Manx Radio has become a state broadcaster rather than a national broadcaster – incapable of determining its own future.
That was the view of Manx Radio chairman David North as he gave evidence to the Tynwald select committee investigating the future of public service broadcasting in the island.
Mr North and managing director Anthony Pugh argued that further cuts in government funding would ‘fundamentally’ change the nature of the station’s output and the jeopardise the terms of its public service broadcasting licence.
They called for Manx Radio Ltd to be transformed into a not-for-profit organisation structured along the lines of Welsh language channel S4C and co-funded by the BBC licence fee.
In a statement read out at the start of the hearing, Mr North said there was one fundamental question he would like to pose. ‘The question is a quite simple one – is Manx Radio a public service broadcaster or are we are state broadcaster?
‘In other words are we like the BBC or are we like Syrian radio, no more than a government mouthpiece? Editorially we’ve always thought of ourselves as a public service broadcaster but in my opinion, against all the intentions of Tynwald, regrettably we have become a state broadcaster incapable of determining our own future by virtue of our structure.’
Mr North described Manx Radio, which marks its 50th anniversary next year, as ‘valuable national asset’ which was an essential part of the fabric of the island.
But he said the plain fact was that the basic structure of the organisation was ‘still not right’.
He said a public service broadcaster should be independent from government with a ‘robust funding formula’.
But the witness said that the station now received £358,000 less in government subvention while commercial revenue had also fallen, down 45 per cent taking into account inflation.
He said savings had been made by cutting programming and reducing staff numbers and he believed it was now operating efficiently.
But he added: ‘The directors believe further cuts would fundamentally change the nature of the station’s output and jeopardise the terms of our public broadcasting licence.
Mr Pugh outlined key operational areas where he believed Manx Radio was unable to determine its own future. He said the station only received notice of the size of the government subvention two to three months before the start of the financial year and there was no formal process of negotiation with Treasury to ensure there was no ‘lurching from crisis to crisis’.
Mr Pugh explained the company didn’t own the transmitter network and there were no resources for capital renewal and no long-term infrastructure plans.
Finally, he said the company had a £150,000 overdraft and it was only an annual letter of support from Treasury which gave the auditors to sign off the accounts as a going concern.
Mr Pugh said Manx Radio Ltd could be transformed into a not for profit organisation ‘exactly how S4C is structured’. He said this would allow a reduction in government support with extra income from commercial activities and BBC funding. Why is it so ridiculous to expect the BBC to co-fund Manx Radio?’