[grc] Fwd: [ncramembers] NCRA's FM Chip Activation National Campaign Announcement

[Frieda Werden]

I am thrilled that Canada and the US have found a specific common cause in
the community radio sector.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Barry Rooke NCRA <barryncra at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Mar 22, 2016 at 8:29 AM
Subject: [ncramembers] NCRA's FM Chip Activation National Campaign
Announcement
To: NCRA Members <ncramembers at ncra.ca>


Hello Members


I have some very exciting news.  The NCRA is about to lead a nation-wide
campaign to pressure major telecoms (Rogers, Bell, Telus etc) and
manufacturers to turn on what is called an "fm chip", which is installed on
most smartphones already but not active (some phones have this enabled
already).  These organizations want to keep these chips disabled because
they make money off of data use, whereas the FM chips don’t require data.
The sector is interested in turning them on because it opens up more
listening opportunities for people to hear FM radio (among other benefits,
such as saves battery life when listening to music on the go, allows for
emergency broadcasting alerts to be reached etc).

We have teamed up with a software developer in the United States called
NextRadio, who helped launch the *US website* http://freeradioonmyphone.org/.
The NCRA will be launching a Canadian equivalent, recruiting partner
organizations to get listeners and the general public to write, call, and
petition these telecoms (and the CRTC) to turn on the FM Chip.  We have
already signed an agreement with the CBC network, to which they will be
supporting our campaign.  Additionally, we will be connecting with various
commercial and broadcast associations along the way who will support the
project -- an amazing outreach opportunity as well to make new connections.

What does this mean for NCRA Stations and supporting the campaign?

We hope that our stations will aggressively support this process.  Within
the next two to three weeks, we expect to have the website live with a full
marketing campaign including PSAs, web banners and social media posts
promoting turning the FM Chip on.   At this time, we encourage our member
stations to get behind the campaign and share/promote the marketing
material, talk about the importance of this and champion the project.
  There will be much more information coming shortly on when we launch so
do not worry.

Additionally, there may be some unique marketing and outreach opportunities
for our member stations who wish to engage with NextRadio and their add-on
app "TagStation" around advertising and listener numbers.  We are
negotiating with the companies right now for a solution that will fit our
member needs.

If you have questions, do not hesitate to contact me or reply if it is
something that you believe the rest of the network would like to hear an
answer on, and I will do my best to reply.

This is a very exciting opportunity for our sector to gain additional
exposure, connections, funding opportunities and listeners as we take a
lead in something the commercial and public sector wishes they could do.

Barry Rooke
NCRA ED

-- 
Barry Rooke
Executive Director
NCRA/ANREC
National Campus and Community Radio Association/
l'Association nationale des radios étudiantes et communautaires
www.ncra.ca
1.866.859.8086 / (613) 321.1440
barry at ncra.ca

Office Hours
<https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=barryncra%40gmail.com&ctz=America/Toronto>
ᐧ

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-- 
Frieda Werden, Series Producer
WINGS: Women's International News Gathering Service www.wings.org
<http://www.wings.org>
https://www.facebook.com/wingsradio