Radio One
July 5th, 2011 at 10:00 am by David FarrarThe Herald reports:
Musicians and media have hit out at plans to sell student radio station Radio One as an attack on the cultural heart of Dunedin.
Otago University Students Association (OUSA) has confirmed it is looking at selling Radio One to save money ahead of legislation ending compulsory membership of student bodies.
The station is broadcasting nothing but ambient noise and explanatory public service announcements this week to protest the proposal.
Manager Sean Norling said Radio One was Dunedin’s most established independent radio station and was crucial to making the city a viable option for touring artists.
There is an assumption here that if Radio One is sold, and no longer subsidised, it would not exist.
This is not the case. In Wellington we have Radio Active. It used to be owned by VUWSA but as is often the case when you have easy compulsory money, became a black hole and almost bankrupted VUWSA. So VUWSA sold it to existing management, and for over two decades it has continued on stronger than ever. It still has a strong following, is non-commercial, and no longer funded by students against their will.
A student survey last year also revealed Radio One as one of the least valued OUSA assets, Mr Edgar said.
So why should students be forced to fund it?
The proposal would now go through a submissions phase and Radio One staff would have the opportunity to have their say. A decision was likely to be made before the end of the year.
Because the station had a non-profit licence, Norling said he believed it would have “little commercial appeal” and a sale was unlikely.
Radio Active has managed fine for 20 years without VUWSA funding. bFM in Auckland does very well without compulsory AUSA funding.
Norling would be better placed working on a business plan which does not involve OUSA funding, than going on an effective strike.
Related posts:
- Spending compulsory fees on a pro-compulsion party
- Clinging onto compulsion
- Leave us our compulsion
- OUSA wants to buy SOE shares
July 5th, 2011 at 10:30 am
Manager Sean Norling said Radio One was Dunedin’s most established independent radio station and was crucial to making the city a viable option for touring artists.
Or to put it another way: “Manager Sean Norling maintained that it was part of the student experience being required to fund a radio station so that a handful of “artists” could get their shit on the airwaves that no on else would play.”
Vote:July 5th, 2011 at 10:44 am
As a Otago Uni Student, I say good riddance. Hardly anyonw listens to the station. It’s a bloody strain on funds. Thank you VSM for helping to potentially get rid of this piece of shit
Vote:July 5th, 2011 at 10:45 am
OUR STATION IS VITAL AND IMPORTANT AND WE COULDN’T LIVE WITHOUT IT.
(Plays a week of static to prove a point).
Vote:July 5th, 2011 at 11:16 am
Nothing has changed.
Vote:Radio one, or whatever it used to be called in the ’80s was rubbish then too.
July 5th, 2011 at 11:28 am
Doesn’t say much for the supposedly intelligent innovators who frequent universities when they are prepared to send money down the pan to pay for outdated media to broadcast rubbish that few listen to.
Vote:July 5th, 2011 at 1:54 pm
If they have an audience, they’ll survive without needing to suck up other people’s cash.
Having been forced to be a member of OUSA in the past and having to watch my hard-earned cash going on selfindulgent crap pastimes for the partying children of the well-off middle classes, the sooner the bill passes the better.
People who witter on about student health speak as though it is an outstanding service – I never found it to be so, and went to a local doctor.
And as for counselling services – show me the evidence that counselling works and I might consider supporting it. It’s my understanding that most studies that show a positive outcome from counselling are done at research centres using well qualified psychologists as counsellors, not in a typical setting with a typical counsellor.
Vote:July 5th, 2011 at 2:57 pm
Ah, the VSM debate always brings out some good laughs.
OUSA used to spend about 10% of their (published) budget on a subsidy on union food. One of the “world will end” results of VSM was said to be that this subsidy would end, meaning that students would have to pay about 5c more per item.
A few years later this “vital service” was quietly dropped, creating a nice quiet budget windfall.
Then there’s the advocacy service which though “vital” was only 2 years old. Funny how they got on for decades without one.
Vote:July 5th, 2011 at 2:58 pm
Annie: you pay fees to the university for student health.
OUSA claim it as “theirs” because they pushed for it’s establishment. But I guess student money paid the salaries of those who did the pushing…
Vote:July 5th, 2011 at 3:12 pm
Proving beyond doubt that he knows nothing about radio, business, psychology or much else. It’s non-profit status makes it an affordable option for those in the industry who’d like to run a station but are forced out of the market by the big players (TRN and Mediaworks), who often spend vast sums to buy frequencies they then do nothing with, just to keep competitors (who they know would offer better radio) out of the market.
“Not for profit” doesn’t mean “can’t make money”. The station can, of course, cover its expenses and many do the world over, Active being just the example closest to Radio One.
Stop whining over the loss of your student-funded sinecure, Norling, and put the damn thing up for sale.
Vote:July 5th, 2011 at 9:32 pm
When I was at Otago Uni, I used to listen to the Sunday Night talkback they had back then. However I was only interested in the abusive phone callers who would hurl abuse at the radio presenters. Apart from that it was rubbish. The OUSA will make out that it is the only radio station the uni students listen to. Most students will tune into commercial stations. Only those few OUSA sychophants would tune into it.
Vote:July 6th, 2011 at 9:34 am
Another outstanding own goal from Radio1 fans who have all joined a Facebook page to generally point the finger at everybody but themselves. 2000+ of them all saying that VSM has stuffed up Radio1.
No it isn’t. Its running the station unsustainably sucking up subsidies and funding expecting it to never come out.
It’s the latest OUSA student survey saying that students regards Radio1 as their least valued service.
It’s OUSA not telling students how much of their money has been thrown at a failing radio station – made worse by the fact that ALL students are forced to pay for this station in order to get a degree.
What makes it every worse is that this would have NEVER have happened if OUSA had listened to us (and people like DPF) all those years ago to become sustainable and less reliant on student levies. This isn’t a recent problem, OUSA have known that VSM was coming years ago. Not 2 or 3 years, VSM was on the books for over a decade.
What we have now is a clusterfuck supported by socialists and ignorant unionists who want us all to pay for something they are too lazy and cheap enough to pay for themselves.
Students won’t just get freedom of association when the VSM bill finally passes, they will also get freedom to NOT be forced to fund failing businesses in order to get a degree.
Vote: