News

Radio One is still too expensive though.

The Deloitte review’s recommendation to sell Radio One has sparked a “Save Radio One” campaign, which has gained a significant following throughout the proposal’s consultation period.
 
The review was undertaken to prepare OUSA for the threat of Voluntary Student Membership (VSM), set to pass into law at the end of this year. OUSA would be subject to a decreased revenue stream in 2012 as a result of VSM, as students would no longer automatically become levy-paying members of the association. In light of this, OUSA commissioned the review in order to establish which of its current services they should reduce or cut altogether.
 
The Planet Media Review conducted earlier in the year commented on the “exceptional cultural value” of Radio One and praised its financial prudence. Despite this glowing commendation the Deloitte review recommended that Radio One be sold to “a yet to be determined buyer.” OUSA is consulting with staff regarding the proposed changes, and no decisions are to be made on Radio One until all submissions have been considered.
 
The recommendation has led to an outpour of support for Radio One (especially remarkable considering student apathy levels), with a Facebook campaign and online petition both being launched following the proposal. Radio One Station Manager Sean Norling described the potential sale of Radio One as “a loss for the association, and a loss for future students.” Norling told Critic that the station has been “talking to national media outlets in order to present our side of the story, including Nightline and National Radio.”
 
The online petition at petition.co.nz had 1497 signatures at the time Critic went to print, out of an overall goal of 10,000. The petition states that OUSA have “accepted a corporate recommendation to privatise Radio One 91FM.” It asks people to “SAVE student radio – SAVE Dunedin culture,” by demanding that Radio One “continue to be funded by OUSA.”
 
If Radio One were sold, Norling says that OUSA would have to undertake negotiations with the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, and the Ministry of Economic Development in order to ensure the provisions of the licence agreement were adhered to under new ownership. Radio One’s licence would “prevent a commercial operator taking over, so whoever bought it would have to believe in what we do,” says Norling. Critic understands that Radio One has been loosely valued at $8,000.
 
The “Save Radio One 91FM” Facebook page had 3,013 likes at the time Critic went to print. The Radio One Facebook group had over 2,500 likes, a significant jump in the page’s popularity since the proposal recommending Radio One be sold was made public.
 
OUSA President Logan Edgar told Critic that he thought that “the campaign is good, it is getting a lot of attention around VSM which is the common enemy. I would like to see the Radio One guys not put all their eggs into getting attention externally but in getting a proposal put forward as to how it can be better, whether that is being more accessible to students or cost neutral.”
 
“I would also like to know who is to blame.”
 
OUSA management declined to provide Critic with information on the cost of the review, stating that they felt that it would be inappropriate to do so while the submissions process was underway.  However the amount budgeted for “Professional Services” in 2011 by OUSA was $94,000, compared to $39,000 in 2010. The additional $55,000 was intended to cover “change management” processes, according to a Facebook comment by 2010 Finance and Services Officer James Meager.
 
Deloitte, the world’s largest professional services firm, has annual revenues in excess of US$26.6 billion. This revenue is larger that the GDP of the sovereign nation of Latvia, and means that Deloitte would rank as the world’s ninetieth largest nation by GDP.
 
OUSA by comparison has projected total revenues of NZD$4.27 million in 2011, meaning that it has a budget only about one third the size of the GDP of the tiny island nation of Niue (the smallest GDP of all nations measured).