Manx Radio - Time To Go It Alone . . .

[nipper]

Manx Radio seems to be doing quite nicely these days.

 

The Radio Station has received "sub-vention" (a word I learnt off the Mannin Line) by the Isle of Man taxpayer to the tune of many £100,000s per year for some time now.

 

There are quite a few Manx Radio emblazoned cars knocking about (other than the Voyager that was the single Manx Radio go-mobile for so long).

 

At what point does the Isle of Man Government (that is to say, the Manx taxpayer) say "you have been saved from disaster, you are on your feet now, go it alone".

 

Maybe the sub-vention is now the jam, rather than the life preserving bread and butter. . . .

 

Maybe it is the cream?

[Tugger]

I agree, rip it from the taxpayer teat.

[bluemonday]

Quite right. It should stand or fall on its own without leaching from the taxpayer.

[jonnyrotten]

Quite right. It should stand or fall on its own without leaching from the taxpayer.

 

 

likewise TT TV, which is now getting five times that amount every year...

[Bambster]

Reading this made me think 'When was the last time I ever listened to that Manx Radio Yawn station?' and the answer I came up with was must be donkeys years. The other radio stations on the isle of man have to get by with advertising and putting in effort, so should Manx Radio. Ah, it just came to me the last time I listened to it, was in someone else car and the swap-shop thing was on and a woman wanted to swap some groceries for a sewing machine. Cash well spent on polluting the airwaves.

[Albert Tatlock]

I disagree, it is our very own 'BBC' - in fact a better working funding model than the BBC - and should continue to be financially supported where necessary. If MR went bust one year as a result of not being funded (e.g. there is a real possibility of that with falling advertising revenues during the credit crunch) it would be gone. We'd be stuck with Radio One crappy equivalents, and who would play all of the minority stuff and cater for all ages - such as the Manx language programs, Bernie Quayle for the oldies and do the TT etc. etc.

 

By all means encourage it to be more efficient and bring in more money, except when publicising or broadcasting national interest programs (e.g. IMO radio TT should be free to get the message across the world) - but don't take away it's safety net.

[pongo]

I disagree, it is our very own 'BBC' - in fact a better working funding model than the BBC - and should continue to be financially supported where necessary. If MR went bust one year as a result of not being funded (e.g. there is a real possibility of that with falling advertising revenues during the credit crunch) it would be gone. We'd be stuck with Radio One crappy equivalents, and who would play all of the minority stuff and cater for all ages - such as the Manx language programs, Bernie Quayle for the oldies and do the TT etc. etc.

 

By all means encourage it to be more efficient and bring in more money, except when publicising or broadcasting national interest programs (e.g. IMO radio TT should be free to get the message across the world) - but don't take away it's safety net.

 

It should do more of the cultural stuff + local news and history. But they have reduced that content.

 

The dreary 80 soft rock, talk-radio, PR / magazine format, and easy listening is what makes it so awful.

[loaf]

Reading this made me think 'When was the last time I ever listened to that Manx Radio Yawn station?'

It's easy to fall prey to the idea that because a public service isn't tailored to your personal tastes, it should be scrapped.

[Slim]

Agree with Albert and Pogo, we need it, but it needs to do more of what we need.

[pongo]

I disagree, it is our very own 'BBC'

 

It should be. But it does not need to be our Radio 1 or our Radio 2 or our Radio 5. The commercial stations can do pop and talkback radio perfectly well.

[keyboarder]

Manx Radio should be completely funded by government. This would not only more clarify it's remit, but would enable it to operate without the desperately poor quality advertising every five minutes telling everyone about things they can easily find out using other means, and removing the main reason why I, and I'm sure many others, NEVER tune in. It would have to be fully accountable of course, and pay realistic salaries commensurate with it's position as a very small community station.

[Gagster]

I disagree, it is our very own 'BBC' - in fact a better working funding model than the BBC - and should continue to be financially supported where necessary. If MR went bust one year as a result of not being funded (e.g. there is a real possibility of that with falling advertising revenues during the credit crunch) it would be gone. We'd be stuck with Radio One crappy equivalents, and who would play all of the minority stuff and cater for all ages - such as the Manx language programs, Bernie Quayle for the oldies and do the TT etc. etc.

 

By all means encourage it to be more efficient and bring in more money, except when publicising or broadcasting national interest programs (e.g. IMO radio TT should be free to get the message across the world) - but don't take away it's safety net.

 

Except the funding model in the Uk supports BBC local radio. We should either have a reduced licence fee as the BBC will never give us local radio, or IOM Gvnmnt should negotiate a clawback of some of the money and use that for Manx Radio.

 

We seem to be paying the BBC for something we'renever going to get, and then paying for Manx Radio.

[Albert Tatlock]

I disagree, it is our very own 'BBC' - in fact a better working funding model than the BBC - and should continue to be financially supported where necessary...

 

Except the funding model in the Uk supports BBC local radio. We should either have a reduced licence fee as the BBC will never give us local radio, or IOM Gvnmnt should negotiate a clawback of some of the money and use that for Manx Radio.

 

We seem to be paying the BBC for something we'renever going to get, and then paying for Manx Radio.

I don't think there are many on here who would disagree with that.

[Gagster]

From what I gather, this was a MR sales call:

 

Rep: I can see you're busy, have you got a minute?

Shopkeeper: not at the moment, sorry.

Rep: oh, you're probably not going to be interested in this anyway.

Shopkeeper: er, right

Rep: I'll leave this leaflet about MR+

Shopkeeper: MR what?

Rep: thanks, bye

 

Credit crunch or not, they certainly need to improve their sales technique!!

[keyboarder]

Credit crunch or not, they certainly need to improve their sales technique!!

 

They shouldn't need to sell anything.