SCMA | Southern Community Media Association

MEDIA RELEASE
5th November, 2011

Community Radio stations are to be challenged to a special problem-solving session during the National Regional Rural and Sub Metro Broadcasters Conference to be held at Ballarat in March.

The SCMA who organises the conference predicts the session will challenge stations attending to nominate issues that they face and then together with the rest of the conference work to solve them.

The President of the SCMA Helen Bath said the session will be just one of the many features of the 2012 Conference. It will be a great opportunity for stations to share their knowledge and assist each other to develop or to overcome some of the challenges that face us all.

Delegates will be asked to nominate the Big Issues they want to discuss during the first plenary session and they will be discussed in detail towards the end of the conference.

Helen Bath went on to say that these sessions will give members a great opportunity to ensure the topics and issues that most effect their stations will be discussed in a real down to earth problem solving session that will give all stations a chance to be part of providing each other with the assistance and support that the SCMA is well known for throughout its membership.

Planning for the 2012 conference is well underway and there is little doubt that the 2012 National Regional Rural and Sub Metro Broadcasters Conference an outstanding event with a focus on problem solving, support and growing the outstanding network that the SCMA is so well known for within community broadcasting. The SCMA is proud of the conferences ability to provide ample opportunity for community radio station members to be involved in understanding and discussing the issues confronting community radio.

The Conference will feature a wide range of information from organisations such as the ACMA and the CBF as well as individual presenters who are well known for their knowledge and expertise in many fields relevant to community broadcasting.

The National Regional Rural and Sub Metro Broadcasters Conference is just one of the highlights of the year planned for the SCMA.

The Southern Community Media Association (SCMA) is pleased to announce that two more member stations have completed the process and will sign Memorandums of Understandings to become only the second and third Community Broadcasters to sign MOU’s with the Office of the Emergency Services Commissioner (OESC). STEREO 974 based in Brooklyn and Plenty Valley FM located in Mill Park will join the only other station to sign a MOU; 3 UGE FM Alexandra who are also members of the SCMA.

The signings will take place on Tuesday the 12^th of October and will be signed by the Emergency Services Minister Bob Cameron and Acting Emergency Services Commissioner Joe Buffone as well as key Station personal from both Community Broadcasters.

The SCMA has worked hard and long to get Community Broadcasters recognised as Emergency Broadcasters with its efforts dating back over 4 years. The SCMA had identified the valuable roll that community broadcasters could and do have in times of natural disaster and emergencies and began work on developing a protocol to recognise these efforts and introduce uniform emergency broadcasting formats for it’s member stations and the sector as a whole.

The President of the Southern Community Media Association Helen Bath said “It was great to see member stations being recognised for a role that so many community broadcasters had been carrying out for such a long time in an unofficial capacity. The SCMA has achieved what we set out to do and we hope that the fruits of our labour will have a flow on effect throughout the community broadcasting sector right across this Great Southern Land. – Australia”

While these stations are the start of the MOU faze for community broadcasters within Victoria it is hoped that the groundwork laid by the SCMA and the OESC will become the template for MOU’s throughout the nation. While the MOU roll out and development continues community broadcasters from not only the SCMA will continue to pass on vital information to their listeners in times of emergency.

The SCMA is proud to have been deeply involved in this process and congratulates not only the stations that have reached MOU status but all community broadcasters who have made a commitment to emergency broadcasting.

More information or comment on this release by contacting SCMA’s President Helen Bath – either via our web site www.scma.org.au or by phoning 0407770209

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA)  released their Draft Application Form for Renewal of Community Radio Broadcasting Licence (B66) for industry comment.

As you may be aware, the ACMA has been working on revising the application form for the renewal of a community radio broadcasting licence (ACMA Form B66).

Since the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the BSA) was amended in December 2002 to enable the ACMA to take into account the same matters that it considers when allocating a new community broadcasting licence (section 84(2) of the BSA), all community radio broadcasting licensees have applied for and their applications considered against those matters.

They have received feedback from many licensees and consider it timely to revise the form before the next round of licence renewals. You will note that they have streamlined the form so that:

1. It more closely aligns with the matters at section 84(2) of the BSA; and
2. It more closely aligns with the application form for a community radio broadcasting licence (B32), as it is assessed against the same matters when allocating a new community radio broadcasting licence. Attached is a copy of the current B32 for comparison (minor amendments are being made to this form, based on feedback from applicants during allocations in 2009-2010).

They  expect to discuss have the form finalised in time for licensees to use from January 2011.

To enable them to achieve this timeframe, they would appreciate if comments on the draft revised renewal form can reach the ACMA no later than 5.00 pm Monday 29 November 2010. Comments marked ‘licence renewal application form B66’ are to be sent to:

Email: communitybroadcasting@acma.gov.au

Fax: 02 9334 7799 [marked ‘Attention: Community Allocations and Information Section’]

Post:

Community Allocations and Information Section
Australian Communications and Media Authority

PO Box Q500
Queen Victoria Building
Sydney NSW 1230

All members of the SCMA are encouraged to read through this draft and make either individual submissions to the ACMA or forward their thoughts to the SCMA to be added to the associations submission.

Comments to info@scma.org.au

You can download a copy of the Draft form below.

DOWNLOAD – Draft Application Form for Renewal of Community Radio Broadcasting Licence (PDF 200kb)

Life FM Gippsland had been running quietly for a few weeks and after some checking we discovered that the exciter had decided that after 40,000 or so hours – it was time for a break! The unit was red hot and so we needed to get it out!

A quick email to Ray at SCMA to see if anyone had a unit they could loan us prompted a quick response and two days later we picked up a unit from Plenty Valley FM. We are so grateful tat we didn’t have to take the station off air while we sorted this out.

The team at PlentyValley were very helpful and we’re hoping to hear soon what we need for our transmitter. Great networking and terrific service from SCMA! Thanks everyone.

Deb Bye Station Manager Life FM Gippsland

Yes the Melomaniacs have over come all of the drama of the past few months and have shown their deep commitment by putting their show onto PDS effective immediately.

As of right now Melomania is available via the PDS and is waiting to be added to your stations playlist.

The show is broken into around 7 segments allowing plenty of time for you to insert sponsorship announcements and other promotional materials.

So what is Melomania all about ……………

Meaning Of Melomania is A Singular passion for music that is beyond all reason, hence the name of the show.

Melomania has been on the Airwaves since AUGUST 2008 and has already had talented national and international artists from many styles of music from Country through to mainstream as well as all places in between. The Melomaniacs also interview local guests not just for them but also locals from around Australia.

Melomania is about letting you know what is charting, what the celebs are up to, even a bit of gossip as well as what’s new.

We also like to introduce bands and artists that you wouldn’t usually hear even if they are from the same town or city as you. We love to discover new artists.

Basically Melomania is just a few hours of fun, great music and a little bit of craziness all rolled into one great show that your listeners will just become addicted to.

Melomania it’s young, it’s vibrant it’s entertaining … and who doesn’t like music?

Want to know more go to www.melomania.com.au and take a look

ACMA has released it’s Draft Community Broadcasting Not‐for‐Profit Guidelines.

Download the PDF document here, if you have anything about the draft guidelines you’d like to discuss with us please get in touch using the contact us page.

Draft Community Broadcasting Not‐for‐Profit Guidelines

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (the ACMA) has developed draft
Community Broadcasting Not‐for‐Profit Guidelines and the document is now being released
for industry comment.

Submissions marked ‘community broadcasting not‐for‐profit guidelines’ should be sent by 5.00 pm Monday 1 November 2010 to:

Email: communitybroadcasting@acma.gov.au

Fax: 02 9334 7799 [marked ‘Attention: Community Allocations and Information Section’]
Post: Community Allocations and Information Section
Australian Communications and Media Authority

PO Box Q500
Queen Victoria Building
Sydney NSW 1230

Peter Weeks from member station UG FM was the MC for the reopening of the Marysville SES HQ following the Feb 7th fires. As well as Peter’s involvement with UG FM he is also an SES volunteer and SES Media Liaison Officer with the Alexandra Unit.

The majority of the SES Building was badly damaged and Marysville lost much of their equipment and primary rescue vehicle that has been replaced. The Victorian Historic Racing Register Club raised $28,000 to replace road accident equipment and that was also handed over. The SES Long service Medals for 10 and 30 years of services were awarded by the Premier to Marysville volunteers.

UG FM decided to broadcast some of the activities on the day with their new Tieline outside Broadcast Equipment funded by the Bendigo Bank Community Fund to the tune of $17,000 and talked live via NextG IP connection back to their Alexandra Studios and across their network of 5 transmitters.

Peter advised they were fortunate that, at late notice, the Premier of Victoria and the following day the Prime Minister both payed a visit. Both were more than happy to have a chat live on UGFM together. That’s something you don’t see too often.

The Prime Minister appeared to really enjoy the day. It was her first official function in Victoria as Prime Minister.

The quote of the day goes to the Prime Minister. Peter Weeks reported that following the largest media conference he had ever seen the PM told them all “Ok we have to go and talk on Community Radio now”

And they did, on UGFM!

Apologies for the small images pics taken on phone

Monday 5th July 2010

Voice FM announces the release of their new website – www.voicefm.com.au

An exciting addition to not only Ballarats own community broadcaster but a great community resource for all.
www.voicefm.com.au is designed as a resource and information portal as well as a contact point for all things relating to the Ballarat community.

The site features a myriad of information including an events guide, a comprehensive gig guide, local news, community information and dynamic links for all things Ballarat. This valuable community asset has been a long time coming and aims to improve community access to information our community demands.

Tully Smith the Chairman of Voice FM said “We at your community station 99.9 Voice FM have been undergoing significant change in recent months with a real focus on the needs of the Ballarat community. Voice FM believes the Ballarat community deserve a website that truly reflects the happenings and events within our community”.

We encourage all parts of our community to actively participate in this vital communication portal and the website will facilitate quick easy access to local information, news and events.

Ends

Media Contact: Brad Ward (Web Master) – 0488 616 924

Great News!  Australia’s National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders music program – DEADLY SOUNDS has joined forces with the Program Delivery System to provide member stations of the SCMA another great programming option for their stations. Deadly Sounds is a weekly national indigenous music, interview and information program that runs for around 59:00 and provides stations with the opportunity to add more variety and information to their format.

The President of the SCMA Helen Bath said “I welcome Deadly Sounds to PDS.  It is great to see another quality program added to the PDS and it will prove to be a great asset to SCMA Members”

Also added to PDS in the last day is the newly developed CSA bank that has a variety of CSA’s available for member stations.  Once you have subscribed to this, any new CSA’s will automatically be downloaded to your station.

There are a lot of new programs about to be added to the PDS system as well as an ever increasing and evolving website, mySCMA site and so much more happening within the SCMA.
Not yet a member of SCMA? http://www.scma.org.au/join-scma and find out what a Can do Association can do for you

A federal election could be called at anytime, and the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is concerned that over 300 000 Victorian are ‘missing’ from the electoral roll. With only months to go before an expected federal election the AEC is urging everyone to check their enrolment today!

State Manager for Victoria Jenni McMullan says “The AEC is urging all Australian citizens aged 18 years and over to enrol now, it is very important that everyone is enrolled and ready to go for the upcoming federal election”.

“Even if you think you’re enrolled, if you’ve moved house in the past three years, you may not be. You’ve got to update your address on the electoral roll every time you move to avoid the risk of losing your vote” Jenni said.

Younger Victorians aged 18 – 39 years make up around 70% of the missing and are the main target of AEC enrolment campaigns to encourage awareness.

If you need to check your enrolment, update your details or enrol for the first time, you can do this by visiting the AEC website www.aec.gov.au or calling 13 23 26. You can also pick up an enrolment form from any Australian Post office or find out more by visiting your local divisional office and talking with AEC staff.