Penistone Community Radio - Highlights of Application to Ofcom
Penistone Community Radio has a board of directors with over 70 years combined
radio experience, who collectively steer the stations long term direction
and individually manage the station on a day to day basis, ensuring that
the station stays focused on our objectives and commitments and retain
accountability for legal aspects of the company operation and ensuring
the broadcasts comply with Ofcom guidelines.
The board meet monthly and this will continue through launch and first
year of operation.
We have also made provision for a Community Committee, which will
include key representatives from the community to comment on and
provide objective feedback on our existing services and to shape and
make recommendations for the future.
Penistone Community Radio will have a listener panel made up of up to 10 people from
our community who will operate separately from Directors, staff and
volunteers at the station.
They will hold quarterly meetings and will provide detailed independent
feedback on Penistone Community Radio, its activities, its accountability and
suggestions for change.
Penistone Community Radio Community Committee
The Community Committee will include key representatives from the
community to comment on and provide objective feedback on our
existing services and to shape and make recommendations for the
future.
The meetings will be held quarterly and will be chaired by a Penistone
Community Radio Director - on rotation, terms of reference of the committee and
minutes from the meetings held will be available on the stations website.
Initially the key stakeholders of the committee will be invited by
Penistone Community Radio, ongoing we will invite other organisations that we feel will
add value to this process and consider request from groups and
organisations as they arise.
Standing seats will be available to the following organisations:
South Yorkshire Fire Service
South Yorkshire Police
Penistone Community Partnership
Youth/Schools Representative
Town Council - Representatives from any of the town/parish councils
2x Community Groups
Fire Service
Police Community Partnership
Youth Representative
Town Council
Community groups
Other seats will be allocated on request of other organisations.
The seats will be on a rotational basis for community groups and
Youth/School reps; this will allow differing views to be taken into
account so the process does not become stale.
This is a flexible structure and should the need arise for other interested
parties to join the committee the board will be open to this. All positions
above are voluntary.
Penistone Community Radio Listener Panel
The Listener Panel will be made up of a volunteer Chairperson and up to
10 Penistone Community Radio Listeners. The Chairperson will be elected from
interested parties and will serve for one year only.
Listeners will be recruited through on air and online campaigns.
The Listeners Panel will produce a report after each meeting, submitted
to the board and published on the website which will detail comments
on existing operations and programmes and suggestions for the future.
The board will then feedback comments via the volunteer Chairperson.
Programme Service.
With a population of only 21,058, our resources are limited and we
therefore propose a live service that is supported by our own automated
output supplemented by repeats of individual program features such as
interviews rather than programs as a whole.
Our weekday daytime
output will be automated, barring one live show per day, and evening
programmes from 5pm and all weekend daytime shows will be live.
Penistone Community Radio will address the audience as members of a geographical
community. The aim is to be inclusive and to target members of this
community who have fewer opportunities to represent their opinions
and interests. Penistone Community Radio will broadcast a popular and accessible
range of programmes designed specifically to meet the needs of the
local community.
We aim to improve and develop the experience of community spirit by
encouraging people to get involved in the community, either with us or
the many community activities in our area.
Our initial format will shift between daytime which will be mainstream
programming into evening schedules which will be more specialised
and live, and again at weekends part of the day will be mainstream, the
majority will focus on speciality music, events and sports.
We will cater
for the diverse range of musical tastes in the area as well as providing a
constant stream of information and opportunities to get involved, this
will develop as we get more feedback and input from the members of the
community.
Weekday daytime will be a wide ranging format, heavily reliant on automation, with pre-packaged audio inserted at regular intervals. The audio will be features on community groups, promotion of forth coming community events and activities & replays of key interviews we have conducted.
Saturday morning will follow the same wide appeal format but will be live and will include features such as "Wedding Bells" an opportunity to get good luck messages to people getting married, this could be expanded to include pre-recorded audio from family and friends.
Weekday evenings will be the home of our specialist programmes such as Blues, Jazz, Brass, Dance, Shows, Folk, Classical, Motown, Organ Music, RnB, Country, Youth, Soul and local bands, the weekends will see a sports focus on Saturday Pm, entertainment and "Going Out" on a Saturday evening.
The sports programming will include all local grass routes sports, we
have full support of the successful local Football side Penistone Church
football club and will provide match reports and updates from their
games, as well as coverage of cricket matches which is prevalent in
Penistone, Silkstone and Cawthorne.
Sunday morning will have a religious focus, incorporating a variety of religious music and references, and Sunday afternoon will see a link up with Barnsley Hospital Broadcasting and other specialist programmes including our 3 hour Local Band show each Sunday night.
3 hours of programming per week that showcases ‘unsigned’ musicians from in and around the transmission area, the rest of the show would provide a mixture of rock, soft rock, AOR – Album tracks; new Album features, rock classics and new rock age.
The programme will have emphasis on Live Music, Live Music Venues, Local Bands, and a Gig Guide. Local bands playing in the Penistone Community Radio range and any bands playing at venues in the Penistone Community Radio range and Local bands and national bands playing out of the Penistone Community Radio range but of interests to our listeners.
The programme will deliver a Gig guide of established bands on tour in the area, obtain recorded interviews and performances which provide the quality of material which will be suitable for using during the programme Live acoustic presentations during the programme and eventually provide an opportunity for local and new bands to perform at local venues under the Penistone Community Radio banner.
Local talent and venues will
then use Penistone Community Radio as a platform and provide us with information.
People in the community will be able to create podcasts at home and
upload them to our website or email them for broadcast; this could
extend beyond local bands listeners own individual creations.
Our programming will link to student work and performances. For
example media projects / radio drama pieces or music performances
created by local school musicians and artists will be broadcast.
An audio feature called the “Community Notice Board” will run through
all our programming, essential a comprehensive what's on guide where
people and community groups can promote their local event to others,
this will be a mix of presenter reads and wherever possible the
community group or event organiser will be encouraged with the
appropriate training to record their Community Notice Board
announcement themselves.
Weekday Daytime programming will follow a more mainstream service
of speech and music, a broad spectrum of appeal will ensure strong
Community support and participation.
Programmes will be addressing issues that affect the Penistone area
and will provide a number of features produced to inform and entertain
locally, e.g. interviews, community group appeals, projects completed
by local school children, material will be originated and presented by
people from the communities and will reflect the unique identity of our
community and rural location rather than fulfilling conventional
expectations of radio formats.
Programming content will include Drama group producing radio drama and poetry, specialist music programmes, discussion and coverage of local issues, Local community information and a chance to debate issues on air. A wide variety of music genres including specialist music that is of interest to younger people and music that will appeal to an older age group. Speech programming celebrating the heritage and culture of the area News and current affairs programmes.
We will
showcase local musicians, artists, performers
Organist Kevin Grunhill will provide further content; Kevin is a leading
organ player in his field and a stalwart at Blackpool’s tower ballroom.
Kevin is also Chairman of Penistone Organ Trust, which operates one
the few Compton organs in the country. Kevin will present a regular
Organ music program; we know this will be popular in our community as
there are regular events, which attract big audiences in both the
Paramount cinema and St Andrews Church.
A popular feature we will continue to broadcast from our RSL was the
one-hour Gardening programme, fronted by Brian Cockerline a local
horticulturalist and owner of the main garden centre in the area, Brian
offers gardening advice and answers listeners questions.
We will attend and broadcast reports on local festivals, sports events
and other events, provide a platform for local organisations,
associations and businesses to promote their activities to the local
population, to provide opportunities for local people to express their
views, to explore issues of interest to them through the medium of radio,
to provide particular opportunities for schoolchildren to make and
present radio programmes to fit in with the school curriculum Local
history programmes Local environmental programmes.
We will provide coverage of the area's town and parish meetings, promoting the dates and times, and whenever possible attending and reporting back issues and items raised at the meetings.
We will look to nominate a listener in each of our villages and towns to become our "Community Reporter", they will be our eyes and ears in the community, providing leads on news stories and programming opportunities, this could be as simple as providing us with a lead on a story or after training our "Community Reporters" would have access to portable recording equipment and supply a steady stream of ultra local information, interviews and features from their village or community.
We are working on relationships with focal points in the area such as Penistone library to have a permanent display and information point about Penistone Community Radio's activities and how to get involved, temporary information points (display board and feedback sheets) will be placed at community events where we are unable to have a full radio station presence, to inform and allow as many people in the community to interact and give feedback.
We will provide the tools and training for our community to produce, develop the content and broadcast their own radio programmes, encouraging a sense of community spirit and belonging through involvement in programming.
The station will broadcast 24hrs a day, however to be realistic as to the capacity of our community to provide live programming we are proposing a mixture of live and automated programming with a view to expand as more volunteers become trained as we are a small station broadcasting to a relatively small population we do not wish to run before we can walk.
We will make effective use of our Myriad playout system to deliver effective automated programmes and features, In the first year, we plan to have live presenter led programming running for a minimum of 70 hours per week with the main "Live" programmes commencing at 1700 each weekday and 0700-0000 on Saturday and Sunday plus an additional 2 hour live daytime program during the automated weekday daytime sequence.
It is expected that we will be able to have one "live" 2 hr daytime
programme each weekday, however this will depend on presenter
availability. It is envisaged that the employed studio manager will also
be able to present a daily two hour live program whilst still managing
his/her other duties, if this assumption bears fruit then our live daytime
output will be more than predicted in this document.
It is not our intention to repeat whole programmes, our automated daytime sequences will include repeats of our interviews and features so that more of our audience gets a chance to hear them at different
times of the day and week, our presenters and producers will be encouraged to ensure features and interviews are produced/conducted in a way suitable for multiple broadcast use.
We will also offer (subject to copyright issues) a listen again feature on penistoneCommunity Radio.co.uk, this is already in operation for interviews conducted from our RSL and whilst we have broadcast on the Internet.
Programmes will be produced and broadcast from our Penistone studio's, we will take limited external programming such as a one hour programme for the blind "Soundings" and possibly other audio from community media outlets. This however will be minimal.
We will take (subject to agreement) IRN News, this will be taken each hour in both automated and live programs, in addition we will take 1hr program for the blind - scheduled for 9am each Sunday. It is also possible, where appropriate and desirable, that we may exchange some programme materials with any neighbouring community station, or programming from another community station that would be of interest to the target audience. This would happen relatively rarely, and would occur only to enhance the service being provided.
We will also broadcast a joint program once per week in association with Barnsley Hospital Broadcasting which will link the two stations together allowing our listeners to interact with friends and relatives they may have in Barnsley Hospital. This worked very well on our RSL, a BHB presenter collects requests from the patients and these plus requests solicited through Penistone Community Radio are broadcast on both stations during a jointly branded program.
We aim to achieve a 30% Speech to 70% music balance by the end of year one, we feel this will increase in the future years as we get more volunteers and they become more confident, exact figures are hard to predict.
Genre |
% of Station Output |
% of Music Output |
Chart Music |
4% |
5.7% |
2000’s |
3% |
4.2% |
1990’s |
3% |
4.2% |
1980’s |
15% |
21.4% |
1970’s |
12% |
17.2% |
1960’s |
12% |
17.2% |
1950’s |
6% |
8.6% |
Specialist |
15% |
21.5% |
|
70% |
100% |
Specialist Music Genres will break down as follows
(% of total output (15%)
Genre |
No. Of Hours |
% of Station Output |
% of Music Output |
% of Specialist Music Category |
Time/Day Scheduled |
Jazz |
2 |
1.20% |
1.7% |
5.7% |
Monday 1900 |
Folk |
1 |
0.6% |
0.8% |
2.9% |
Monday 2100 |
Country |
2 |
1.20% |
1.7% |
5.7% |
Tuesday 1900 |
Blues |
1 |
0.6% |
0.8% |
2.9% |
Tuesday 2100 |
Organ |
1 |
0.6% |
0.8% |
2.9% |
Wednesday 1900 |
Youth |
4 |
2.38% |
3.4% |
11.6% |
Wed/Thurs 1700 |
Soul |
2 |
1.20% |
1.7% |
5.7% |
Thursday 1900 |
Northern Soul |
3 |
1.8% |
2.5% |
8.7% |
Friday 1900 |
Movies |
1 |
0.6% |
0.8% |
2.9% |
Friday 2200 |
Musicals |
1 |
0.6% |
0.8% |
2.9% |
Friday 2300 |
Motown |
2 |
1.20% |
1.7% |
5.7% |
Saturday 1800 |
RnB |
2 |
1.20% |
1.7% |
5.7% |
Saturday 2000 |
New Music |
2 |
1.20% |
1.7% |
5.7% |
Saturday 2200 |
Dance |
3 |
1.8% |
2.5% |
8.7% |
Sunday 0000 |
Classical |
1 |
0.6% |
0.8% |
2.9% |
Sunday 1600 |
Brass |
2 |
1.20% |
1.7% |
5.7% |
Sunday 1700 |
Rock |
2 |
1.20% |
1.7% |
5.7% |
Sunday 1900 |
Local Bands |
3 |
1.8% |
2.5% |
8.7% |
Sunday 2100 |
|
35 |
21% |
30% |
100% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Monday |
00:00 |
Eclectic mix of Songs from the last 50yrs |
Automated |
|
|
07:00 |
Minimum 2 Hrs "Live" During this Time Frame |
Live/Automated |
|
|
|
17:00 |
Presenter lead (Generic Music) program |
Live |
|
|
|
19:00 |
"All The Jazz" Specialist Music Programming |
|
||
|
21:00 |
"Folk" Specialist Music Programming |
|
||
|
22:00 |
Presenter lead (Generic Music) program |
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tuesday |
00:00 |
Eclectic mix of Songs from the last 50yrs |
Automated |
|
|
07:00 |
Minimum 2 Hrs "Live" During this Time Frame |
Live/Automated |
|
|
|
17:00 |
Presenter lead (Generic Music) program |
Live |
|
|
|
19:00 |
"Country Routes" Specialist Music Programming |
|
||
|
21:00 |
"Blues" Specialist Music Programming |
|
||
|
22:00 |
Presenter lead (Generic Music) program |
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wednesday |
00:00 |
Eclectic mix of Songs from the last 50yrs |
Automated |
|
|
07:00 |
Minimum 2 Hrs "Live" During this Time Frame |
Live/Automated |
|
|
|
17:00 |
Youth Lead - Chart Music & Requests |
Live |
|
|
|
19:00 |
"Organ Music" Specialist Music Programming |
|
||
|
21:00 |
Presenter lead (Generic Music) program |
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thursday |
00:00 |
Eclectic mix of Songs from the last 50yrs |
Automated |
|
|
07:00 |
Minimum 2 Hrs "Live" During this Time Frame |
Live/Automated |
|
|
|
17:00 |
Youth Lead - Chart Music & Requests |
Live |
|
|
|
19:00 |
"Soul" Specialist Music Programming |
|
||
|
21:00 |
Presenter lead (Generic Music) program |
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Friday |
00:00 |
Eclectic mix of Songs from the last 50yrs |
Automated |
|
|
07:00 |
Minimum 2 Hrs "Live" During this Time Frame |
Live/Automated |
|
|
|
17:00 |
Presenter lead (Generic Music) program |
Live |
|
|
|
19:00 |
"Northern Soul" Specialist Music Programming |
|
||
|
22:00 |
"Movie Music" Specialist Music Programming |
|
||
|
23:00 |
"Musicals" Specialist Music Programming |
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Saturday |
00:00 |
Eclectic mix of Songs from the last 50yrs |
Automated |
|
|
07:00 |
Presenter lead (Generic Music) program |
Live |
|
|
|
10:00 |
Presenter lead (Generic Music) program |
|
||
|
12:00 |
Presenter lead (Generic Music) program |
|
||
|
14:00 |
Music, Talk & Sport |
|
||
|
18:00 |
"Motown" Specialist Music Programming |
|
||
|
20:00 |
"RnB" Specialist Music Programming |
|
||
|
22:00 |
"New Music & Chart" Specialist Music Programming |
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sunday |
00:00 |
"Dance" Specialist Music Programming |
Live |
|
|
03:00 |
Eclectic mix of Songs from the last 50yrs |
Automated |
|
|
|
07:00 |
Presenter lead (Generic Music) program |
Live |
|
|
|
09:00 |
"Soundings" Program for the Blind |
Pre-Recorded |
|
|
|
10:00 |
Religious Programming |
Live |
|
|
|
12:00 |
"Hospital Radio" Shared Programming |
|
||
|
14:00 |
Music, Talk & Sport |
|
||
|
16:00 |
"Classical" Specialist Music Programming |
|
||
|
17:00 |
"Brass" Specialist Music Programming |
|
||
|
19:00 |
"Rock" Specialist Music Programming |
|
||
|
21:00 |
"Local Bands" Specialist Music Programming |
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
Presenter lead generic music programs will include a huge array of community features; this is just a scene setter to indicate that the musical style of the program will be generic rather than specialist.
These programs will feature the community content we have referred to elsewhere in this document
|
% Output |
Hours |
IRN |
5 |
8.40 |
Local News & Information |
3 |
5.04 |
Interviews |
2 |
3.36 |
Presenter Disussion/Links |
8 |
13.44 |
Sport |
2 |
3.36 |
Comm Groups |
6 |
10.08 |
Drama/Spoke Word |
0.6 |
1.01 |
Comedy |
1.2 |
2.02 |
Religious Audio |
0.2 |
0.34 |
PSA's |
2 |
3.36 |
|
30 |
50.4 |
We will work with the local drama group to produce radio drama programmes to be broadcast on Penistone Community Radio; we will also broadcast spoken word drama and comedy available from existing resources.
In addition we will broadcast pre-recorded features from Soundings an audio magazine provider for the blind, this is broadcast as a whole program each Sunday but separate features are available in 1-5 minute segments which are stand alone broadcast items, these will be scheduled to broadcast during our automated sequences.
Also religious audio features are available from an organisation called Audiopot, these features will be carefully scheduled on Sunday morning during our programming which has a religious focus, we will seek where appropriate to broadcast other religious faith content subject to availability.
Automated output will be used more extensively in the first year of the station, as the station develops Automation will reduce. The automation will be delivered using our Myriad playout system which will deliver sophisticated automation, interactive with top of the hour news provided by IRN and will include locally produced and station–recorded material.
0000 - 0700 will be an automated sequence of non stop music, every day including some of the lesser played hits from our database, some of our specialist music along with a mixture of pre recorded features and social messages.
During the period 0700 - 1700 weekdays we expect to have a minimum f one presenter "live", this will be a minimum of a 2hr show, other output will automated during this period.
This period will have significant pre packaged community features including what’s on guides, community group interviews and promotions, Public Service Announcements etc
Penistone Community Radio have consulted heavily with the local community in a number of ways. Our public consultation and feedback began as early as June 2005 when we attended the 2nd largest event in the area the Penistone Mayors Parade and Gala, we collected hundreds of questionnaires and started to build communications links with people in the community.
This research continued through the website and through our directors meeting people in the community, we again attended the Mayors Parade and Gala in 2006, the research continued and started to shape our plans for our first RSL, we continued to solicit support and feedback during the RSL which included attendance at the area’s biggest Agricultural show in September 2006.
This research showed us that:
People were underserved by currently available radio; this was evident from the question what type of programming would you like to see on a community radio station:(more than one selection was allowed)
Genre |
% of people selecting this Genre |
80% |
|
Local News |
60% |
Local Adverts |
45% |
What’s On |
40% |
Northern Soul |
30% |
Motown |
30% |
Soul |
20% |
Brass |
20% |
RnB |
18% |
Local Bands |
18% |
New Music |
15% |
Rock |
12% |
Country |
10% |
Youth |
10% |
Classical |
10% |
Organ |
6% |
Musicals |
6% |
Jazz |
5% |
Blues |
5% |
Movies |
4% |
Dance |
4% |
Folk |
3% |
|
|
We asked what radio station they currently listened to the most
Station |
% of people selecting the Station |
Real Radio |
24% |
Hallam FM |
22% |
Galaxy |
20% |
Dearne FM |
13% |
BBC Radio Sheffield |
12% |
BBC National |
23% |
Commercial National |
4% |
Other |
2% |
|
|
This clearly shows that any loss of listeners to Penistone Community Radio is likely to be absorbed by regional stations Real, Galaxy and Hallam Community Radio and the BBC Nationals.
Our programming has reflected what our research has told us, our RSL also reflected some of this programming and received positive results through phone, txt and email contacts.
We have also held open events in Penistone Town Centre, which gave people the opportunity to see our plans and comment on them.
Our programming plans reflect our research and the overwhelming response we have had to our RSL confirms that we on target to meet the tastes and interests of our community.
One area that did come out strong in all our research was that we engendered a positive community spirit, people are proud to be "Penistonians" and they appreciated that the station was genuinely local and community biased, they enjoyed and responded to hearing about local events, local people and issues that affected them.
During the RSL we had local businesses just turning up at our door asking to advertise, community groups contacting us to get their events promoted, word of mouth had spread, this was not from marketing hype, this was because we had listened to the community and were delivering what we had promised during the RSL, and they liked it.
Penistone & District itself is not independently served by any one
radio service, however it does fall into the MCA of 1 local
commercial service (Dearne FM), two regional services (Real Radio
(Yorkshire) & Galaxy 105 (Leeds)) and has no community radio
licence, in non of these cases do we over lap by over 50%
Dearne FM broadcast to the main metropolitan town of Barnsley, to villages in the Dearne Valley and to Penistone, our proposed MCA represents just 12% of their total MCA (source: Ofcom MCA Figures) and their share of listening is 14.5%. (Source: Rajar Qtr Ending March 2007)
Real Radio provides a regional service, along with Galaxy, & Hallam Community Radio, due to the geographical spread of these services they are unable to provide any significant local service to Penistone & District.
Penistone Community Radio’s programming will broaden choice by delivering a unique range of specialist music programming as demanded by the local community each and every day as detailed in our programming plans.
Our non music elements are the biggest defining factor and will offer our community a voice, a chance to discuss local issues, an opportunity to learn about activities and events in the community, about things happening in Penistone, Cawthorne and Silkstone, not Sheffield, Wath or Leeds.
Because much of our non music content will be Penistone specific and the combination of our specialist music shows and a general music content which is not restricted to a playlist will provide a local vibrant alternative to the existing providers. We will provide a completely different listening experience. Our intended programming mix is unique.
Will deliver social gain by providing an opportunity for the people of Penistone to have there opinions heard and to have the opportunity to gain experience on local radio.
Penistone Community Radio will deal with issues on the doorstep, in our community, they may not be sexy, they maybe unattractive to a commercial audience but we will encourage the community to speak about their experiences and concerns.
Our activities will recognise that a significant part of our area is a rural farming community, so agriculture and rural affairs will form part of our programming; no other radio station covers this subject in our area.
During our RSL we actively promoted a local ploughing competition and activities undertaken by Penistone Young Farmers.
We will invite Councillors, Head Teachers, Solicitors and Health Practitioners, to contribute to our programmes to discuss issues of concern with our listeners and will give local people a chance to express their creativity by showcasing their musical and written talent on air – an opportunity that they wouldn’t otherwise have.
Penistone Community Radio will deliver a distinctive service to the community, not just radio but a community service utilising radio, new media and people to engage with the Penistone community and its participants.
We strive to be the hub of the community, the automatic first point of contact for everything local. With the absence of a dedicated newspaper our news and community information service will be instant and relevant.
Will be thoughtful, inclusive and local, give something that the community will not have listened to before, real representation of the community, at board level and in our open and accessible management structure Penistone Community Radio will truly represent and reflect the community.
Will deliver social gain by providing an opportunity for the people of Penistone to have their opinions heard and to have the opportunity to gain experience on radio.
Volunteers from all backgrounds and ages can develop communication and technical skills, and through the direct, and indirect, engagement with IT, participants can also acquire new skills, develop confidence around new technology, and represent the interests and ideas of themselves and their community. Thereby incrementing their skills level and enhancing their employability.
For others, it will be sufficient to be engaged in a creative and co-operative activity that generates tangible, and entertaining outcomes.
The social gains are extensive in terms of life skills acquisition, training, confidence building and communication across the community, i.e. people work together and talk to each other.
Providing training in radio production skills and associated ICT skills, many of which are transferable to other areas of employment, providing information about what is going on locally.
Giving community groups and statutory services in the area an opportunity to reach local people with information about the services they provide helping to create a sense of community and of pride in the local area.
We will serve, as a channel for the communication and dissemination of information relevant to both the community's and the individuals needs.
Raise awareness of issues, which affect the community, with particular
emphasis on the environment, the economy and local heritage, encourage local creative talent.
Encourage Individuals to have a place in and a sense of belonging to a community, support people with differing abilities and needs young people to be able to present their own shows.
We are always looking for new ways to develop our commitment to the community. To help develop this commitment we have a director dedicated to Community Development and one for Partnership Development.
Indeed, our team have the local experience and knowledge and connections to help get as much of the community working with us as possible, a sense of belonging community minded individuals
We will aim to have community reporters in each village, keeping our finger on the pulse, this role will start off as our eyes and ears providing leads, but may develop into a full reporter role where they gather the audio and produce the story.
When we go live on Community Radio we will be in a very good position to meet our commitments and promises in a professional and prepared way.
In the first year we will have
Achieved through steady recruitment and training during the build up to launch, capitalising on our existing studio set up and our Internet broadcasts.
Managed through our training programmes these on and off air staff will be attracted to the station during the first year using on and off air marketing and natural interest.
We invisage that of the 15 on air staff some will quick develop to be fully fledged presenters in their own right within the first year, others will require further training and mentoring.
On the same basis the 5 off air staff may not all be in a position to be competent in their roles without further support extending beyond the first year.
On Air staff included Presenters, Reporters/Journalists and Producers.
Utilising our existing contacts we will assess the needs of local community groups, identifying those who desire greater exposure on our station, discussions will take place on how we feature them specifically through on air interviews, spot advertising, on air open day events etc
We will plan ahead and research village history, working with local history groups and school children to build a portfolio of information about villages in our area, culminating in a day rich with audio and were possible an outside broadcast from that village.
We have attended many of these for the past few years; we are know to the organisers and will build on our relationships to make Penistone Community Radio a cornerstone of these events. We will attempt to broadcast live from these events to bring the atmosphere and the events to our listeners who are unable to attend
At 6 monthly intervals, we will have an open day so that anyone can visit our studios for a look around, either just for pleasure or with a view to becoming a member, this will be promoted on air and through our new media outlets.
We will work with community groups that have a regular need to broadcast information about their activities to train their staff/volunteers to produce/present their own features and programming. These groups will be identified through our continued dialogue with the community and will be delivered alongside our training commitment.
Penistone Grammar School have an internal school radio station as part of their media department, it is our intention to develop pupils working on this project to be able to broadcast on Penistone Community Radio, this will be agreed during term time in conjunction with the school.
Work with all the educational establishments in the area to see how Penistone Community Radio can add value to their curriculum and they can showcase community understanding on air.
Offer work placements and job shadowing schemes to pupils and members of the community to give them an insight into how our station works, either at board level, studio manager or just shadowing a presenter.
The board will write and sign off a public annual report on the achievements against targets plus findings of Community Committee and listener panel.
Penistone Community Radio will continue to offer guest speaker services to local groups and organisations, informing and entertaining them about Penistone Community Radio’s aims, targets and activities.
We have recently undertaken such roles for Penistone Round Table and at a UNICEF fundraising event.
The board will review our key commitments file at each meeting, comparing actual performance against targets.
In response to significant deviations, the Board will agree a strategy to direct resources to enable performance to be brought back on target in a defined period of time.
Performance monitoring will also come from our Community Committee quarterly meetings as well as more informal feedback from our listener panel.
6 Monthly surveys of listeners, Community Groups and business will take place and the results will be fed back to the board and then distributed to all interested parties.
These surveys will be conducted with Penistone Grammar School as part of our close partnership.
Positions
Penistone Community Radio will have 1 Paid Position (Studio Manager – 30 hrs) and a tier of Voluntary team leaders, at the end of year one it is envisaged this will be 6 Team Leaders with responsibility for 30 Volunteers.
Training places - formal training as a group (broadcast), run twice per year, one evening per week over 5 weeks - community radio basics aimed at beginners, 6 places per session 6x2 12 places per annum.
Informal ad hoc mentoring and training (broadcast) = envisaged 1 person per week ongoing, as one reached an agreed level of competence, another will take their place, therefore 52 weeks training available per year, envisaged an average of 5 weeks per person = 10 people per annum.
Informal training (non broadcast) admin, answering phones, marketing, basic pc skills. Two courses per annum, 2 weeks in duration, one evening per week.
The target figures cited above will be achieved through a series of mechanisms and training opportunities tailored to the varying needs of potential participants.
In order to maximise the access to the technical facilities available, training will take the form of short courses, and evening classes.
Initially, it is intended that the station will have only one employee, but additional technical, editorial and presenting expertise is available within the volunteer base, who will assist in the development and delivery of training programmes.
They will be designed to provide an incremental training that builds confidence alongside a repertoire of production skills. It is essential that training is timely and appropriate to the experience and needs of volunteers.
Across the years, this programme will maintain the number of volunteers within the station through the introduction of ‘fresh blood’ to counteract natural volunteer churn. It will also allow established volunteers to acquire higher-level skills, and accredited qualifications, leading to the enhancement of broadcast output.
Our target audience has been identified through a number of channels, we have solicited feedback through our RSL broadcast in September 2006 by the receipt of texts, emails and phonecalls during and after the broadcast.
We have attending events throughout 2005, 2006 & 2007 including the Penistone Mayors Parade & Gala, Penistone Agricultural Show, Well Dressing 2006, Titty Trek and many more, completing research forms and having conversations with attendees as well as on the street consultations in Penistone Town Centre.
We have consulted with key stakeholders in the community e.g. Penistone & District Community Partnership and Penistone Grammar School as well as dialogue with many of the community groups and businesses that make up Penistone & District.
While the station will be mindful of its responsibility to engage the community as whole, its main focus will be on those who do not have access to the facilities and services, (including the rurally isolated) enjoyed by other sectors of the region.
Our programming as detailed in Section 6 will shift between daytime which will be mainstream programming into evening schedules which will be more specialised and live, and again at weekends part of the day will be mainstream, the majority will focus on speciality music, events and sports. We will cater for the diverse range of musical tastes in the area as well as providing a constant stream of information and opportunities to get involved, this will develop as we get more feedback and input from the members of the community.
Weekday daytime will be a wide ranging magazine format, heavily reliant on automation, with pre-packaged audio inserted at regular intervals. The audio will be features on community groups, promotion of forth coming community events and activities & replays of key interviews we have conducted.
Saturday morning will follow the same wide appeal format but will be live and will include features such as "Wedding Bells" an opportunity to get good luck messages to people getting married, this could be expanded to include pre-recorded audio from family and friends.
Weekday evenings will be the home of our specialist programmes such as Blues, Jazz, Brass, Dance, Shows, Folk, Classical, Motown, Organ Music, RnB, Country, Youth, Soul and local bands, the weekends will see a sports bias on Saturday Pm, entertainment and "Going Out" on a Saturday evening.
Sunday morning will have a religious focus, incorporating a variety of religious music and references, and Sunday afternoon will see a link up with Barnsley Hospital Broadcasting and other specialist programmes including our 3 hour Local Band show each Sunday night.
Our presenters will talk about local topics, inviting immediate feedback
through standard communications channels (phone, txt, email) and also by provision of a forum on Penistone Community Radio website.
We will encourage people to phone and email in with questions and concerns; we will encourage debate, both via telephone and live in the studio.
We will attend and participate in meetings concerning local issues within the community, such as Area Forum meetings and Parish Council Meetings.
During our RSL we attended an open day held by Dransfield Properties for the Tesco development; we interviewed their representative and then sought the views of people attending the event.
We will be active in the community and record people’s comments on local issues; we are based in Penistone town centre providing accessible premises in the heart of our broadcast area.
Members of the community will be able to visit the station and record comments for broadcast, this facility will be set up when the station has become established, towards the end of the first year.
Off air we will continue to operate the online discussion forum, the forum is on the website for anyone to log onto and express their views.
Using a computer as an answer phone we will encourage listeners simply to leave their thoughts on the machine, which would enable us to broadcast them easily. The phone line could simply become the means of gathering interaction with the station.
A series of less formal training schemes will be developed to enable participants and volunteers to acquire skills according to their own needs and ambitions.
These might range from the relatively straightforward, such as using a portable recorder, to the more complex, e.g. multi-track editing and packagingWe see the station as providing accessible experience for newcomers to radio. All volunteers should undertake a taster training session of two to four hours. This should be enough for people to decide what further training they would like to be involved with.
All volunteers will receive training appropriate to the extent of their voluntary involvement in the tasks at the community radio station.
This training will be delivered in a variety of ways dependant on our and the trainee’s requirements, this could be from one to one mentoring, group training or more formal structure in house learning courses at set times with set content.
Learning transferable skills - participation in our community radio station will develop transferable skills in IT, promotion, marketing, project management etc. This could improve employment prospects, so our training opportunities will not solely focus on On-Air skills.
We hope to be able to train staff from Trading Standards, Citizens Advice and similar information services to be able to come to the station on a regular basis and record their own packaged audio for broadcast.
The development of the station through the extension of partnerships and membership is the key mechanism through which an understanding of the community and its needs will be maintained and developed.
We will continue to be actively involved with local clubs and organisations. Members of the station are already members of groups within the community; this will be actively encouraged and expanded upon.
We will go out and talk to the members of the community in person, Penistone Community Radio and its volunteers will have a strong presence in the areas we serve.
Penistone Community Radio will attend events and provide PA facilities for such events, which are the Mayors Parade, and Gala and The Penistone Agricultural Show, Titty Trek, Penistone Community Bonfire, Well Dressing Ceremony, Yorkshire Day Celebrations and Cawthorne Evening Concerts, will continue to identify any event no matter how small to attend and promote.
Penistone Grammar School is an intergral part of the Penistone and District community, we feel our partnership with them is a vital way of understanding the community, not only are we dealing with teachers and people who influence the young people of Penistone we will be interacting with the pupils themselves, their family and businesses and organisations associated with the school.
We have met with Penistone Grammar School to discuss our plans going forward and feel that a partnership will benefit each other but indeed the community as a whole. Partnership proposals include:
We will operate a “Community action desk” facility both via telephone and online, the concept is simple, we will keep an up to date directory of telephone helplines, contact numbers and addresses of community service, advice lines, helplines and local contacts, in addition we will have available a list of everything we have read out on air, so if we announce an activity or event, listeners can ring the action desk for contact details of people running the event.
We will broadcast appeals, bulletins and features on Penistone Community Radio to inspire people to get more involved in their local community or do something to improve their quality of life.
We will provide health, welfare & education information some of which will be delivered through the scheduling of Public Service Announcements provided to us by Radio Bank, part of the COI.
“Just the job” will deliver the latest vacancies to our listeners primarily from JobCentre plus, we will also produce features for broadcast and publication online offering advice on completing a CV, attending an interview etc.
We will also deliver training information to enable people to get ready for a job to reduce unemployment levels.
As mentioned in the programming section we will link up with Barnsley Hospital Broadcasting to provide a unique service to our listeners who have friends and relatives in Barnsley Hospital. This will give the opportunity for relatives to play requests to their loved ones in hospital and also increase the awareness of the hospital radio service.
We see the offering of airtime to local businesses at a previously unavailable rate as a social gain, promoting economic development.
Penistone has a strong local community who appreciate and prefer to use local businesses, with the arrival of a Tesco superstore in the next 2 years we feel it is our duty to allow local businesses advertising opportunities they could not afford elsewhere.
For even smaller local businesses that cannot afford our standard rate card we will offer classifieds adverts under the 'Business Breaks' title. Usually three advertisers in a row with a 15 second spot each during the “Business Break” slot; this is effectively the sharing of one traditional 45sec spot.
We will devise programming that promotes public service information, i.e. recycling, energy conservation, social inclusion, volunteerism, starting a social enterprise, fund-raising, etc.
Our programming will enable local agencies such as Barnsley Council, the Fire Service, the Primary Care Trust and local voluntary and community organisations to communicate with local people.
Promoting employment by giving local people, the opportunity to learn new skills including media, ICT and basic skills, which are transferable to other employment areas.
Providing work experience opportunities for young people, either in association with their school or independently.
Promoting the development of self-confidence and pride in the local area by offering in house training, or advertising and promoting other self-improvement opportunities.
Continue to liase with Barnsley local authority to provide news and information about their services and local amenities.
Penistone Community Radio will continue to participate in a business network event held at Penistone Grammar School at which local businesses and community organisations attend and exchange ideas, this helped Penistone Community Radio get established in the community in the early days of our existence and we will continue to utilise this excellent opportunity.
We will have a weekly business programme tied in with Business link South Yorkshire and Barnsley Chamber of Commerce to assist economic development, Barnsley Chamber are planning a new Business Forum for Penistone and as well as being part of this forum, Penistone Community Radio will promote participation in this forum and report on its activities.
The Business feature will deliver business news pertinent to businesses in our rural area including issues effecting farming and agriculture, as well as national events relevant. A Business link or Chamber of commerce representative will join our live daytime program on a regular basis for live discussion.
We have formed a partnership with local classified website "Penistone Advertiser" which will enable our listeners to place classified style adverts with the website free of charge and Penistone Community Radio will read out the classified ads on air.
This means that our listeners have an opportunity to sell their unwanted goods free of charge to other people in the local community and we are able to promote the use of this fledgling community resource/website. Also in return Penistone Community Radio links will appear on the Penistone Advertiser website.
Partnership with library, include discussions about books, readings, publishing, special features... all centred around creative writing of all kinds one proposal is that it will feature discussions about books by readers, in particular from people in Reading Groups, but also from individuals. All interested readers would be welcome to take part.
We hope to develop a system for community groups to exchange goods and services as well as ideas and sources of funding. As yet this is in the early stages of development so the delivery mechanism is not finalised, but is likely to be through a website.
South Yorkshire Funding Advice Bureau (SYFAB)are an organisation that provide information on local and national grant availability for local community and charitable groups and also hold funding advice surgeries in the area.
We have agreed to work with SYFAB delivering on air messages for Penistone community groups, highlighting the latest funding news, details of how to get the SYFAB newsletter and details of local funding surgeries, we feel this is a positive contribution to social gain by indirectly helping other community groups to develop.
We have worked and will continue to support Voluntary Action Group, Barnsley (VAB) by delivering on air messages promoting appeals for voluntary action support which last year included the fun “Speed Dating Volunteer events”
We will have a comprehensive what’s on guide to the area, this will be on our website, delivered in on air programming and our aspiration in the future is to publish an Annual event calendar.
We do and will support the local “titty trek” that raises money for breast and testicular cancer research through sponsored walks and get people fit and focused in the local area. Raising awareness of these potential risks to local people and getting them talking about what can be a taboo subject, plus informing people how to check for themselves as prevention for their health.
We will encourage and inform about traditional events such as Penistone Well Dressing and encourage young people to become involved in them to ensure that they are here for generations to come and encourage “local values”.
We will work with Penistone Grammar school arts and drama department and any local poet or artist to encourage more poetry and literary items to be broadcast on air.
Penistone Ladies Circle and Penistone Round Table raise money through events such as the Community Bonfire and Penistone Mayors Parade and the Christmas Santa Sleigh. We currently support them and will continue to support them in raising awareness within the community of how getting involved in the community brings benefit to all in the community.
We have agreed a partnership with Penistone Scouts for their participants to work towards a Radio Communications Scouts Badge, to provide activities based on completing all or parts of the Activity Badges which are part of the progressive training scheme the scouting association provides. Visits to our studio’s and the supervised use of our equipment would provide and valuable and exciting experience for the young people involved.
We have and will continue to attend and promote local events including the two main events in Penistone, which are the Mayors Parade and Gala and the Penistone Agricultural Show.
Other events such as the Titty Trek, Penistone Community Bonfire, Well Dressing Ceremony, Yorkshire Day Celebrations, Penistone Paramount Shows and Cawthorne Evening Concerts will be attended too, plus we have and will continue to identify any event no matter how small to attend and promote.
We recently attended a small community tabletop sale, promoting the event online and attending on the day, interviewing participants and organisers for later broadcast.
This site is set up and running already at www.thisispenistone.co.uk and will be managed by our volunteer Webmaster.
The webmaster will also seek to expand our community responsibility by providing a free web design and hosting service to voluntary and community groups in the area, this will involve designing and creating a site in consultation with the community group and maintaining it on an ongoing basis, thus giving the community group extra exposure and instant traffic from our main station site and sister this is Penistone site.
We intend to sell local web banner advertising alongside our on air activities, these adverts will be placed on any website we create which will provide a small amount of revenue to offset the hosting and domain name costs of this activity.
In addition Penistone Community Radio already has a presence on Myspace, this presents an opportunity for Internet savvy listeners and potential listeners to interact with us in a way they are already familiar with, in addition we will look to develop a You Tube presence, this will allow us to provide community video to our listeners, both of the station and of the local area, a project with Penistone Grammar students to devise a promotion film for the station and other local projects will be managed through our close partnership with the school.
As a community resource and an opportunity to create a small revenue stream Penistone Community Radio will operate a recycling scheme for Mobile Phones and Inkjet Cartridges, this has a two fold impact on the community as it firstly enables people to participate in recycling, something that is a priority and our council takes seriously, plus it will increase contact with the station as we will have drop off points across the area and will encourage people to bring their recyclable products to any of the events we attend.
Our community website thisispenistone.co.uk will develop a comprehensive directory of community groups, with contact info, about the group and if possible any audio recorded i.e. interviews to encourage people to join others in new social groups and friendship circles”
Penistone Community Radio has a regular news column in a local community magazine "Penistone Community Times", a free bi-monthly magazine distributed to over 3,000 local homes and in communal area's, this is a key way to reach our community and encourage participation and feedback.
We will provide technical assistance, where possible, to other community groups undertaking projects that have demanding sound requirements.
We are planning Penistone Community Radio Music Nights around our proposed Transmission area; this will be done in conjunction with our local band expert Richard Marshall to provide an opportunity for local bands to perform at a local venue with the highlights broadcast on air on Penistone Community Radio.
We will operate a roadshow to promote both the station and our training facilities, subject to future funding this roadshow equipment may be hired out at a concessionary rate to other community groups and at a commercial rate to businesses for local promotions.
www.buy.at/penistoneCommunity Radio will form part of our online marketing and will direct people to a web portal that pays us a small commission for shopping online; this should provide a small revenue stream per annum.
Extensive interviews can be accessed through our website so that if a person misses a particular programme while they are out or at work”.
We will provide a voice for farmers within the region, whose way of life and livelihoods are far removed from the understanding of people even within a small rural town such as Penistone. Such links with farmers and encouragement for them to make programmes will help farmers communicate with each other and also help to create better understanding between ‘town and country’.
We will promote the Young Farmers Club to encourage them to let the community know what the young farming community is involved in and investigate ways to further deliver benefit to the community through their involvement.
We hope to increase the numbers of local residents who become active within their communities by making them aware of the possibilities and building their skills and confidence so that they feel able to participate and join together with others to find solutions to local issues.
We feel it is important to engage with the Young People of Penistone and promote traditional values of the community.
We will support community led initiatives through People United Against Crime and the local police to provide some useful social activities for the youth in the area.
We will encourage local traditional skills through on air activites, such as Sheep shearing, dry stone wall building, local produce manufacturing – Cheese, meat at top deer farm and dairy - new local ice cream maker just set up in village Ingbirchworth, promoting the use of local produce.
We will support the initiatives of Adult Learning and the Penistone Grammar School Parents Association to promote events such as Dry Stone Walling. Our Director Richard Ward is a member of the Local Dry Stone Wall Association.
We will promote and support the Farmers Market and the local organic and specialist small businesses located at Cannon Hall Farm and at Hazelhead Farm Shop.
Fair-trade. We will support the local council campaign to support Fair Trade, through promotion at the Farmers Market and at the local St John’s Community Centre. Penistone has just received fair trade status.
As part of our interaction with schools and other organisations we are planning to run a competition with young school children and brownies to design a Penistone Community Radio logo which will be used as our promotional logo at the next Penistone Mayors Parade and Gala.
Our community will be able to interact with the station in a number of ways, traditional contact methods will be available such as telephone, txt, email and post.
New Media will form a strong part of our communication with our community, this includes a forum on our website which listeners can communicate both with the station and with other listeners and users of our service, our directors will moderate and provide responses to queries raised through this medium.
We will deal with communications from our community in different ways dependant on the nature of the enquiry, day to day simple comments and suggestions to be dealt with by Studio Manager, all presenters and production staff disciplined in recording all comments and suggestions made by listeners by whichever communication method, given to Studio Manager on a timely basis.
Studio Manager delegated with sufficient authority to manage low level complaints, suggestions and comments, more serious or complicated feedback to be dealt with at board level, either at the next scheduled meeting, or if more urgent a director will take the lead either to take appropriate action or consult with other Directors.
The community will influence our operation in two further ways by the input of the community committee and the listener panel. The attendees of the community panel will be in part from statutory organisations