SCMA | Southern Community Media Association

The CEO of the SCMA has announced that as part of the ongoing commitment and development of the association’s internet presence that the SCMA has acquired a new faster Australian based server to locate its IT services on.

Web Master for the SCMA Mr Brad Ward said “The introduction of this new server will see a significant and noticeable increase in speed for both the SCMA’S websites and also for the PDS”.

The new server was brought into service earlier this week after some extensive testing to ensure that it would provide the association and it’s membership with a reliable faster way to get information out to the membership of the association.

The most significant improvements will be in upload and download time for programs available on PDS with the new server providing a faster and more stable platform for the system to operate on.

The Associations web presence is constantly being updated and developed to provide the SCMA membership with the best possible information and support.

If you are interested in finding out more about the services that SCMA have available to it’s membership please feel free to contact the associations via the contact us page on the SCMA’s web site http://www.scma.org.au/contact-us/ or simply have a look at the SCMA’s website www.scma.org.au

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More information or comment on this release by contacting SCMA’s Web Master Mr. Brad Ward
via webmaster@scma.org.au or phone Geek Internet 03 9014 9815.
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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

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.

The SCMA continue to meet their commitment to the entrants of the 2010 National Award for Excellence in Community Broadcasting “The X Awards”

The X Awards have been an integral part of the National Regional Rural and Sub Metro Broadcasters Conference for years. As part of the SCMA’s commitment to the entrants and attendees of the 2010 Conference the SCMA has released the winning audio grabs for the X Awards.

Take some time to have a listen to the winning entries of the 2010 X Awards. Visit the SCMA’s website www.scma.org.au or go directly to the awards audio by following this link http://www.scma.org.au/scma-annual-conference/2010-conference

The X Awards are National awards recognising excellence in community broadcasting. The awards are presented every year at the National Regional Rural and Sub Metro Broadcasters Conference annual dinner on the Saturday night of the conference. The X Awards are open to any members of the SCMA and any non member station who attends the conference. Full details of the awards including categories can be found on the SCMA’s website www.scma.org.au of by following this link directly to X Award information http://www.scma.org.au/scma-annual-conference/x-awards

Entries to the 2011 X Awards will open as of the 1^st of July 2010 and as part of the SCMA’s commitment to its members will now be done online through mySCMA. In the first instance only member stations will be able to enter the X Awards on line with the non member portal opening for entries subject to conditions on November 1^st 2010.

If your station wants to be involved in the 2011 National X Awards consider becoming a member of the SCMA http://www.scma.org.au/join-scma/ or make sure your station attends the 2011 National Regional Rural and Sub Metro Broadcasters Conference in Wagga Wagga.

The X Award winning show “A Country Yarn” today became a nationally available program as it hit the PDS for the first time.

A county Yarn will now be available to all financial members of the SCMA via the “Program Delivery System” accessible through MySCMA another innovation by the Association.

A Country Yarn is a program that runs for around 56 minutes and is delivered weekly via PDS it is as simple as ordering the program and as soon as it becomes available you get it downloaded without any further work on your part.

The program is hosted by Ross Usher and features an chat show style interview with a different country music artist each week as well as music, album information and so much more. The laid back style of Ross makes the show one of those shows you just want to listen to all the way through.

Produced in the studios of My 105.9 FM  Mackay QLD the show and the fact that it is now national is a real credit to the hard working team.

Station Manager of My105.9 Stephan Kent said “A Country Yarn is one of those unique programs that we on community radio do so well – it also gives us a chance to really highlight the very best in Australian County Music. It was voted the most popular program on our station in 2009 and so far this season Ross Usher the presenter has managed to line up an excellent range of artists. I can tell you that any station who chooses to run this show will be adding a high class show to their line up.  The show is produced without any funding from anyone and we just love the idea that using Ross’s research and interviewing talents has taking THE COUNTRY YARN to new heights”.

There is no time like right now to add “A Country Yarn” to your stations program list if you need more information on PDS, mySCMA or A Country Yarn check it all out at www.scma.org.au or log into mySCMA.

Membership to SCMA is just $50-00 per year and information and applications can be found here

Member station 5 TCB who recently lost their production area and all their production equipment have once again proven you cannot keep the spirit of volunteers in community broadcasting down.

The CEO of SCMA went to Bordertown on Saturday June 12^th to roll up his sleeves and assist the station to re establish a production area and to take some badly needed software to the station to get them back into the business of producing their stations needs in house.

Picture: (Left) The Temporary Production room established over the long weekend. There is still more equipment to come but this is a big start

There is a real spirit within the station and its volunteers and even though the production area is devastated and the remainder of the station smells like a bon fire they are setting about the business of being a community broadcaster.

Damage within the station was restricted to the production area thanks to some quick thinking by station staff. While the loss is huge with not only computers, panels, software and all you need to run a production studio destroyed the loss also included memorabilia, station history, CD’s , paperwork and so much more.

With a bit of scaping and searching we managed to find enough equipment to set up a temporary production area within the disused news production booth. While the equipment may have seen better days and wouldn’t be on any wish list the bottom line is 5 TCB are now fully capable of producing whatever they need  from the temporary studio until such time as the production area can be rebuilt and re equipped.

As always I found a band of dedicated volunteers willing to assist and get the job done with a smile, a joke and some hard work along with a bit of creative lateral thinking.

You will see by the pictures within this article that they were extremely lucky that the fire remained contained within the production area.

Congratulations to the crew at 5 TCB on how well they are dealing with the damage and disruption that the fire has caused.

Tuesday, 8th May 2010

A fire believed to have been started by an electrical fault in the production studio, began at approximately 2pm this afternoon at the premises of Bordertown fm radio station, 5tcb. At 2.30 pm the Bordertown fire brigade was called out, followed by both the Wolseley and Mundulla units as backup. The Bordertown ambulance also attended as a precaution.

Station manager Barry Hayman and board member Wally Milne, who were in the building, had noticed a strong smell of burning and called the fire brigade. Luckily the room where the fire had started was poorly ventilated and the door was kept closed, keeping the fire both contained and oxygen starved. The fire was apparently very intense, producing dense acrid smoke.

Luckily no-one was injured, although volunteer Joan Exton was checked by ambulance staff for the effects of smoke inhalation.

All the production equipment in the room appears to have been destroyed, but the actual fire was contained to that area, with the rest of the building suffering varying degrees of smoke damage.The building will remain sealed until an investigative team arrives from Adelaide later tonight. It is believed the equipment lost was insured.

Wally Milne spoke to BorderOnline about the incident and was understandably upset and shaken by the drama, “Barry hit the main switches as soon as we realised what was happening and just cut everything off, we had no time to say anything on air.” 5tcb went off the air at about 2pm and will not resume until the investigation is complete and the building is able to be accessed by staff.

Source: BorderOnline

If you’d like to help out 5TCB with anything please contact Ray Hazen using the details on our contact us page.

Alternatively, you can make a financial contribution by donating via PayPal at the ‘Melomania’ website (5TCB Program) www.melomania.com.au

Congratulations 979 FM Melton

Member Station 979 FM Melton or 3 RIM depending on how you know them have received some great recognition in the 2010 Powercor Melton Business Excellence Awards. The awards are a celebration of local enterprises servicing the Shire of Melton.

979FM was nominated for Best Community or Education Organisation (sponsored by Matchworks) and were competing with other organisations: Global Fitness Institute, Practical Outcomes and BGT Employment. 979 FM were the winners of this award.

979 FM were also nominated by the judging panel for Best Access for All Abilities (sponsored by the Melton Shire Disability Advisory Committee) in recognition of their

commitment to all their announcers and new members regardless of ability including the installation of ramps, larger doorways and the renovation of studio 1.

Once again 979 FM were successful and were the winners of this award.

Both awards were accepted by Mrs. Janet Stewart, VP, and Mr. Jason Wilson, Treasurer.

Attendees at the awards night representing 979 FM were Mr. Bob Turner, Mrs. Val Turner, Mr. Joe Stewart, Mrs. Janet Stewart, Mr. Ray Wright, Mrs. Karen Wright, Mr. Simon Ellis and Mr. Jason Wilson.

The President of the SCMA Helen Bath said “Congratulations were in order to 979 FM for the work they have done to win these awards. It is not only a credit to the station and all involved but also to Community Broadcasters in general for the recognition it gives”

979 FM won the following awards:

• Best Community or Education Organisation
• Best Access for All Abilities

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More information on this release can be obtained by contacting Mr Bob Turner at 979 FM  on  Mobile 0416 399 112 or via Email bobturner979[at]bigpond.com.

Or President of SCMA Helen Bath on Mobile 0407770209 or Email  helen[at]scma1.com

SCMA Member UGFM becomes the first Community Broadcaster to sign Emergency Broadcasting Memorandum of Understanding.

This audio grab is from the official signing of the Memorandum of Understanding.

Listen & Download the Audio Here

Read the press release here.