“The World Buddhist Radio will provide a world stage to broadcast the Buddha's Teachings that build the qualities of tolerance, friendship and harmony between persons of all cultures, races, genders and religions.”

Table of Contents

1. The WBR Draft Resolution for the 23rd WFB General Conference.
2. The Mission and Vision of the World Buddhist Radio (WBR).
3. Policy and Procedures of the WBR.
4. Background of the WBR.
5. Key Imperatives of the WBR.
6. Structure of the WBR.
7. Submissions Information; Standards, Licensing and Submissions Form.


1. The WBR Draft Resolution for the 23rd WFB General Conference

As a project of the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd, the World Buddhist Radio is designed with the aim of generating tolerance and world peace by inviting World Fellowship of Buddhists Regional Centres to share the sublime message of the Buddha with an international audience.

The Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd has submitted a Draft Resolution to the 23rd General Conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists which states:

"Draft Resolution 3

The Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd invites the WFB Headquarters and WFB Regional Centres to regularly submit information about their Dhamma activities and events, and recorded Dhamma teachings or transcriptions of Teachings for broadcasting a weekly WFB radio program on their Internet radio station called "World Buddhist Radio".

The rationale for the above draft resolution is as follows:

The Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd has recently developed an Internet radio station with the mission of providing a resource to propagate the Teachings of the Buddha to a world audience.

Commencing on the 6th of March 2006, the World Buddhist Radio has been broadcasting on the Internet 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. It's homepage is located at www.worldbuddhistradio.org.

We intend the World Buddhist Radio to be a world provider of good, wholesome Buddhist information: world Buddhist news; news of WFB activities; news of Buddhist appeals; interviews with Buddhist Monks, Nuns, Scholars and Teachers; broadcasts of Buddhist Suttas, Buddhist teachings and Buddhist chanting.

Our vision for the future includes broadcasting educational materials and courses that schools could log onto as part of their curriculum.

Conventional (terrestrial AM/FM) radio stations will also be able to pick up our station and broadcast WBR programs at any time by tuning in to our radio stream and sending the WBR signal into their aerial.

The entire World Buddhist Radio operations, management and staff activities, and broadcast program content will be conducted within the directives of the Buddha’s teachings and precepts (Dhamma Vinaya).

The program will be broadcast in English with the exception of authentic Buddhist chanting.

A submissions process has been developed to meet a set of quality standards. Some of the criteria include that no political agendas, no propaganda and no slander will be broadcast.

Our expectation is that program material is produced and presented within the Buddhist precepts of: To not kill; To not steal; To not commit sexual misconduct; To not lie; To not take intoxicants that cloud the mind; To not slander; To not use harsh speech; To not use divisive speech; To not use idle chatter; To not use flattery.

Copyright law will always be adhered to.

A program submissions form for the World Buddhist Radio will be circulated during this 23rd General Conference to WFB Regional Centres and to their representatives.


2. The Mission and Vision of the World Buddhist Radio

The mission and vision of the World Buddhist radio is:

To provide a resource to propagate the teachings of the Buddha to a world audience;

To raise the involvement of our members so they can project our international profile in the global, national and local communities;

To invite other Buddhist organisations and Buddhist teachers to make submissions of Buddha Dhamma teachings and information for broadcasting.


3. Policy and Procedures of the World Buddhist Radio

To produce good quality, wholesome information to be delivered on Internet Radio available 24 hours;

To operate within our five styles of Friendliness, Practicality, Professionalism, Cultural Adaptibility and Scholarship;

To invite other Buddha Dhamma teachers and organisations to use the Internet radio as a resource for disseminating Buddha Dhamma teachings and information about their organisations and events;

To provide a non-sectarian Buddha Dhamma information;

To have our members manage a project that involves propagation of Buddha Dhamma for their accumulation of merit;

To train members to chant Buddha Dhamma;

To train members to write Buddha Dhamma information within the directives of the Buddha;

To train members in good journalism;

To train members in public speaking;

To train members in broadcasting;

To provide a submissions process for all broadcast materials;

To preserve Buddha Dhamma teachings in easily retrievable files for future generations.


4. Background of the WBR

The Buddhist discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd was founded by the late master John David Hughes in 1978. In 1998, John D. Hughes started "The Buddhist Hour", a weekly radio program that our members produced and presented every Sunday. The Buddhist Hour was broadcast for the last eight years from a local radio station, Hillside Radio, in Bayswater, Australia.

In February 2006, we were advised that the radio station we were using was not able to continue its broadcasts in the short term due to the premises from which it had been operating becoming unavailable.

John D. Hughes's vision was to ultimately broadcast our radio program over the Internet. Researching this option, we found that creating and running an Internet Radio Station was an affordable and efficient project.

We registered the "World Buddhist Radio" and commenced broadcasting on the Internet on 6 March 2006.

As with all our projects, the style and management are formulated within the teachings of the Buddha.


5. Key imperatives of the WBR

1. To produce a weekly radio broadcast for our local radio station.

We have been broadcasting our Chan Academy Australia radio program, the Buddhist Hour, in the Melbourne area for the last 8 years. Our first broadcast at our new radio station, 3MDR in Emerald, took place on Friday the 7th of April at 11 pm. We are aiming for a better time slot on Sundays from 6 to 7 pm.

2. To operate an Internet Radio station 24 hours a day, 7 days a week;

Production and broadcasting of the WBR follows the same principles we have applied for the last eight years at our local radio program - the Buddhist Hour. The entire program will be broadcast in English as this is the world language.

Some of the programs intended are:

Buddha Dhamma chanting;

An education program that schools can log on to;

email for information and questions about Buddha Dhamma, events etc;

WFB activities;

World Buddhist News - Good wholesome, information only, appeals, - no politics or propaganda, no slander;

announcements about coming Teachings and events at Centres around the world;

Regular Readings of Buddhist Suttas;

Regular Buddha Dhamma teachings;

Interviews with Members of the Sangha;

Interviews with Buddhist scholars, Buddhist Teachers and lay practitioners.


6. Organisational Structure.

Executive Producer
Task Team Development Manager
Assistant Task Team Development Officer
Submissions Board
Program Producer
Presenter
Readers
Chanters


7. Submissions Information; Submitting, Reviewing, Licensing and Broadcasting.

7.1 Overview
7.2 Submission Guidelines
7.3 Copyright License Agreement

7.1 Overview.

Please note: submissions to the World Buddhist Radio may be (1) written works or (2) sound recordings. In the case you've submitted a written work, our broadcast team will produce a sound recording of the work by having our broadcast team reading it while we record it in a digital form.

Firstly, we will outline the entire process of submitting, reviewing, licensing, and finally broadcasting your material.

1. You must carefully read this document. If there are any points you do not understand, you must e-mail the World Buddhist Radio at wbr@bdcu.org.au, with your question before submitting your material. You may also call us at (+613) 9754 3334.

2. Fill out the submission form attached to this document, and along with a copy of your full submission, e-mail it to the World Buddhist Radio at wbr@bdcu.org.au or post it to us at:

Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd.
World Buddhist Radio Submissions Board
33 Brooking Street
Upwey Victoria, Australia 3158

3. The World Buddhist Radio Submissions Board will review your submission. Within four weeks you will be notified by either e-mail or post (your preference) as to whether or not it has been accepted. If it is not accepted, we will provide a short explanation of why. You may alter the material and re-submit it at any time.

4. If your submission was accepted, we will notify you and e-mail or post you a copyright Licensing Agreement, which you must sign and return to us via. post.

5. Once we have received the copyright Licensing Agreement, we will:

a) If your submission was a written work, produce a sound recording of your submission and incorporate it into regular WBR programming. (This may take up to a month's time.)

b) If your submission was a sound recording, incorporate it into regular WBR programming.

7.2 Submission Guidelines

Production and broadcasting of the WBR follows the same principles we have applied for the last eight years at our local radio program - the Buddhist Hour.

Before we broadcast your material, we must make sure it complies with our standards. After you have submitted your material, our Submissions Board will review it with the following criteria in mind:

1.The material must be written in English, as this is the world language. Brief statements in non-English languages are fine, but you must provide an English explanation.

2.Written submissions should be about 3,500 words in length. Sound recordings should be no longer than 50 minutes to 1 hour in length. (If this is not possible, we will spread your program over multiple segments.)

3.The submission should be typed in a font of "14 point" Times New Roman style, double spaced, and stapled. If you cannot provide this, that is not a problem. This is just for our ease of use. Also, if you are submitting the document as an email attachment, please send it as .RTF file. (rich text format)

4.The Submission must not be contradictory to the Buddhist teachings, i.e. the teachings must be Buddhist Teachings.

5.The presentation and production of the submission must be performed within the Buddhist precepts of:

To not kill;
To not steal;
To not commit sexual misconduct;
To not lie;
To not take intoxicants that cloud the mind;
To not slander;
To not use harsh speech;
To not use divisive speech;
To not use idle chatter;
To not use flattery.

6.You must own the copyright of the submitted material. In general, if you wrote the material yourself, you are legally the copyright owner. Copyright ownership is automatically granted to the author of a work the moment the work is completed. You do not need to register your work with any government or organisation.

7.If in your material you quote any work other than your own, you must provide in-text referencing along with a completed bibliography at the end of the material. In the example below, the points in bold are what must be included with each quote.

Example:

Venerable Narada Thera in his Buddhism in a Nutshell Writes:

"On the fullmoon day of May, in the year 623 BC, there was born in the district of Nepal an Indian Sakya Prince named Siddhattha Gotama, who was destined to be the greatest religious teacher in the world." (Narada Thera 1933)

These references must be read on air as is required by copyright law.

3. Copyright License Agreement

If your material passes review by our submissions board, you must grant the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd (World Buddhist Radio) a Copyright Licence Agreement; i.e. in specific, the legal right to reproduce as a sound recording and communicate your submission to the public. To do this you must:

1.Understand your rights as the copyright owner of the submission;

2.Grant the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd a non-exclusive Copyright License Agreement.

1. Understanding your rights as the copyright owner of the submission

It is important that you understand your rights as the copyright owner of your work. We encourage you to research copyright laws that pertain to your country. You can find this information by contacting the Attorney General's office of your country, or searching the web for "Copyright Law + (your country)".

One good summary of copyright law can be found at:
http://ag.gov.au/agd/www/securitylawHome.nsf/Page/Publications_Intellectual_Property_A_Short_Guide_to_Copyright

The following is an excerpt from Copyright Law in Australia, A Short Guide published by the Attorney General's Office of Australia. Important points are underlined.

"The owner of copyright in a literary work or sound recording has the following exclusive rights:

1.To reproduce the work in a material form (which includes making a sound recording…);

2.To publish the work (that is, to make copies of the work available to the public for the first time);

3.To perform the work in public;

4.To communicate the work to the public (which includes the electronic transmission of the work such as a broadcast, and making the work available on-line);

5.To make an adaptation of the work (which includes an arrangement of a musical work and a dramatisation or translation of a literary work); and

6.In the case of computer programs, and works recorded in sound recordings, to commercially rent the sound recording or computer program."

If any party other than the copyright owner excersises these rights in relation to a literary work or sound recording, they are infringing upon the owner's copyright. The copyright owner may seek legal action, including injunctions, damage claims, account of profits, conversion damages, customs, and criminal offences. Ultimately using someone else's work without their permission or knowledge is stealing.

2. You must grant the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd (World Buddhist Radio) a non-exclusive Copyright License Agreement

The following is an excerpt from Copyright Law in Australia, A Short Guide published by the Attorney General's Office of Australia. 1.

"7.6 Copyright owners may excersise any of the above rights themselves or may give permission to other people to do so. Such permission is referred to as a license. Copyright owners may grant a license that is subject to certain conditions such as… a limit the license as to time, place or purpose."

In order for the World Buddhist Radio to legally broadcast your submission we (the Buddhist Discussion Centre Upwey Ltd) require your permission to (1) reproduce your material as a sound recording (if your submission is a written work) and (2) communicate the material to the public via. digital transmission (Internet broadcast).

To grant us these rights, you must agree to and sign a legal contract called a Copyright License Agreement, which grants the certain legal rights to the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd (World Buddhist Radio). A summary of explanation of this agreement is as follows:

Please note: this contract is non-exclusive, meaning you can grant similar rights to other parties without infringing upon this agreement.

Important Note: The World Buddhist Radio is not a legal entity, but is a registered trading name of the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd. In all instances where the name “World Buddhist Radio” appears, understand that this name always refers to the legal entity “Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd.” Although we have made this clear in the headings, the text below each heading may not contain the name “Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd, therefore always keep this in mind.

1.The Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd (World Buddhist Radio) may reproduce the work in a material form (sound recording);

After the material has been reviewed by the Submissions Board, the World Buddhist Radio will produce a digital sound recording of it being read aloud. The copyright of this sound recording belongs to you, although, in the event the license is terminated, the World Buddhist Radio may retain hard copies of the recording for archiving (including CD's, Audio-Cassettes, Minidisks, or computer sound files).

2.The Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd (World Buddhist Radio) may communicate to the public via Internet Radio a recorded reproduction (sound recording) of the material in whole or in part, and to incorporate the material, in whole or in part, into other works.

The World Buddhist Radio may communicate to the public your submission in whole (as a single program segment), or in part (as part of another program segment). We may, for example, use a small segment of your submission in our Chan Academy Australia production, the Buddhist Hour. We may also incorporate small portions of the submission into announcements or advertisements for future programming. In this case, you shall own the copyright in the derivative works.

3.The Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd (World Buddhist Radio) may air your material at any time they deem appropriate. Because the World Buddhist Radio is a recent development, it's library of program material is still small. We may need to use your material regularly. The World Buddhist Radio reserves the right to air your submission at any time. If you request your material to be aired at a specific time, we will do our best to meet to your request, but we may re-run your material at any time we choose.

4.All right, title and interest in the material, including without limitation, any copyright, shall remain with the owner. By granting the World Buddhist Radio the above-mentioned rights, you do not sacrifice any of your rights. You can still excersise the right to publish the material in a book, and so forth. Also, we will credit you for your work on-air, meaning that before and after your material is presented in full, and not in part (such as in a derivative program) we will read: "This program material is owned by _______, and all right, title and interest in the material, including without limitation, any copyright, remain with the owner." If your material is presented as part of a derivative program we will use in-program referencing, for example, "The following is an excerpt from _______'s work titled ________."

5. The Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd (World Buddhist Radio) shall pay neither fee nor royalty for the airing of the material, nor shall the contributor pay the World Buddhist Radio.

Being part of a not-for-profit organisation, the World Buddhist Radio does not pay a fee or royalty to the submitting party.

Please consider our free broadcasting service as our offering to you, just as your material is an offering to to all beings.

This paper was developed and prepared by:

Julian Bamford, President Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd.
Anita Carter, Director & Secretary, Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd.
Frank Carter, Vice-President, Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd.
Alec Sloman, Junior Vice-President, Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd

and was based on the paper titled "The Buddhist Hour; The Conceptual Solution 1999".

We give a special thanks to Rhoda Noelle Sloman, Alec Sloman's stepmother, who's assistance and knowledge of Copyright Law was kindly given for the purpose of writing this paper.


References

1. Copyright Law in Australia, A Short Guide, Published by the Attorney General's Office of Australia, from: http://ag.gov.au/agd/www/securitylawHome.nsf/Page/Publications_Intellectual_Property_A_Short_Guide_to_Copyright


May all beings be well and happy.