous years we have spent a good couple of hours in the building.. so who knows what we can build on in the future.
I am looking at planning a Regional Conference for after chrismas and hope to have a tour of Global as part of that.
Back to the awards, it was great to see everyone and have a good old chat and catch up, as well as meeting new and interesting people most of which I suspect will go onto big things in Radio and the Media. Now to the well dones and thank yous, a huge well done to LSRFM and Smoke Radio for the many accolades that they had managed to pickup between them, well done to the SRA Exec for organising such a great event, Sarah, Dan, Bam, Tim, Ian, Mark, Matt and Sejal you have done a fantastic job this year, and lastly a thank you to Sarah (K) for coming with me to the event (as well getting rather drunk lol) and Ant Evans (Varsity Radio) for keeping us company and helping to look after sarah (I think she owes you a drink or two).
Now cant wait till next years.
7 Days ago…
Nov 26th
Well actually its been a lot longer since my last blog, but we do live in interesting times and haven’t had a huge amount that I would want to really blog about.. So as a way of making up for it (and so its not one HUGE blog), I am posting a few in close succession.
Basically for those that don’t know or haven’t heard CUR1350 the Student Station for Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin Universities that I was*(See below) station manager for has been suffering some political / internal problems since September, now that’s all I am publicly going to say on the matter, however its been a very tiresome and stressful time for myself and others.
This all culminated last Wednesday when after a long time struggling with the options I decided to resign from the station to enable to move forward in the only move that I (and others) felt was the only way to get the station moving again.. It was an amicable split between myself as Station Manager and the Management Committee, and I wish them all the best in the future. I still retain my station email address and membership as a presenter type person, so who knows I might actually return to the air and my former DJ Glory (LOL). The only other thing I would like to add is that I have enjoyed my years at CUR1350, have learnt a hell of a lot, met some great friends for life and would recommend student radio for anyone wanting to have loads of fun any maybe get into radio. I must say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported myself and the station, as well as a huge apology for not seeing this to the end.
I am still pursuing a career in Radio as well as still being involved with Student Radio being the Regional Officer for London and East Anglia for the SRA, and am now going to spend alot more time on SRA, Student Radio Advertising, my Dissertation and other projects lol… (Oh and getting a job in radio)
