SCMA | Southern Community Media Association

As has been the case over the last few years of the National Regional Rural and Sub Metro Broadcasters Conference once again this year the collateral table will be happening.

This is an opportunity to display stickers, magnets and other promotional things from your station to share ideas with other stations at the conference. Every year we get such a great response form stations with the information that they bring for the collateral table that we could not let it go by without reminding stations that it is happening again this year.

So grab your promotional bits and pieces and any information you want to share with other stations and bring it to the Conference and make sure it gets on the collateral table for all to see and share.

This conference is all about networking, sharing information as well as attending the workshops and plenary sessions. The more we share the more we learn and that can only be a great thing for not only us but for community radio as a whole. Lets face it SCMA has always been about and will remain about the big picture and helping each other to help ourselves.

Show off your Show

This is an interesting development that came about from last year’s conference and the team from Melomania making such a huge effort to promote their show.
This year it was decided to allocate an area in the Trade area for shows that are
available on PDS to put up a display and promote their show.
At this stage we have no idea what form it will take and what information shows will provide but we thought we should support the shows that support PDS and make space available to them to promote their show and make people aware of what they have to offer. Who knows what will turn up in this display area but let’s face it we have an impressive list of shows available via PDS so I cannot wait to see what happens.

Shows Available on PDS are:
Deadly Sounds
Talking AFL
Talking NRL
A Country Yarn
The world of Light Music
Melomania
Shiloh Country
Newslines
The Night Train
Time Zone Top 40
Top 30 Country Charts
On Air Guitar
Let’s see if and how these shows go about
letting you know what they can offer your
station

One of the highlights of the Annual Conference is the presentation of the prestigious X Awards as part of the conference dinner. This year will be no different with the X Awards being a feature of the conference. The awards are growing in Stature every year as more and more stations enter the awards as they chase that elusive prize that recognises stations for excellence in community broadcasting and production.

We have seen some remarkable winners over the years the X Awards have been running and station win that didn’t think they were in the running I hope this year continues the tradition and that the delegates recognise the significant achievements these stations have made in just reaching the finals of these prestigious Awards.

The Finalists in the 2012 X Awards recognising excellence in community broadcasting are listed below.
The Board of Management take this opportunity to congratulate you all and to wish you the very best of luck for the awards presentations at the conference dinner.

Remember it’s not to late to register for the conference, all you need do is go to the SCMA website and follow the links through conference to register now and you could be in attendance when the 2012 X Awards are presented to the Winner at the conference dinner

The Finalists are as follows:

Best in House Production of a Sponsorship Announcement

3 MFM – Gippy Gourmet
88.9 FM – Higgins sons
Great lakes FM – Kev and Bev

Best in House Production of a Sweeper or Station ID

STEREO 974 – Promo
3 OKR – We’re different
STEREO 974 – Station Sweeper

Best in House Production of a CSA

3 MFM – Volunteer CSA
STEREO 974 – CSA
3 MFM – Croquet

Best in House Production of a Show Promotion

Bippera Media – Mini Me Brecky
3 OKR – Monday Afternoon
Bippera Media – Dial a Hit

Best Sports Program

Southern FM – 2011 Grand Final Great Lakes FM – Sports Segment

Best Outside Broadcast

Great Lakes FM – Up Close Castration
Southern FM – Australia Day Swim OB
Great lakes FM – Zucchini Drop

Best Interview

88.9 FM – Kevin Rudd
5 TCB – Vanessa Interview
Stereo 974 – Andrew Gaze

Best locally produced Program (Music)

5 TCB – Melomania
MY 105 FM – Rewind
Great lakes FM – Urban Action

Best locally produced Program (Non Music)

Great lakes FM – Pet Talk
My 105 FM – A Country Yarn
5 TCB – Looking Back

Best Locally produced News

2 WEB
Voice FM
Great Lakes FM

PDS Show display area
This is an interesting development that
came about from last year’s conference and
the team from Melomania making such a
huge effort to promote their show.
This year it was decided to allocate an area
in the Trade area for shows that are
available on PDS to put up a display and
promote their show.
At this stage we have no idea what form it
will take and what information shows will
provide but we thought we should support
the shows that support PDS and make
space available to them to promote their
show and make people aware of what they
have to offer.
Who knows what will turn up in this display
area but let’s face it we have an impressive
list of shows available via PDS so I cannot
wait to see what happens.
Shows Available on PDS are:
• Deadly Sounds
• Talking AFL
• Talking NRL
• A Country Yarn
• The world of Light Music
• Melomania
• Shiloh Country
• Newslines
• The Night Train
• Time Zone Top 40
• Top 30 Country Charts
• On Air Guitar
Let’s see if and how these shows go about
letting you know what they can offer your
station

This year as part of the experiment to keep costs as low as possible for delegates attending the National Regional Rural and Sub Metro Broadcasters Conference in Ballarat March 2nd to 4th we have decided to make the Conference Dinner a BYO affair.
This will reduce the cost to all delegates attending the event.

We know we could have run a bar and made money out of it but it seemed to us it would be better for the delegates to BYO and actually save some money.

We have thought of everything we hope when it comes to making sure the BYO side of the dinner is covered, there will be eskies and ice for delegates that have travelled by plane, train or bus and could not bring an eskie with them. Of course if you can bring an eskie by all means do so as we want this event to go as well as possible and to be as enjoyable as possible.

For delegates that don’t have their own transport we will be happy to take you to a bottle shop to purchase your requirements as long as you are over 18 years of age. We will provide glasses on the tables.

This is all about making this years conference as affordable as possible for all of our delegates. Naturally we want your feedback on this one and we will be asking at the conference what your thoughts are on this experiment.
The Grand hall complex is a fantastic venue and we are sure that this year’s dinner and awards will build on the tradition we have worked so hard to establish over past conferences.

We look forward to seeing you all there and enjoying your company, fellowship and working with you to ensure that everyone has not only a great learning experience but also an outstanding and enjoyable experience.

With so many free events happening this year it is vital that we get a good understanding of what delegates will be attending and what they won’t be attending. It is simple math, there is no sense in over catering and spending more money than we need to if people are not going to attend events so please let us know as soon as you can if you will be missing some of the events.

There will be an email going out to all registered delegates in the next few days asking for catering details please take a few minutes to fill it in and return it,

The SCMA is committed to it’s membership and this conference and would love to see as many stations as possible represented at this years event so if your station has not yet registered for the “Can Do” Conference there is no time like right now to get involved and become a part of this fantastic annual event.

See you in Ballarat

88.6 Plenty Valley FM, with the assistance of a dedicated team of volunteers, is pleased to once again be producing, the Victorian & National Country Music Awards in 2012 from the Plenty Ranges Arts and Convention Centre, Saturday 11th February 2012.

The Awards will be broadcast ‘LIVE’ via the Community Radio Network (CRN) and on the National Indigenous Radio Service (NIRS).

A dedicated ‘dry’ (no local sponsorship included) internet 96 kb/s stream will also be available for stations unable to access satellite. This will be available from our website: www.pvfm.org.au.

The entire show will also be available Via PDS within 24 hours of the broadcast for stations that want to time shift the program.

The broadcast will commence at 20:00 hours EDST and run until approximately 23:59 EDST.

Please join us for the Awards Ceremony, interspersed with live on-stage performances from some of the best Country Talent locally and from across the nation.

NOTE: There will be opportunities for local sponsorship announcements during the broadcast. A detailed running sheet with sponsorship times will be made available late January to allow stations to program in their local sponsors.

Stations that would normally take CRN programming at that time will automatically receive the 2012 Victorian & National Country Music Awards.

Please let us know if you intend to broadcast the Awards so that we can include ‘shout-outs’ to your station on the night. Email pvfm@pvfm.org.au with your station’s call sign.
If you have any questions relating to the broadcast, contact Brian King at b4king@live.com.au

We were fortunate to get Steve Ahern to attend last years conference in Wagga Wagga and the feed back from his sessions was overwhelming.

So imagine how happy I was when I received an email from Steve from Afghanistan offering to return to this year’s conference and present again.

That is one of the reasons that there is a new program out and you can find it in this newsletter and of course on line as always.
This means there had to be a reshuffle of some of the program and we have had to remove the AGM from the program but we will be announcing the AMG Dates and location at the conference so stay tuned for that one.

This year has been interesting as we have had to change the program around a bit as some presenters could not make it due to other commitments. We understand how that goes and we just make changes to keep the conference content as relevant to the delegates as possible.

Steve will be doing two plenary sessions this year and will be coving two completely new topics.

Plenary 3 :- Volunteer Management – Steve Ahern – It’s the volunteers who make your station great. it’s also the volunteers who can cause you the greatest headaches. Steve Ahern gives an insight into how to get the best from your volunteers in this session on volunteer management. Recognition, setting expectations, and feedback are three of the tips Steve will share with participants during this session. Steve has recently shared these and other tips with emerging radio presenters in Afghanistan after the launch of the Nai Media Institute. Link to http://www.steveahern.com.au/KabulNMIlaunch2a.mov

Plenary 8 :- Programming Principles – Steve Ahern – Does your audience know what to expect when they tune in to your station? If a new arrival to town switched on and listened for 15 minutes at 8am, noon, 5pm and 10pm, would they get a sense of what the station is really all about? Or would they just be confused? The diversity of community radio programming one of its great strengths, and also its greatest weakness. Making Radio author Steve Ahern will teach programming principles in this conference session so you can get the best out of your programming

The 2012 National Regional Rural and Sub Metro

TWO STATIONS CREATE A UNIQUE HOOK UP AND BROADCAST TO ALL AUSTRALIA VIA SATELLITE ON NEW YEARS EYE

2 North Queensland radio stations my105fm Mackay and 987 BBM Cairns will do a special 2 studio hook up to present 8 hours of programming on New Year’s Eve.

Called the Big Murri Party Mackay’s Stephan Kent and Cairns based Jackie Tim will present a live request show with shout outs, interviews with all kinds of people from muso’s to those in other countries and crosses – and the show will be broadcast via the National Indigenous Radio Services to all corners of the country.

General Manager of my105fm Stephan Kent explained “Jackie will be in the Cairns Studio and will take calls on a special free call 1800 number – her studio will be connected via a link to the Mackay Studio where the program will be compiled and then fed to Brisbane via another link and then uploaded onto the NIRS Satellite.” This is quite a feat but it shows just what can be done with a little creativity and planning – we have been working on the project a while with our team.

“We did it in 2009 and it was a success so many people phoned in from WA to say it’s all good for you to count down in the East but what about us – that year we remained on air till 2am to bring in the new year especially for WA – and so we will do it again this year – it’s a 8 hour live on air shift – but it’s all worth it”.

We have a fantastic broadcasting team between my105fm, 987BBM and Nirs and it really is our pleasure to provide some live instant radio coverage to those in the towns and cities in the Nirs footprint.

The program will start at 6pm Eastern Standard Time New Years Eve and conclude at 2am Eastern Standard time on New Year’s day.

Listeners can interact with the program via a special face book page and a toll free number 1800 422 416 Australia Wide.

The SCMA web presence has been a little dated of late and we are working hard to ensure that not only SCMA but our information portal remains relevant and up to date with our membership. To that end our IT Team have started renovations for want of a better word on our www.scma.org.au and www.my.scma.org.au websites to keep pace with the ever changing need and requirements of our membership. Over the coming months you will see some changes to our sites and with each major upgrade we will release information on what we are doing and how it will benefit the users from the Sector in general and specifically our members.

The members only area is going through a revamp at the moment and we will pass on more information in regard to that as soon as we have completed the upgrade and all changes are online and available, In the mean time we ask you all to be patient as these changes take effect and the website development continues.

If you are not already a subscriber to the Program Distribution System (PDS) we recommend you do so. There is now a wide array of programs available through the system and the numbers are increasing all the time. PDS is available to financial members of the SCMA at no charge and is one of the many benefits of being a member of the “Can Do” association.

SCMA is moving forward and continues to develop and grow our online presence we hope you will join us and become a part of the “Can Do” association.