Bendigo community station has its wings clipped over advertising

The temporary community station Phoenix FM may have risen from the ashes, but it has had its wings clipped by ACMA in an advertising complaint finding. ACMA says Central Victorian Community Broadcasters, which runs the TCBL Phoenix FM in Bendigo, broadcast an advertisement, which is against the rules of its community licence.

Following a complaint, ACMA investigated and found that the station broadcast an advertisement on 5 November 2008. The advertisement occurred during a live interview with a local business person.

The interview was found to be an advertisement because the discussion promoted the business and its products. The business was a sponsor of Phoenix FM, but was not identified as such throughout the interview.

Phoenix FM has taken “a number of measures,” including training and a process of managerial approval, to ensure that similar breaches don’t happen again.

ACMA is happy with Phoenix FM’s response and will not take the matter further at this time, but it does send a warning to community broadcasters to be careful how far they go when interviewing people with commercial interests.

The investigation report is at the link below.