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- Iain Grant
Offline
Stouffville considering pulling plug on deal with radio station
I'm guessing there's another side to this story.. I don't believe WS council can be this nieve or free with $14k of taxpayers money.. but based on the story... Nice work if you can get it.. The city records the council meeting, then pays $100 an hour to rebroadcast on their community station? A station that is restricted to 'urban Stouffville' !!
Wouldn't airing it on the community station be a.. community service? Also a $50/Hour fee for 'minor edits' totalling $150 a week? And the stations website wasn't up to allow the podcast to stream. Whoever is doing sales for that station is ready for the big time.
Dear city council.. 2 Words.. 'sound cloud' or 'you tube' 
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(Via YorkRegion.com)
Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville staff is recommending town council audio archive council meetings on the town’s website only. This would end the agreement the municipality has with WhiStle Radio to broadcast council meetings a day after they take place.
Currently, town staff audio record the Tuesday meetings via in-house equipment and send a copy to the local FM station, which airs them the next day at 6 p.m. WhiStle Radio reserves a three-hour time slot, at $100 per hour. There is also a $50-per-hour staff and volunteer fee for minor edits and enhancements to the recordings, according to the staff report.
It costs about $450 per council meeting.
Between June 4, 2014 and May 6, 2015 the average number of people who listened to the live broadcast online ranged from two to five, according to the report.
A live broadcast of a local playoff hockey game had roughly 80 listeners, according to the report.
It is impossible to track the number of listeners tuning into the station using radios. The station only reaches urban Stouffville, stated the report.
Podcasts were unavailable to the public via WhiStle Radio’s website Aug. 19, 2014, Feb. 3, 2015 and March 3, 2015, due to technical errors on the radio station’s server. The station’s website went offline at the end of October. People who wish to listen to past council meetings are redirected to , according to the report.
If the town extends WhiStle Radio’s memorandum of understanding, which ends this month, it will cost $13,500 a year, based on 30 council meetings annually, stated the report.
Another option council may consider is live streaming.
iCompass Technologies offers annual audio and video management for $2,200 and $6,250 respectively, according to the staff report. Both solutions provide indexing and live as well as recorded streaming.
Capital costs are not included and could range from $600 to $2,500 depending on the quality of the camera(s).
The council meeting begins at 3 p.m. this Tuesday in the municipal office, 111 Sandiford Dr.
Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change.
- Kilgore
- Member
Offline
Re: Stouffville considering pulling plug on deal with radio station
have people moved to Ballantrae/Whitchurch/Stouffville because they want to become involved in small-town politics or because a 3,500 s.f. home that costs +$1 million in Richmond Hill & Markham can be purchased for considerably less in W/S? Why do they listen to radio? Traffic reports, mainly. Is Whistle providing timely & accurate reporting on why traffic is stalled on the southbound 404 in the morning and northbound in the afternoon?
- Dial Twister
- Member
Offline
Re: Stouffville considering pulling plug on deal with radio station
Kilgore wrote:
...Why do they listen to radio? Traffic reports, mainly. Is Whistle providing timely & accurate reporting on why traffic is stalled on the southbound 404 in the morning and northbound in the afternoon?
I about fell off my stool mid-morning today. Happened to be in a Port Hope restaurant that was airing the local community not-for-profit station. The announcer threw in a traffic report between songs. A mid-morning traffic report....for Cobourg (pop. 17,500) and Port Hope (pop. 16,500). A traffic report that mentioned a few slowdowns in local traffic...in Cobourg and in Port Hope.
I smiled 
and reflected on how lucky the locals are in Northumberland if they think that was traffic.
Now back to your regular B/W/S programming.
Last edited by Dial Twister (June 12, 2015 12:23 pm)