Vibe FM

Gadgie

Anyone know what happened to the college radio station? Loss of licence / lack of interest / etc.?

Edit: Found a thread on it here. When I was first a student in WIT (in 2001), I seem to recall it didn't get a lot of support within the college (e.g. the radio station played in the canteen would be 2fm or Today FM or whatever, but not Vibe).

MitchKoobski

think a couple of people tried to get one going as a society at the beginning of the year, but I dont think anything came of it after christmas.

Sully

Probably lack of interest and also it being (I assume) a bitch to setup with the BCI crowd.

umdanone

as far as i know all broadcasting equipment was removed, leaving only a recording studio, it wouldnt be possible to start up a new station unless it was only broadcast over the web

shanemul

All the equipment is still there but the process to get a licence takes a long time so it's still being worked on

Gadgie

WIT run a course in radio broadcasting, don't they? Or has it not started yet?

I'm doing a degree in electronics and would be interested in the technical side of broadcasting, rather than the creative side. Will have to look into it next semester...

LETS BE AVN IT

I am in there once a week doing a radio course , all the equipment is there to broadcast live next week if needed but appartently they didnt reaply for a licence the time they went off air ! Looks like there wasnt much interest at the time , its a lot of hastle trying to reaply for a licence , would be great if it came back on air.

Gadgie

It would be good to have one, especially now that there is a radio broadcasting course running. I'd like to work in the communications broadcast industry, so it would be good experience for me. Just because it wasn't very good before doesn't mean we shouldn't try again. It could always start broadcasting over the internet until a licence is sorted with the BAI.

Sully

shanemul wrote: »

All the equipment is still there but the process to get a licence takes a long time so it's still being worked on

I hear they have decided not to get a licence this term, because they can get a better one which allows for longer broadcasts next term.

shanemul

Well Sully seeing as I'm one of the people on the committee, as we have said all along is that we are working on the application and with the various organisations that offered support so that all is setup correctly.

sparkling sea

Gadgie wrote: »

It would be good to have one, especially now that there is a radio broadcasting course running. I'd like to work in the communications broadcast industry, so it would be good experience for me. Just because it wasn't very good before doesn't mean we shouldn't try again. It could always start broadcasting over the internet until a licence is sorted with the BAI.

Very sensible idea, it would allow people to get studio experience and allow for the building of an audience, you could do something similiar to what Zenith Classic Rock do.

Sully

shanemul wrote: »

Well Sully seeing as I'm one of the people on the committee, as we have said all along is that we are working on the application and with the various organisations that offered support so that all is setup correctly.

Sorry for my ignorance, just heard nothing from the society since it started (bar the one meeting) and since then its been various rumours from within. Never knew it took so long, maybe its a college thing.

sparkling sea

Scrap the internet idea forgot about the performing rights. An internet radio closed recently, the online rate quoted by both the PPI and MCPS/IMRO is 0.001 cent per song per listener. Though it sounds miniscule collectively it would be prohibitively expensive.

Temporary licence is a much better solution in the short term and it would show the BAI that the people involved are serious about the licence, they may also look more favourable on the granting of a longer term licence if they knew the job could be done properly.

Temporary licence is not too expensive around €500 and the libel insurance is in and around €1800Forms are easy to fill in but you need one of the broadcast companies Total Broadcast Consultants or BTS to do the techincal part although its also possible that someone at the college may know how to do this, not likely but its possible.

What is the holdup exactly regarding the application, it seems to be taking forever - I've never heard of one taking this long? Maybe some one like Gadgie should come on board, it might help move things along.

Gadgie

I'd definitely be up for helping out, but I don't really know a lot about radio stations at the moment - I'm interested in learning, though.

One of the lecturers in WIT, Colm Dunphy, was involved in Vibe the last time. I found his page when searching for info about Vibe. Is he still on the committee?

Wouldn't you have to pay performance royalties regardless of whether the station is online or on the FM band?

sparkling sea

Gadgie wrote: »

Wouldn't you have to pay performance royalties regardless of whether the station is online or on the FM band?

Paying royalities for an online station is a new phenomenon - and with internet radio your exact amount of listeners can be calculated so I would imagine the cost would be prohibitive.

I would still recommend the temporary licence route.

The BAI would prefer the students to run the stations rather then lecturers.

shanemul

it takes the bci between 3-6 months to grant permission to an applicant once the final proposal is submitted. At the moment the initial proposal has being submitted and are waiting for word back from the bci. The plan being to have the station running in time for freshers week. We are in the same situation as the Tramore Community Radio station in which we must wait for the bci to approve the application before we can go any further

Sully

Think Tramore Community Radio applied a bit later then yourselves, Shane, no?

I assume the initial proposal went in quite late and hence a delay hearing back?

shanemul

No they have applied around the same time

sparkling sea

shanemul wrote: »

No they have applied around the same time

Both of ye have been misinformed I would think, as they couldn't have applied because BAI haven't yet advertised a licence for Tramore :confused - community licences are a different kettle of fish from institutional licences.

I would imagine and suggest that the new 100 day temporary licence will be there first goal. Is Vibe going down a similar route

shanemul

sparkling sea wrote: »

Both of ye have been misinformed I would think, as they couldn't have applied because BAI haven't yet advertised a licence for Tramore :confused - community licences are a different kettle of fish from institutional licences.

I would imagine and suggest that the new 100 day temporary licence will be there first goal. Is Vibe going down a similar route

In order to get any licence at the moment from the BCI you must first apply for the temp licence and only then can you apply for any other licence such as a community of interest licence

sparkling sea

shanemul wrote: »

In order to get any licence at the moment from the BCI you must first apply for the temp licence and only then can you apply for any other licence such as a community of interest licence

Unless of course its a commerical licence.

Have Vibe applied for the 30 day temp licence or are they holding out for the much hoped for 100 day temp licence

Don't know if your understanding my point but at the moment its a 30 day temporary licence over a 12 month period, however this is to be extended to a 100 day temporary licence over the same period. The 30 day licence makes an application cost prohibitive to many community /other groups, so realistically its not open to any group.

Tramore Community Radio could not have applied fo there licence yet as temp licence for a community station must be advertised so that all interested parties can apply - its not just open to the group that lobbied for it - as I said it is a different process from an institutional licence

The process starts by the BAI placing an 'Expression of Interest' Advert in the national and local papers. This will be a general ad and any community groups from the area with an interest can apply for the licence. As this hasn't happened as far as I am aware, although I am open to contradiction, Tramore Community Radio group may be seeking a licence but there isn't one to seek at this present time. They couldn't and haven't appliced for any type of licence as there isn't one available.

sparkling sea

Unless of course its a commerical licence or a community licence.

Have Vibe applied for the 30 day temp licence or are they holding out for the much hoped for 100 day temp licence

Don't know if your understanding my point but at the moment its a 30 day temporary licence over a 12 month period, however this is to be extended to a 100 day temporary licence over the same period. The 30 day licence makes an application cost prohibitive to many community /other groups, so realistically its not open to any group.

sparkling sea

I am getting mixed up between full time and temp.

Tramore could have applied for a 30 day temp licence without the need for it to be advertised - it took Zenith just under 6 months to get theres but this was because the BCI was changing to the BAI. It was about 3 months the year before

dayshah

Whatever about licensing, I think the management needs to be done right.

I was there in 2000-2003 (after I left it lost the licence, so maybe I'm to blame )

In the first year everything was done very well. The structure was one 'professional' manager with experience, and a paid student from WIT or elsewhere. I think after the beginning it didn't run as smoothly. After the 1 st year the professional manager didn't seem to realise we were volunteers and sometimes called us her slaves. That didn't go down well with me!!!

In the second year Louise Heraghty was the paid student manager. She was great to work with, and now has a career on national radio. I heard her a few times on Today fm and seems to be doing well for herself.

I think it would be great for media students sepecially if it got up and running again, and the success of Louise Heraghty shows what can come of it.