Share of RTE licence revenue sought to assist local radio

The Chairman of the Christian Media Trust (CMT) has called for 10 per cent of RTE's licence fee to be set aside for the development of local broadcasting. CMT is an inter-church committee which produces religious programmes for local radio in Wexford.

Speaking in St Peter's College, Wexford, last night Father Walter Forde also said that the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) should be further defined and developed.

He described local radio as one of the great success stories and significant social developments of the last decade.

But it had, he said, "highlighted the totally inadequate and uneven coverage of regional affairs and developments outside the greater Dublin area by the national media with the honourable exception of The Irish Times."

He described coverage of local events by RTE as "patchy and unimaginative" and said opportunities for different types and levels of local coverage by RTE were very limited.

Exceptions to that would include "Joe Little's piece on the national commemorative service in Rowe Street last month and the apology for the Fethard Boycott." Father Forde described this as "television at its best, well researched, fresh, gripping."

He felt that local radio's success had been achieved in conditions stacked in RTE's favour, in terms of resources, established position and range of personnel.

"The playing field is far from level. Virtually all the stations in the country had substantial accumulated losses resulting from higher-than-expected start-up costs and losses in the early years.

"The cost of transmission facilities and buying into a news service have also been substantial, and the 3 per cent levy on gross revenue that the stations had to pay to maintain the IRTC was very inequitable because no other industry was required to pay the operating cost of its regulatory body in this way," he said.

Local stations had progressively increased levels of access and involvement by the local communities.

"In the process they have reinforced local identity, community pride and indeed democracy.

"They deserve urgent help to overcome the sort of difficulties mentioned above and, more important, to maximise their real potential for further significant development," he said.

Father Forde was speaking at a reception to mark the 10th anniversary of CMT, which produces four hours of religious programmes weekly for South East Radio.