An alternative to Radio Cornwall?

[D K]

I have been reading with some interest, the opinions of all concerned football fans that are fed up with the football content on Radio Cornwall each week.

It is blatantly obvious that enough people care about the topic, but sadly it is as equally obvious that the BBC will not be doing anything differently for the forseable future.

This led me to thinking: Is there another way?

I have no broadcasting experience whatsoever and so my idea maybe a joke to those who do.

This is a forum after all and so tell me if i'm having a laugh.....Do it politely though!

There are a total of 54 clubs playing in the 3 leagues at present.

The 19 Premier Clubs each pay £100 as a Radio PR Fee, per season (RPR Fee) £1,900

The remaining East & West Clubs pay £75 RPR each year. £2,625

According to the SWPL website, this year the league has 2142 registered players.

A compulsory RPR fee of £5 per player, per season could be introduced and made compulsory by the CCFA.

£5 is nothing for those who get paid for their services and likewise for those who dont!

This would raise a further £10,710

Redirect the £400 from the Throgmorton Cup that goes to the longest surviving team from East & West, this is pointless IMO.

Redirect the Fair Play award money that currently sits at £1500. Do away with an award for each division and instead offer £1000 to one club from the 54 who has the best record.

The best record in senior football would deserve the bigger prize and would further release £500

Redirect the prize money for 2nd & 3rd places in the Programme category.

IMO this is pointless, you either have the best programme or you dont. Those who do, congratulations. Those who dont; If you are that bothered, do a more in depth job and not only may you win next year, you may sell more copies due to your new content! This would raise a further £550.

Adopt the same policy with the Best Ground award as explained in the Fair Play section.

One award would raise the prize fund to £750 and be contested between all 54 clubs, instead of one per division. This would raise a further £150.

Programmes pay their own way and are an earner on match days, this is the most important thing. Editors do it out of pride, not for this award.

This is even more the case for Groundsman. It would be a great honour to be voted best ground in senior football and the majority of groundsman do it for the love of the process and the club they do it for not for the £300 currently on offer.

I am one so trust me when I say that, we treat the playing surface as our own!

Finally, this forum has 1831 registered members at my last look. If you could get 25% to pay an RPR fee of £10 per season you could raise another £4500

There have been enough complaints, would people put their money where their mouth is?

Adding up all the figures in bold comes to approx £21,335

The season runs for an approximate 44 weeks from Aug-May. Divide the raised funds by the weeks where a service is required and you get £485 approx.

Give a presenter £100 to attract the right person and offer the £385 to Radio Cornwall/St Austell Bay/Pirate FM/Atlantic etc, etc to use their equipment for one hour on a Saturday team time.

Would they see the value in this? I bet the smaller stations would.

Of course. i'm only thinking out loud, what do our broadcasting experts think? Would the stations laugh at such a suggestion?

Hope I havent bored anyone :blink:

[Guest Postie Pidge]

The Fair Play Awards are a good incentive and the radio idea is good but there are more than just the Peninsula League.

[D K]

Good point Pidge.

Bring into play the other divisions and a few things begin to happen:

1, More monies available. In fact if CCFA make the PR Fee stick for all players in all Cornish divisions, the prize money in Fair play, Best ground etc can remain.

2, There maybe a few quid for the odd reporter dotted around the county.

3, Heaven forbid a bit of profit could be generated, ideally put towards a nominated charity each season or to help clubs improve facilities.

Not a lot of comments considering the views this topic has had, is this because i'm barking mad?

IF and its a BIG IF, the players in the county got behind a Radio show of their very own, the BBC could live to rue their decision to ignore everyones views.

I'm not sure how many clubs and players operate within Cornwall but would hazard a guess that the Club & Players PR fees could fund a 2 hour slot. This would fit in reports/results from all Divisions.

There will be an independent radio station out there somewhere that would enjoy taking on Radio Cornwall.

Even if it lasted one year and was useless, what is to lose apart from £10 each?

Better to regret something you did rather than something you didnt.

Mr Deacon, would you be keen to get a team together for a 2hr, Cornish Soccer Special each week?

I hate having to conform, lets have a go people............

[Dave Deacon]

Mr Deacon, would you be keen to get a team together for a 2hr, Cornish Soccer Special each week?

Love to! :Santa:

[dave the rave]

i think its a good idea but somebody would have to put in a great deal of work to bring all those sugestions together and make it happen. if somebody did take it on they can certainly cont on my tenner.

[Guest Peppermint]

A lot of thought has gone into your idea Soil Sports Ltd. and the posting makes sense. All Cornish soccer followers want is a decent service that allows people to find out how their club has got on on a Saturday and other teams in their league have fared.

[D K]

Evening All

I'm a little surprised by the lack of discussion this topic has raised. I was expecting far more than 3 others to make a comment.

Tell me why this is, are there enough football followers that want such a programme?

I have been in touch with several people since my original post and have a meeting with a station next week about the costs of a 1.5 hour slot on a Saturday teatime.

There is a long way to go but the shear fact that a discussion is taking place tells me that they are interested and at this early stage; that is very promising.

Sadly, I was not listening to Radio Cornwall yesterday but I hear of the CCFA and the reporter discussing the bright future on their station with regard to local football. Did anyone hear this?

I dont do things by halves but additionally I dont want to spend time on a project that wont be supported by the football community!

The make up of such a show would involve a £10 donation by as many people as possible.

The funds would cover expenses of reporters/presenters/Radio Station etc and any profits would be redirected back into local football.

Thinking out loud, I would invite applications from clubs for help towards Nets, Balls, Ground equipment and other essentials etc. Stuff that is not normally funded by grant money.

Would you pay £10? Am I P****ng in the wind trying to gather up interest?

Of course there will be trust issues with your £10, so next week I will be seeking advice on the best forward to put all of your minds at rest.

This will not make me any money at all, I'm in it for showing the "big boys" of local broacasting that they disregard our comments at their peril!

[The General]

Without Doubt there would be support from Gulval.

[Lafs]

If I can help in any way at any level, you have my number. Great idea that surely can be put in to practice.

[King Kenny 7]

Great idea Soil Sports, Im in send me a pm if you need any help in this matter.

All the best

St Austell FC

[Andy Yeatman]

Looks like a reasonable idea and as pidge says there are teams in ECPL, Combo, F&H, Duchy etc.

Just one flaw in your sums - around half the teams in the Premier, two teams in the West and all the teams in the East are Devon based - they might not be that interested in paying for a Cornwall sports programme!

I think the only 'local' radio network that can braodcast across both counties is the BBC!! Oops

[D K]

That was an issue Andy, but thankfully a solution has been found.

I'll tell everyone how when i've sat down with the station this week and thrashed out the possibilities!

[Guest]

Lost me on this one. Surely our job is to continually put pressure on the broadcast media to get them to change their minds. I have had the standard reply from the BBC for my complaint which was a waste of time, but how many people have complained anyway.

Perhaps getting local MP's to come on board for the cause might help.

Personally I think it is a dead duck and the BBC are not going to fall over themselves when their listening figures must say they are getting it right.

[oldasitgets]

I do think that your sentiments are excellent.

I hate to put a damper on it, but I feel you need a reality check on the money figures.

I'm afraid that your chances of getting junior clubs, existing from hand to mouth, struggling to buy a new match ball, to contribute to a radio programme that would give them scores on the way home, approaches absolute zero.

With all the clubs in the County, priority for reports, understandably, going to the more senior clubs, then Mudlane Athletic in Division 8 of the Mid Cornwall Conference would hardly get their £75 worth. (They may think)

We would be expected to pay for a radio report on a Saturday that may, if someone's taken the trouble to phone it in, have our score mentioned on air? I don't think so.

Especially as we're a Sunday Club.

I'm sorry. I think that the BBC should provide a decent service.

If you're going to pursue this, before you invest to much time and money, check that the little people would be prepared to put their money where their mouth is.

The way that radio works is, either it's a public service like the BBC or it's commercial and raises finances by selling advertising. If your programme can attract enough listeners, then advertisers will pay to be listened to. If not enough people are interested, then it's not worth doing. Maybe if Pirate or Atlantic thought that there was enough interest, they'd do the job themselves to make money. That's what they do.

Are you sure that there are thousands of people out there who are desperate to listen to football scores and match reports on a Saturday tea-time? I suspect its a very small enthusiasts group.

I've been playing regularly in the County for 30 years and there aren't many more enthusiastic about grass roots football but, even when the reports were good, I only listened a couple of times a year to radio Cornwall tea -time Saturday.. You also say that there are less than 2,000 people keen enough to use this forum. That's not a huge potential audience.

Sorry. I just don't want you to get carried away without looking at the other side of the coin.

Apologies if there is a real club called Mudlane Athletic.

[D K]

No need to apologise for putting realistic comments forward gents, thanks for your feedback!

Oldasitgets, I totally agree with you on the junior club front. The makeup of reaching a target figure to pay for the radio show was one that came from a quick glance at the prize funds, literally typed within minutes of digesting the money on offer.

I have my first meeting with a station this morning and to be honest the chances of this progressing purely lies with a broadcaster. It wholeheartedly depends how much it will cost to produce a show.

Lost me on this one. Surely our job is to continually put pressure on the broadcast media to get them to change their minds. I have had the standard reply from the BBC for my complaint which was a waste of time, but how many people have complained anyway.

Perhaps getting local MP's to come on board for the cause might help.

Personally I think it is a dead duck and the BBC are not going to fall over themselves when their listening figures must say they are getting it right.

ECPL, this is a contradiction. You want to put pressure on the BBC at the beginning of your post yet at the end admit that they are not going to fall over themselves when they think the listening figures are better!

If I can run such a programme for the remainder of the season after Christmas, see how it goes and then decide whether interest is enough to continue next year. The best way of changing the minds of those at the BBC is to carry through with a new show that "our" figures can then show them what they are missing!

Wont count on your £10 then, but comments like this are good. Its ideal to hear both sides of the coin.

[Paparazzi]

I`m pretty sure if people like Dave Deacon and Tom Trust with their previous radio experiences and maybe a couple of others to make the up the team, were to approach either Pirate FM or Atlantic FM they would snap up the idea within a shot of a 1 or 2 hour slot for soccer, of course i know they would also probably have to feature a little teeny bit of rugby.