An Important Letter To The Financial Members Of Cairns FM89.1

(Ed: See related: http://friendsof4ccr.org/content/transmitter-facing-potential-fire-disas...)

3rd April 2010

Dear Valued Member,

You may or may not have been the recipient of an e-mail sent out by Mr. Donn Corcoran, dated 24th March 2010, with attached letter from Mr. Ross Parisi who claims that he is the elected Chairperson of “Friends of 4CCR”. Some of our members have raised concerns with me as to how Mr. Corcoran obtained their e-mail address in which to forward any type of correspondence to them.

As your elected President of Cairns FM 89.1, I concur with their feelings. Therefore, I have found it necessary to write this letter to you.

1. Let me explain that Mr. Donn Corcoran was a former Secretary of Cairns FM 89.1, from 28 September 2009 until 4 November 2009, and a former member since early 2009. He officially resigned from both these positions on the 4 November 2009. So his current action comes from being a private citizen of this
   community, therefore, he has no authority to send any communication on behalf of this radio station or to any member of our community radio station. The database that he holds should have been handed over to us when he resigned from the Board of Management. His act of sending an e-mail to you, if you did receive one, is therefore illegal.
2. The attached letter from Mr. Ross Parisi contains a massive amount of misinformation based on presumably mostly here-say from former members and not the ‘facts’ as Mr. Parisis would have you believe. His 12 points in the letter carry a number of inaccuracies with no credible references from any official documentation that he can possibly produce if asked to do so. His words are simply words on paper with an obvious motive to destabilise the membership of our community radio station and create mischief against the good name of our radio station. His actions as Chairperson, his Committee and those members of the so-called “Friends of 4CCR” have been placed in the hands of our solicitor, Mr. Tom Stevens of O’Reilly Stevens Bovey, who is currently reviewing the possibility of legal directives against the “Friends of 4CCR”.
3. Let me, therefore, share some facts with you:
   • a. The “Friends of 4CCR” are illegally using our licensed call-sign 4CCR which was licensed to our radio station Cairns Community Broadcasters Inc. by the ABA (Australian Broadcasting Authority) under license
     No: 52 issued in 1985. We hold the certificate for that license. Our license is renewed every 5 years, latest renewal being on the 8th January 2010 for a further 5 years expiring on 8th January 2015, issued by ACMA (Australian Communications Media Authority
   • b. The “Friends of 4CCR” are illegally using our registered business name, Cairns FM 89.1, which has been registered by us with the Office of Fair Trading and expires on the 30 May 2012. We currently hold that certificate from the OFT under Business No: BN18087528.
   • c. The content of their website clearly advocate the running of our radio station Cairns FM 89.1, with obsolete weekly schedules and other obsolete information. Once again the use of our licensed call-sign 4CCR, and our registered business name Cairns FM 89.1, on their unofficial website is an illegal activity. No authority was ever given to the “Friends of 4CCR” by your legitimate Management Committee to run an off-shoot website on behalf of Cairns FM 89.1.
   • d. Mr. Ross Parisi’s recent visit to our transmission site at Mt. Yarrabah was also an illegal activity as no permission was sought or even given to him or his members to make that visit. His visit raised an area of concern with the Management Committee as to how he was taken there as he was not escorted by our technician, Mr. Peter Ricketts. Since then we have found out and we are addressing the issue of his illegal visit to our transmission site.
4. Let me now share some positive facts with you in regards to your community radio station Cairns FM 89.1
   • a. The new website is now on line under www.cairnsfm891.org. Check it out, members who have seen it have nothing but praise for the new format. Of course it is not complete and lots more have to go on line.
     Marcus Smith with the assistance of Life members and former committee members are making this
     happen.
   • b. We have a positive feel at the radio station with every time slot being filled with presenters presenting their individual program as per the weekly schedule (check out our program on the website).
   • c. Recent Grant funding for Ethnic Grant Round 1 2009-2010, and the Indigenous Grant funding Round 1 2009-2010 have all been received from the CBF (Community Broadcasting Foundation).
   • d. Ethnic Grant applications for Round 2 2009 – 2010, and Indigenous Grant applications for Round 2 2009 – 2010, have been submitted on time for the next round of grant funding from the CBF (Community Broadcasting Foundation) due May/June, 2010.
   • e. At two recent meetings, one held for the presenters on the 3 February 2010, and the general meeting on the 22 February 2010, a vote of confidence was sought from those present with a major majority vote being given to the current Management Committee to continue the business of your community radio station Cairns FM 89.1.
   • f. You are welcome at any time to visit your radio station and see the ‘behind-the-scenes’ activity that
     occurs every working day, and some weekends, to make sure your community radio station continues to function with the assistance of some very able and passionate people.
   • g. The end of the financial year is only 3 months away with renewal of memberships being due. The new membership forms for the year 2010 – 2011 will, therefore, be forwarded to you before the end of May 2010. We look forward to receiving your application before the end of the financial year.

The last paragraph in Mr. Corcoran’s e-mail suggests that, I quote, "should you not want to receive further newsletters, please reply with the word ‘Unsubscribe’ in your message. Unquote. I urge you to take him up on that offer.

A few of us on the administrative side put in many hours at your community radio station to ensure that:

1. our programs go to air regularly presented by our wonderful presenters.
2. grant applications are submitted on time
3. technical back-up by our very qualified technician to ensure consistency of programs, and,
4. the daily business of running a radio station keeps functioning regardless of the challenges that confront us.

It would be most helpful to the Management Committee if you would acknowledge having received this e-mail and with it any concerns you may or may not have.

In the spirit of community radio……….sincerely,

Rod Coutts.

Source: email