Community Media Association to hold 39th AGM in Leeds this month

The Community Media Associations 39th AGM will take place on Saturday 20th April at the BBC Yorkshire building in Leeds city centre.

The member organisation also holds a networking event alongside the AGM with presentations and discussions on the sector.

One of the presentations will be conducted by CMA member YO1 Radio which holds the community radio FM licence for York & Selby in North Yorkshire. The station also broadcasts on DAB (on the North Yorkshire MUX) and was awarded the SSDAB licence for York, which launches next month.

Operations Director and Head of news Dave Parker said: “We believe the Community Radio sector is at a significant crossroads. There is a definite opportunity (and need) for the community sector to be able to fill the void in locally produced and relevant radio created by the ongoing consolidation within the commercial radio sector – and, to ensure that community stations can step up to the mark, there is the need to both reform the regulations making financial viability difficult and those which ensure the longevity and integrity of ‘localness’.”

Details and booking info here.

BBC Radio York Breakfast Presenter Georgey Spanswick will be chatting to the CMA’s Jason Rosam about her career and love of radio and will take part in a question and answer session and a they’ll be a discussion on Ofcom’s latest proposal to simplify and streamline some of the regulatory requirements such as key commitments so community radio can focus on delivering social gain for their local communities.

Jason Rosam from the CMA said: “It’s always excellent to bring together CMA members from across the UK to discover how their community radio projects are running and to share best practice. I’m looking forward to hearing how Y01 Radio in York provides such an incredible service to their audience and to chat to the dedicated people who are working hard in their own community stations over lunch. I am very grateful to Chris Burns at BBC Local Radio who is always so helpful in helping to organise a BBC venue four our annual AGM and Networking events.”

The event is open to all and tickets can be purchased here.

The Community Media Festival 2024 date and venue will also be announced at the Leeds event.