parchedpeas

First, sell Douglas Head. Then build a new studio at IOM College with the money from the sale and move any viable kit from the old place, in. This is the new "Manx Radio". They will run a commercially-funded service, playing songs and doing 'requests'. They will be removed from the PSB requirements but they will get no subsidy. Then, get £250,000 budget per annum. This will fund 5 "Paul Moulton" style content producers who will bid for the gig. They will receive £50k a year, in two year contracts. They will be required to produce 4 hours TV / Podcast and 4,000 words online / news content per week, 100% of which must be locally based or derived content. They will publish this on the "Manx Media" Youtube channel for free and it will be free for any local radios stations / newspapers to use if a link-back is given. Any advertising income derived from this content will go back into the fund, but authors can - in addition - provide their own content for which they can take an income. They can do this via their own channel, should they wish. This potentially opens the way for Isle of Man TV. The "Manx Radio" studios will provide a workspace for these content providers, should they wish. It will also be available to the College, for Media Production courses. This, or something like this, would produce 20 hours and 20,000 words of Manx content, each week. After one year, we'd have 1000 hours of Manx content, and 800,000 words of new Manx articles published. it will have cost us a quarter of what Manx Radio costs. Manx Radio would continue, dedications would still get read out, the weather would still be announced, we're still get the hilarious banter. And we'd get a whole lot more as well.

Cost-per-minute! Come on Stu, you can do better than that. Manx Radio is largely filler. Some great original content, but lots of stuff is rehashed over and over again: once you've written a news story, it's written. Paul Moulton's content is varied and various and it's posted online forever - a source of content and a slice of Manx Culture that will survive for future generations of Manx people. Manx Radio's "content" is largely broadcast into the ether and disappears, never to be heard again. IOMG should be funding the former: a databank of culture and news, available to all, forever. An investment in the present AND the future for the Manx people. A media fund - where people like Paul, and yourself, could bid for funding and go off and provide such content would serve the nation better than the ephemeral content that Manx Radio provides in between Phil Collins records.

On a tiny island, it's hard not to know someone who is involved in pretty much everything that happens: what should Manx Radio do? Only promote stuff that is made off-island so as to avoid every conflict of interest? Should Duke have to use voice-overs from off island, so they can be mentioned on-air? Daft, and self defeating.

From his own website: https://celticlife.com/charles-guard/ There is a lot of good at Manx Radio, but the model is broken. The good - the ones who are doing it because it needs to be done and the Island is better for it - will survive, however this ends up. The BBC won't import people from the UK, they'll employ the best locally. Some of these voices you already know. All of the managers in the background who you don't already know, you won't miss.

The NUJ disagree. Attribution is one of the first things you're taught on a Journalism ethics course although, as has been written here, I accept that in this case it appears to have been done,

It is good journalism, and good manners, to refer to your sources. Common practice amongst UK media. If Manx Radio haven't done this, they should, especially as their journalism is paid for by us: they should be held to the highest standards.

You could pre-record the news and save a fortune. "Government hails news success" "Drunks get into fight" "TT is coming - it'll be the best year ever" "TT has been - numbers are down" etc.

Time to step up and put your money where your mouth is, Manx Forums! http://uk.radiotodayjobs.com/job/managing-director-2/

Jonny Moss is laughing at himself with that, you know. He's entirely in on the joke.

It's the bare minimum that Manx Radio should be doing and fair play to Alex Brindley for getting it done.

Like why would a bloke in his 40s listen to 3FM ? Discerning folk would be listening to Manx Radio. Let the Teeny Boppers listen to the others. The advertisers know where the majority of people listen, which is why MR get the £££££. job done. You might have a point about Energy's listeners, but I think you'll find that 3FM has a pretty wide reach. It's not my cup of tea, but it provides a 'service' at no cost the taxpayer and, as others have mentioned, will in fact pay tax into the coffers. Actually, that's rubbish IMO. It takes potential advertising revenues away from MR and thus overall increases our tax payer subvention to MR. We are in actual fact subsidising all 3 stations. You speak as if Manx Radio should have a monopoly on advertising space on the Isle of Man. And because of that, your opinion is ill-informed. Manx Radio is being battered from all angles for advertising, 3FM and Energy are the least of their problems. I can directly target an advert for my 'toilet seats' at someone at the very moment they search for 'toilet seats' online or discuss it via social media. Why would I need to run a 6 month campaign with a catchy jingle, singing the virtues of my toilet seats hoping to catch someone who might be interested? In my opinion, Manx Radio take advertising revenue away from 3FM. If they are to be given their money from IOMG then they should cut their cloth accordingly.

Like why would a bloke in his 40s listen to 3FM ? Discerning folk would be listening to Manx Radio. Let the Teeny Boppers listen to the others. The advertisers know where the majority of people listen, which is why MR get the £££££. job done. You might have a point about Energy's listeners, but I think you'll find that 3FM has a pretty wide reach. It's not my cup of tea, but it provides a 'service' at no cost the taxpayer and, as others have mentioned, will in fact pay tax into the coffers. The idea that the state should fund a preferred station, instead of funding content, is not really very fair. The UK have already started moving away from this, by making the BBC fund other parts of the communications industry through the licence fee. It's inevitable that, at some point, resources will be shared amongst broadcasters here. It's just sad that it will take so long to get to that point, when such a move could really energise what is a pretty stagnant sector here on the Island. I appreciate Manx Radio are trying to bring additional revenue in through things such as this new venture, but it will be pennies in the long run really: the idea is not very good, it's not really needed and the pool of advertisers who might use it have got plenty of cheaper, more direct options available elsewhere. It's free to set up a Facebook page, for example, and you can talk directly to your customers there.

MR trying to generate funds from elsewhere = good thing. This idea = pointless thing. It'll fizzle out like every other similar idea before it. If they actually made their website any good, people would pay them to advertise on it (instead of the stream of exchanged favours that you see advertised on there).

PP, I agree with many of your observations in this. But the reason for so many staff is that there is a legal requirement for MR to provide a full news service with hourly (sometimes more) bulletins throughout the day and three longer (Mandate) news/CA programmes. When you allow for holidays, sickness, people covering court, Keys, Tynwald or other events, there appears to be zero slack in the newsroom. That was certainly the case when I worked in there. I defer to your greater knowledge on this then, Stu. But I'd counter by saying that - if this is the case - the legal requirements put on the station are over the top. In any single hour of any single day on the Isle of Man, what realistically happens that requires writing up and reporting hourly? Very little, I'd imagine. You could just as easily have the three longer programmes you mention, and leave it at that. It's that 'over the top' mentality that runs through government and has led to so many of the white elephants that we've got now, and will be paying for for years to come.

If they only reported when there was huge, breaking, exciting news they would hardly report at all and then you'd all be on here killing them for that. There really isn't much for them to report. The real story could be why they need so many people up there to do a job that could probably be done by three or four people. It's another curse of the 'we're a nation, not an island' mentality that has seen so much money disappear to fuel this ridiculous belief that we're something more than an average sized town. You can't really blame Manx Radio for it, because the whole of the public sector is set up that way. Think how much richer we would all be if we just cut and pasted legislation form the UK and amended where absolutely necessary. Think how many non-jobs would have to go and how much private enterprise would spring up in its place out of necessity. Hey ho. It won't change. Too many people in high office think they're regulating the City Of London and too many people who work for Barclays think they're working in the City Of London and so we end up with the costs of running this Fant-a-city. And it makes most of us worse off.

How many radio stations 'break' news though? You could lay the same claim at the door of the newspapers. It's a small island. Not very much happens. Life is safe, and fairly predictable. That is a good thing! The by-product of that is that the station has to 'find' news. Fairly prominent local people saying positive or negative things is, in this world, news. It's just not very interesting.

The more of these non-stories that Manx Radio broadcasts, the less Phil Collins we have to listen to. This is a good thing.

They're a bunch of peasants. And we are too, because we keep voting them in. What is wrong with us? Why are we first to open the doors to money but the last to open the doors to humanity?

He's no Trump when it comes to oration, is he. Also, he's got very big hands.

The BBC opening up in Scotland is simply a land grab before the inevitable referendum and the Scots leaving the UK. They need to keep those juicy licence fees rolling in from north of the border. They could not care less about the Isle of Man. Which is why they ignore all the begging letters from the government. Take it, or leave it.

Film industry! What a bunch of crap. OUR film industry was based on a tax con. The Pinewood deal seems to be based on a property expansion. Not much filming going on in either of these 'deals'.

I'm sure the extra cups of coffee and soft drinks consumed during the longer crossings also help dictate the speed to boat sails. Especially at £2.50+ for each purchase.

You mean the taxpayer then?

If you were filming in Wales, why on earth would you need to come to the Isle of Man? Everything that is here, is already in Wales. The whole business seems focused around 'tax advantages'.

The force is with him.