I attended the DemonFM board meeting this afternoon. As we’ve done for the last eighteen months we met in the DSU board room. Not so many of us attending today, but it did give us the chance to narrow down the discussion on some of the key issues. Andy gave an excellent station managers report that was very well balanced and gave a good fair summary of the key issues affecting the day-to-day running of the station. I was impressed with the general tone that the station is moving forward, and despite some occasionally robust background discussion between the volunteer teams, the the general sense is that the product and service is improving.
I made sure that we discussed the range of compliance issues that will impact on the station as we continue. Not to put to fine a point on it, it was a little sobering to reflect on the many facets and potential pitfalls that can beset DemonFM if we are not keeping our eye on the responsibilities and accountability that we have as a station. There is quite a large list of issues that we need to pay attention to, most of which are informed by Ofcom’s need to ensure fairness and transparency for the listener. Could a listener misinterpret that pre-recorded show that asks them to text in to the station to have a message read out? Are we telling our listeners how much it costs to call the station, or how we treat the information that we collect on them?
My priority over the coming months is to work with the station team to develop a stronger sense of regard for our Ofcom obligations. Simple things like making a note of who is in the studio at any one time? Or what live calls we take, or competitions we run? Finding a way to record and report this information in a way that is unobtrusive and allows the show teams to maximise their creativity is going to be important. Not keeping any records of what we do or say is a major potential risk. Sounds like I’ll need to organise some briefing sessions – let’s see how that goes down!
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