Content guidelines
Devonstream is a platform for all sorts of content created by all sorts of people. We aim to share as much as possible, subject to some key criteria.
For content to be considered for inclusion on Devonstream, it must:
- Be non-commercial
- Have a clear connection to the county of Devon
- Follow rules on decency, fairness and impartiality
- Be of good technical quality
Non-commercial
Content must not endorse or promote brands, businesses or products. It’s fine for businesses to create content, and for businesses, products and services to be mentioned, but the overall purpose of the content mustn’t be to advertise or promote.
For example, it would be fine to create a documentary about a locally-developed product; and a local cinema could also create a programme reviewing the films it’s showing. But promotional content about products or promotion of film times and booking information for a particular cinema wouldn’t be acceptable.
Connection to the county of Devon
All of the content on Devonstream must have a clear connection to the county. This could be because:
- It has been created by an individual or group based in the county
- It has been created by someone originally from the county
- It is about the county, its geography, people, history or culture
- It has been commissioned by an organisation in the county
Our definition of Devon includes the unitary areas of Torbay and Plymouth.
Rules on decency, fairness and impartiality
Ofcom is the UK’s communications regulator, with responsibility for broadcasting standards. As an online-only channel, Devonstream is not obliged to follow Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code. However, we aim to appeal to a wide range of people, so for a safe and predictable listening experience that is consistent with that of other radio stations in the UK, we choose to follow the principles of the Code.
Content containing the most offensive language will be rejected. We may be able to share content containing some strong language at specific times where that language is justified by its context. But for the best chance of getting your material shared on Devonstream, ensure it includes no strong language at all.
By offensive language, we mean anything classified as ‘strong words’ or ‘strongest words’ in Ofcom’s 2016 research into attitudes to offensive language.
The Code also covers matters of respect, fairness, impartiality and privacy. Content must uphold these principles, too.
Technical quality
In order to provide a comfortable experience for our listeners (and to keep them listening for as long as possible), all content must be of good, consistent quality. See our how-to guides for tips on making good quality recordings, and for explanations of some of the technical terms here.
There should not be excessive unintended background noise, microphone handling noise, wind noise or plosives on the recordings.
Normal speech should reach levels in the region of -12db to -9db. General loudness should be around -16 LUFS. There should be no unexpectedly quiet sections or unexpectedly loud peak/limit distortion, unless it’s there for specific creative reasons and the listener is informed of this in advance.
Audio should be supplied in uncompressed WAV or high quality MP3 format (192–320kb/s). 16-bit files with a sample rate of 44.1kHz (44,100Hz) are recommended.
Context
Content submitted to Devonstream will be added to our rolling playlist, so it could be played at any time of day or night from now into the future. We need to make sure that content makes sense whenever it is played.
For this reason, we suggest that absolute rather than relative dates are used in the content (for example, ‘the sixth of December 2020’ rather than ‘next Sunday’). When referring to other instalments in a series, refer to episodes rather than the times when they initially released (for example, ‘in the next episode’ rather than ‘next month’).
We suggest that you consider adding a short intro/outro to your audio to add context if —
- The content was first shared elsewhere, for example on another radio station or as a podcast
- The content contains references to things that have happened in the past, or references relative dates (for example ‘last week’ or ‘next Friday’)
- The content contains references to contemporary events, such as something in the news
Your intro/outro could be based on the following:
‘Hello, I’m Tom Pearse, the presenter of the Widdecombe Fair show. This episode was first released at the beginning of September 1935, ahead of that year’s fair, when arts and crafts stalls were introduced for the first time.’
Upload terms
Ownership and copyright
You own the copyright if whatever you post or upload is completely new and original. That usually means it doesn’t contain anyone else’s content, like videos and music.
For anything that contains content made by someone else, the copyright may belong to them. So you’ll usually need to get their permission before sharing it with us.
You must only upload content that you own the copyright to. (If you are submitting a complete programme, you may include commercially-released music tracks in your contribution, providing you also give us an accurate track listing.)
If you are a copyright holder and you believe something on our platforms infringes your copyright, please contact us. We aim to respond within four weeks.
What we’ll do with your contribution
We’ll assume any content you submit to us using the tools on the Devonstream website is intended for public sharing on our platform. You agree to us sharing your contribution online, to audiences who may be anywhere in the world. Your contribution may be shared publicly multiple times.
We will moderate your contribution. This means we will review, edit, remove or decide not to share it. If it breaks any laws, we can refer it to the police and other authorities.
In order to moderate your contribution it may be shared with a limited number of carefully selected staff members, interns and volunteers. All of these people will have agreed to abide by Ear, Knows & Throat’s privacy policy and will treat your contribution and your personal data in confidence.
If it passes the moderation process, your contribution may be shared publicly on the Devonstream platform and social media feeds.
If we have concerns about the content we’ll contact you to explain and offer some advice on how to get it to meet our guidelines. Either way, we’ll be in touch.
The final decision as to whether to schedule a piece of content on Devonstream sits with our advisory panel, and is final.
Personal data
Ear, Knows & Throat Limited will only use personal data provided via this uploader for the purposes of processing, verifying and promoting your contribution.
Ear, Knows & Throat is the ‘data controller’ of any personal information you share with us. This means that we decide what your personal information is used for, and the ways in which it is processed. The legal basis on which the Ear, Knows & Throat processes your personal information is our legitimate interest in producing journalistic content. Where we process your personal information for our legitimate interests we will carefully consider and balance our interests in processing your data against any impact on your individual rights and freedoms and will not use your personal information where such impact overrides our interests. You can read more about this in our privacy policy.
Data retention
For editorial reasons we will keep your contact details data for up to six months. Contributions that are not shared on our platforms will be deleted within six months of submission. Contributions that are broadcast/published will be held for up to five years following the final broadcast.
We will not share your personal data or contributions with any other third parties without your consent. Contributions sent to us via other third-party social media services, messaging services, file transfer services, cloud storage services, or email are also subject to the terms of conditions of the service you choose to use, and you should refer to their privacy policies for how they process your data and their individual retention policies.
Deletion/take-down requests
You may delete your user account on our website at any time, but note that this will not delete any content you have submitted.
If you would like us to remove any of your contributions from our platforms and our systems, please contact us with a specific ‘take-down request’. We aim to respond to these within four weeks.
Statistics and analytics
We may be able to link audience behaviour data to sharings of your content on our platforms. This aggregated data may help us to develop our services. No personal data will be used in this process.
These guidelines have been produced by the Devonstream team and reviewed by Devonstream’s independent advisory panel. They’re kept under review and may be altered from time to time.