T H E O N LY W E E K LY N E W S PA P E R W I T H C E R T I F I E D D I S T R I B U T I O N I N T E N E R I F E
Issue 709
24 June 2011 - 30 June 2011
www.canarianweekly.com
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Melchior: We need a voice Cabildo President believes it is vital for foreign language radio stations to be heard TENERIFE Cabildo President Ricardo Melchior has waded into the controversial Fm radio licensing process by declaring that foreign language stations MUST be granted licences. In an exclusive interview with Canarian Weekly, Melchior expressed his dissatisfaction with the initial findings of the licensing committee. “This is a big problem,” he told us. “This is the responsibility of the Canarian Government. I spoke last Saturday (18th June) to all the Canary Government and all the party people of the (ruling) political party and said there has to be a solution.” Last week, the popular Melchior was sworn in for a fourth consecutive term as head of the Island’s Cabildo, and he has constantly encouraged integration and evolution between communities. He has an excellent reputation with foreign delegates
and politicians, and he was disappointed when he discovered that no foreign language station had been allocated a licence. Melchior, a strong supporter of the power of foreign media, has spoken constantly of their role in the Island’s integration. He believes it is vital for non-Spanish stations to have a voice: “For us (Tenerife Cabildo), it is very important, and for all of the radio stations that are English or German or French or Italian, or all the Spanish radios. But you have to find a solution, and I hope that they find a solution in the next five or six days.” The five-or-six-day reference is important as the licensing committee will hand over their final results and recommendations to the Government in the next fortnight. Last week, they released their provisional findings and stunned the radio community by breaching their own strict guidelines. At the start of the application process last year, it was decreed that no single business or owner would be granted more than five licences.
In the provisional findings, local businessman Miguel Concepcion, who is also president of CD Tenerife, was granted over 20. It was also agreed that licences would be given to Canary Island-based companies only, yet radio group Kiss Fm, from Madrid, has also been granted over 20 licences.
Many long-standing small radio stations all over the archipelago have been left in the wilderness along with popular foreign language stations. This has led to some strong criticisms in local and national newspapers, and raging debates on TV and radio, as well as calls for a whole-scale investigation into the bidding
process. The controversy has come at the worst possible time for Melchior, as the Island’s politicians try to create a workable government following last month’s local elections. Many important cabinet roles are still vacant as the coalition parties try to find a workable resolution. The radio licensing decision has opened the tin of worms many media pundits had predicted, and it is something the Cabildo is keen to get sorted quickly, especially the foreign radio situation. “It is very important for us” said Melchior. “I don’t know the technical thing exactly. It’s not our competence, but I say to the Canarian Government, ‘It’s not my beer to know exactly the problem, (but) the problem is we don’t have it (foreign language licences) so you have to find a solution’.” It remains to be seen what will happen when the official findings are presented, and many initially unsuccessful applicants have spent the last week launching appeals, and scrutinising the preliminary reports. Major media groups such as El Dia have also missed out,
and they have launched some vicious leaders and editorials. They are not alone. In the north of Tenerife, not one local radio station has been granted a licence. Instead, bigger ‘group’ stations and the aforementioned Kiss Fm and Miguel Concepcion entities have been hoovering up. It flies in the face of the idea of local licences going to local stations who serve the community. In fact, one of Snr Melchior’s main promises during his inauguration speech was: From Tenerife for Tenerife’. In the meantime, little will change on the radio spectrum in the archipelago. Stations which have not applied for licences will continue to broadcast, as will those who are appealing the decision via the law courts and other means. But if the Government is serious about leading a united Tenerife forward during these tough times, then it will have to make a stand. There is nothing to be gained from depriving communities of their local radio stations, be they Spanish, English or German.
Tenerife radio stations trying to avoid SGAE The Sociedad General de Auditores y Editores (SGAE), the Spanish equivalent of the performing rights society, have revealed that radio stations based in Tenerife are trying to avoid paying them under the uncertainty of the licence situation.
Inspections have been carried out over the last two months to ensure that they have the correct information from each station regarding music purchased, music played, adverts played, and copies of audited accounts, and that the correct amount
of money is being paid to them for performing rights. A SGAE spokesman told Canarian Weekly earlier in the week, that they were trying to track the owners of 2 Spanish stations, 1 English station, 1 Russian station, and 1 multi language station based in the
south of the island, but they were proving very evasive, and that at the English station they were told the owner no longer existed. The SGAE spokesman added: “for some reason we always seem to have a problem with radio stations understanding
that they have to pay performing rights for the music and publicity they play in Spain. The Sociedad General de Auditores y Editores (SGAE) is a government body and has the right for access to these companies’ accounts via the Hacienda, so non-compliance
only leads to bigger problems, and bigger payments.”