Last week I attended a meeting at Yorkshire Art Space about Sheffield Live!'s plans to apply for a licence to broadcast on FM on a full-time basis. I think that the meeting was interesting and more productive than the other meetings about Sheffield Live! I've attended this year and when I left I was more convinced than ever that a community radio station based in Sheffield could be successful. Indeed, I believe that a community radio station based in Sheffield could be the best radio station in the country bar none, provide many varied high-quality radio services to all the people of Sheffield and be a great asset to the city of Sheffield and to the community radio movement.

However, I also left the meeting more convinced than ever that Sheffield Live! is not a genuine community radio station, that the management and directors of the station are not capable of running a community radio station and should not be trusted with that responsibility and that Sheffield Live! should not apply for a full-time licence this year because the station is not ready to broadcast on FM on a full-time basis and will not be ready to do so for at least another year. I found the decision of the management and directors to hold the first public meeting about the application for an FM licence less than two weeks before the deadline by which applications for community radio licences must be submitted to Ofcom and their failure to publicise the meeting or their plans on the station's website deplorable, I believe that the "Outline Business Plan" they handed out at the meeting is fundamentally flawed in many respects and I believe that in the interests of community radio in Sheffield and the community radio movement across the UK they should abandon any plans to apply for a full-time FM community radio licence anywhere in Sheffield this year. If Sheffield is to have the best possible community radio station I believe that the current management and directors need to be replaced with management who will view community radio as their first priority every working day of the year (not their third priority or their first priority for a few weeks, days or hours whenever that is in their best interest) and management and directors who are chosen by and accountable to the volunteers who do most of the work at the station, the public bodies which support the station and the people of Sheffield.

I would be interested to know what other people think about community radio in Sheffield and about Sheffield Live! whether or not you have listened to the station on FM or the Internet (I have), been to meetings about the station (I have) or worked at the station (I have but I will not work at the station again whilst its present management remain and I know I'm not the only person who feels like that). I would be particularly interested in the thoughts of people who have been involved with Sheffield Live! in the past but have left or people who have read the station's Outline Business Plan. I want community radio to be a success in Sheffield and across the UK but I believe that the management and directors of Sheffield Live! have allowed the station to make a mockery of community radio and getting a full-time FM licence won't solve the problems that they have created and failed to solve. They have had a good chance to build a successful community radio station but they have wasted that chance so the best thing that they can do is step aside and let new management with new ideas start building a new community radio station for Sheffield.

I was at the meeting and I've actually put my name forward as a potential Director of the station.

I worked on Forge FM from about 1993 to 2000 here in Sheffield - Community Radio did exist in Sheffield before Sheffield Live, by the way.

The general management during the summer broadcast seemed to have some problems, as was spelt out in the meeting, and I was rather peeved on the night that my attempts to raise a few issues after my first batch of questions were studiously ignored by the panel, despite my being in the front row of the meeting.

There are a LOT of issues raised from the meeting, the grapevine and the business plan. As I've been there, done it and worn the T shirt in about a dozen RSLs and one full time application (failed) I've a little knowledge of where things can go pear-shaped.

However, I have faith that given a strong enough representation from the volunteers and some new blood in the management, things will happen.

If you're not happy with how it is, get in there and kick arse.

Joe

Joe, I think that you may be right that "given a strong enough representation from the volunteers and some new blood in the management, things will happen" but the undemocratic and largely closed way the station has been run so far has had the effect of stopping people getting in there, especially if they are suspected of wanting to "kick arse".

Sheffield Live! is a broadcasting club which is run by a clique largely based in the Cultural Industries Quarter and I suspect that many of the members and potential members who have gone to meetings have come to the conclusion that they were a waste of time because the management do what they want to do regardless of what they say or what is said to them at meetings. Four members or potential members went to the first planning meeting for the July 2004 FM broadcast (and at least two of them were newcomers) and whilst about thirty came to the next meeting about a dozen came to each of the remaining meetings (and some people attended most or all of those meetings). Some of the people who came to a few of those meetings had good ideas and were enthusiastic but didn't get involved in the FM broadcast and looking back I can see how the behaviour of the management and the organisation of the station (or the lack of organisation at the station) could have blunted their enthusiasm.

Having management who are accountable to the members is not only a necessity for a station applying for a full-time community radio FM licence: it is also potentially a means of combating apathy, seeking to resolve arguments and, most importantly, giving management legitimacy and authority, neither of which I think the current management have.

I actually went to a couple of the meetings and was involved in some 'backroom work' for the July broadcast. However, I pulled out when I realised that people were not taking certain aspects - transmitter site, studio management - seriously enough.

When I did my stint with Forge I had responsibility for technical issues and some studio management, and to be frank if you don't get those things right you're stuffed.

I was also VERY concerned that program slots were still being filled in the week or so before the broadcast, and that training was so slack.

Given the 'clout' that the current management board have in the CIQ and community broadcasting in general (and even in the 90s there was a cliquish attitude in soem areas of both) it is necessary to work with the current management unless you want to go out there and start up an alternative.

I believe that the current management wish the project to succeed, but that they may not be totally sure of how to achieve that level of success. Perhaps by trying to ensure that the process works we can make things happen.

Joe

You both have crossed some very interesting and good points though as a presenter on Sheffield Live the DJs don't take it seriously enough either.
My show is 1 hour long and on a regular basis I have been there another hour, in the last case nearly 3 hours because the presenter has'nt bothered to turn up.
You can't run a radio station without its presenters and an big overall is needed in that area.
Your views Joe and Fingers.

Paul/Cycleracer (I don't know which you prefer), the problem of DJs not turning up is not unfamiliar to me: indeed, for me it was the penultimate straw. One weekday afternoon two DJs in a row failed to turn up and the next group of DJs whose show was supposed to start two hours after I planned to leave turned up after their show was supposed to have started (people are supposed to turn up at least 15 minutes before the start of their show) and walked into the studio as if they owned the place (no "Hello" or "Sorry we're late") but didn't seem to have done any preparation for their show (I'm not sure that they even had any CDs with me even though their show is a music show).

The final straw was that in the three hours plus that I'd been there that day there hadn't been a duty manager present and the staff of The Drum hadn't take the slightest interest in what was happening in the studios, apart from when a guest was shown around the building when one of the staff paid a very brief visit to the studios (I don't know if they noticed that I was on air when someone else was supposed to be on or that I was very wound up indeed). If Sheffield Live! can't broadcast for four part-days a week without presenters or duty managers frequently being left in the lurch why should it get a licence to broadcast on FM 24 hours a days 7 days a week, especially if the management don't seem to care who is broadcasting, whether or not they should be there and what they are broadcasting as long as something is being broadcast?

As I said before Sheffield Live! is a broadcasting club and it's a club that hasn't got many active members. Lots of presenters have left the station this year, two of them walked out during shows and didn't return and a third walked out during a show but returned the following week. It may be true that volunteers come and go but the management remain but perhaps the management are the reason why some of those volunteers have gone and taken their experience and expertise with them and the fact that three people walked out during shows in a few months suggests to me that the problems at the station are very serious.

Right, your reason makes good sense and I agree with you entirely.
The problem is what can be done.
I was part of the FM broadcast to and one morning I could'nt get in so I had to go home.
I needs a dedicated management and deicated presenters and I know thats not happening although some are working hard to keep it going.
I don't know what to suggest but without engineers, duty managers and presenters it can't function.
Do you think this thread should be pointed in there direction, it would make a start.

Paul

Paul, I think it is clear that there are problems at Sheffield Live! and that the station's management has not solved those problems and if, as I believe, the station's management have caused most of the problems I can't see how those problems can be solved without a change of management so they should step aside and assist in the process of handing over to new management. However, I'm sure that the problems can be solved if the working relationships within the station can be put on a sound footing and especially if new management are appointed and they can approach people who have left Sheffield Live! and ask them why they left and what the station needs to do to win back their support.

I think the key first step is accepting that a radio station with aspirations to full-time broadcasting needs a full-time manager who is willing and able to take responsibility for things like training and supervision rather than leaving responsibility to someone else (in other words, a leader). In the case of a community radio station that person needs to be chosen openly by the volunteers (who should also appoint people to other positions such as Programme Director and Publicity Manager) and the publicly-funded organisations which support the station (who ought to be given the opportunity to appoint the directors). Once you have got someone working for the station full-time whose authority comes from the way they were appointed it should make it easier to deal with the most pressing problems such as inadequate training, a shortage of duty managers and scheduling. If a manager who is also creative is chosen once the station is running more smoothly they can then to try to improve the station's output by suggesting ways in which the station can move towards full-time broadcasting and become more speech-based and trying out and offering volunteers new programming ideas (rather than offering no ideas of their own and just hoping that other people will come up with enough ideas for speech-based radio to fill a certain proportion of airtime).

Hi guys,

There are a lot of good issues here - I've put together a response to the usiness plan and mailed it in to Sangita. I think it may be too late, as they say, but I like to have things on the table.

Perhaps we might get together sometime soon and just gather a few thoughts together which might be introduced as a set of definite proposals to the Station Management in the future?

There are some excellent ideas and comments here - we need to make sure they get to people who can do stuff with them.

Joe

Oooh....

Fingers - do you have an e-mail address or are you PMable?

Joe

i present a show as well and there's been many a time when i've had to cover for missing djs. It's beyond a joke.

We were asked to do a couple of shows. Sass produced the show on minidisc and took it down before the show was due to be broadcast. The rooms were locked and it took him ages to get anyone's attention inside. He finally got someone to come to the door who looked at him suspiciously when he handed over the discs. He explained what they were and didn't feel at all confident when the man accepted them and retreated back inside.

To this day we don't know if the shows were broadcasted, we had no feedback or any further communication from Sheffield Live.

Well yet again I had to stay 3 hours because the DJ did not turn up once again.
I have spoken to Sangita tonight and she will extend my show to 2 hours which would be handy.
I don't mind the extra time if I have the material prepared to do it but my show is 1 hour long so i limit the amount of what goes into it.
The Yorkshire Paranormal society did not turn in as well which I have already had an apollogie for.
The DJ that has not turned in on 3 occations should get the boot prompto and give the air time to the ones who can be bothered.
Joe, Fingers I,m not sure if our paths have crossed at the station but maybe we can help pull this bad situation round and I agree that if we do get a full broadcasting licence which looks highly likely then things have to change.

CR, sorry to hear about your misfortune, maybe you can get the MD to me and I will take it forward on your behalf.
Always glad to help.

Sometimes there are good reasons why people don't turn up to do a show on Sheffield Live! such as illness, people not being told they were supposed to do a show (I know that happened at least once during this year's FM broadcast) or not being able to get into The Drum because there isn't a duty manager (I know some presenters who are very conscientious and if they miss a show it is usually because they can't get into the building) but if people consistently don't turn up and don't have good reasons that show should be given to someone else (although that assumes that there is someone else to give it to which I don't think is always the case). I don't think the management of Sheffield Live! have had sufficient organisation, imagination or ambition to develop a satisfactory solution to the problem of people not turning up for a show and have relied on presenters staying on after their show was supposed to end, duty managers doing a show or playing compilation albums.

I think the station's lack of a clear purpose and the low priority it has given to the audience or potential audience haven't helped when it comes to dealing with or, more accurately, not dealing with this problem. If it had a clear purpose and that purpose was to serve listeners the management could ask questions like "Why didn't you turn up for your show?", "Would it be better for you to do a show every fortnight or once a month rather than once a week?" or "What is 'the community' supposed to think if you don't turn up to do a show?". However, I think the station's definitions of "community" and "community radio" discourage the asking of difficult questions because in those definitions rights are much more important than responsibilities and broadcasting is an end in itself rather than a means to another end such as entertaining people, raising issues or developing skills and attributes that may be valued in the world outside the cosy bubble that is The Drum.

Originally posted by JoePritchard
Oooh....

Fingers - do you have an e-mail address or are you PMable?

Joe

I think I sent you a PM yesterday but apologies if you didn't get it as it was the first time I've tried to send a PM on this or any other board. I've changed my options so I should now be PMable.

It's about 1:50p.m. on Saturday and normally Sheffield Live! should be broadcasting programmes at this time. However, the station's website says that the station is off air, there is nothing in the station's schedules for today or any other day and the station is broadcasting silence. There is no explanation for this on the station's homepage or in the news section of the station's website. There may be a good reason why the station is not broadcasting on one of the four days of the week when it usually broadcasts but if there is why hasn't the community been told?

The deadline for applications for full-time FM community radio licences passed recently but I don't know if Sheffield Live! submitted an application as planned (applications have not been published on Ofcom's website yet and Sheffield Live!'s website does not mention the application). However, if Sheffield Live! cannot broadcast on a four-day-a-week basis how will it be able to broadcast on a full-time basis?