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I must confess I read, with a large amount of envy, the success story that lies behind the Weyhill Organ Society, and I doubt there is much more they could do to increase the attendance figures. From my RAF Service days spent at HQ (u) MC at Amport, just a stone throw from Weyhill, I dearly wish their thriving club were within travelling distance right now! But in the event that they, and any other Club for that matter is seeking ways of increasing Membership, permit me to throw this idea into the melting pot.
Recently, UK Community Radio celebrated its 100-Station milestone. Community Radio Stations, not to be confused with Local BBC or ILR Stations are run on a not-for-profit basis and deliver news and information specific to local communities. Since 2005 the regulator has awarded Licences to162 Stations, of which 100 are now on air. One of the most recent is Radio St Austell Bay, and I approached them with an idea that I suggest is adaptable for any Club lucky enough to have one serving their area.
Without doubt all of these Stations will have a ‘What’s on’ programme of some sort or another. With this in mind I made myself known to the presenter at the St Austell Station and offered to supply him with a single music track for each of the artists appearing at our Club for 2008. The 12 tracks were placed, in appearance order, on a CD and together with accompanying pages of biographical notes on the artists, secured a ready made 12 month package of publicity…and apart from my time in collating the tracks and the information, the whole exercise will continue to benefit the club for the remainder of the year. The publicity is free! Naturally, for maximum impact it is best if you can have an agreement with the presenter that the music track and information is broadcast on a day as near to your Club date as possible.
One thing you should be aware of, the Presenter will need to have the full details of the music track ie: composer, publisher, CD recording number, running time etc. The reason for this is that Community Radio Stations take the majority of their daily music tracks from a huge computer base which logs automatically all the aforementioned Performing Rights / MCPS details for every track that is played…. and I have yet to hear of any Station which has organ music in the data base! Which brings me to another idea that might be worth exploring. Approach the Group who run the Community Station within your catchment area and ask if they would consider an organ music programme. If you, or one of your Members is happy to do it for free (because that’s how the Stations operate) then you might be pleasantly surprised to find them in agreement.
Alan Ashton
Why not listen to my programme on
ORGAN1ST RADIO ?
Click on the following links to listen
PART 1
PART 2
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