You've reached our premium or archival content
To access this page, and more great content just like it, you need to become a paid subscriber.
If you already have an account, please login.
Otherwise, registration is quick and you'll have access instantly after payment.
Great idea. An independent panel would be useful.
Pardon my ignorance, but did anyone ever suggest that the "principle
of ownership diversity" might be best served if the community radio
sector had its very own multiplex per required site, instead of a
guaranteed "two-ninths of the capacity of every commercial multiplex"?
How can that sound inconceivable if the "full implementation" of
Digital Radio in Australia may yet require the addition of DRM or DRM+
into the mix?
DRM systems that would certainly "operate separately" from the
commercial radio collective of multiplexes!
For goodness' sake, Digital Radio technology is still in development
(as demonstrated by the 2008 testing of DRM+ in Europe). That
requires striking the right balance between not allowing needless
procrastination and not making rushed decisions.
By tying community radio's fate to commercial radio multiplexes is to
assume every sector of radio broadcasting can strike the right balance
at the same time.
Like it or not, the new Rudd Government does not necessarily have to
meet those funding commitments previously intended by the Howard
Government. As somebody who has an interest in ensuring a Digital
future for Narrowcasting, I can objectively see that the Community
Radio sector is guilty of pressuring the Government to fund the
partial implementation of Digital Radio (which even excludes its own
"sub-metro" member stations) as a priority over pressuring the
Government to acknowledge a "full vision" of implementing Digital
Radio to allow "full migration" of existing AM & FM services -
Commercial, "All" Non-Commercial, High-Power, Low-Power.
Let me explain how the process should be:
Vision > Planning > Implementation.
Instead, our "blind" community radio sector has instead supported the
following process and is now paying the "inevitable consequences" of:
Planning (20 years of "what if?", followed by a few months of
negotiation about critical decisions ) > Implementation (half-baked) >
Rear Vision
Community Radio's biggest problem is influencing the Government's
ability to regulate (first by getting the vision right) more than
influencing the Government's ability to facilitate (by funding
something that guarantees access inequality and partial implementation
of Digital Radio - dare I say - things that might not be in its long-
term interest anyway).
The Community Radio sector's failure to properly engage the Government
and ACMA on regulation issues is now evidenced both by this latest
outcome and the recent unfair cancellation of Groove FM's license in
Perth.
It seems they are just letting things happen rather than
questioning.
...From Justin
The latest "shut out" of Community Radio is, as Justin Christien says, simply the latest in a series of "failures to act" by the community sector as a whole. Where's the fight to end the ridiculous situation of ACMA breaching every station that fails to "tag" a sponsorship announcement. As Chairman of 2CCR-FM 90.5 I have just spent hours of my personal time pulling up logger recordings and documenting a "human error" of a tag being accidentally faded out from a pre-recorded spot. It's also taken up too much of ACMA's time for absolutely no benefit to anyone.
It's time the community radio sector stood up for itself and lobbied the Government to get rid of these ridiculous requirements, and allowed Community Radio to broadcast 5 minutes of "commercials."
In many regional centres, Community Radio stations are providing the only real local content -it's time this was recognised!
David Bunt
Chairman 2CCR FM 90.5
I'm suprised Brenden Wood has been made a scapegoat for all this, why is that? Did he write the sketch? Or is it that management are under pressure to recoup lost revenue and felt a need to show Channel 9 they sympathise with them. I must admit, $1 million is alot to lose but I'm puzzled as to why a producer would take the fall. I worked with Brenden Wood years ago in Gosford, haven't seen him for years but I recall him as a very enthusiastic person who dotted all the i's and crossed the t's. It looks like he's since forged a great career as a producer earning enormous respect. Whilst this may be a stain on his career, it seems likely another station will pick him up. Mix's loss will be someone else's gain.
i wish i was getting the publicity todd mckinneys getting without the court case, and if hes a good headbutter well put him in the front row at manly... grant goldman