The 23rd of September 2024 is the 50^th anniversary of the Whitlam Government Cabinet decision to establish community broadcasting. The community broadcasting sector today has more than 500 AM, FM & DAB+ stations and two dedicated television services reaching 5.19 million people across Australia each week.

The anniversary is a good moment to highlight the diversity and impact of community broadcasting in this country with Jon Bisset, the CEO of the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) saying:

“It was a landmark moment for the Australian media. This historic policy paved the way for this third broadcasting sector to flourish in Australia, alongside the national broadcaster (ABC) and commercial broadcasters.”

Then Minister for Media, Senator the Hon Douglas McClelland reported the decision to Parliament heralding “a new era in the advancement of radio development in Australia.”

Licenses, in the 1974 Cabinet Papers, were envisaged to be allocated to diverse community groups including:

• those who represent organisations that think they have something to say and want some better means of saying it
• those who are associated with communities cut off from their rights and entitlements
• groups interested in “fine music”, “speakers of languages other than English”, “aboriginal groups”, “the socially and economically deprived”, “churches”, “universities”, “local governments”, “sporting groups”, “the 16-25 age group”, “welfare groups”, “ethnic groups”, or other community groups, ‘Aborigines in Redfern’, pensioners and the disabled.

The sector now has 941 employees and 18,100 volunteers.

John Martin, the inaugural Manager of 2MCE-FM, a former CBAA Chair and historian of community radio said:

“The Whitlam Government granted the first three, and then a further 12 broadcasting licenses to community groups between 1974-74 and the initiative was cemented by the Fraser Government in 1976 which really enabled the sector to grow. Community radio has more than delivered on the vision of the Whitlam Government.”

Cabinet approved licenses for the three oldest community radio stations; Music Broadcasting Society of NSW (2MBS), Music Broadcasting Society of Victoria (3MBS) and The University of Adelaide (5UV/ Radio Adelaide).

In 1975, the subsequent Labor Minister for the Media Dr Moss Cass, expanded the community broadcasting licences (then known as experimental licences) to add an additional 12:

1. University of New England (2ARM-FM)
2. University of Newcastle (2NUR-FM)
3. University of Queensland Union (4ZZZ-FM)
4. Australian National University Student Union (2XX)
5. Mitchell College of Advanced Education (2MCE-FM)
6. Western Australian Institute of Technology (6NR)
7. Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (3RMT-FM)
8. Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education (4DDB-FM)
9. Tasmanian College of Advanced Education (7CAE-FM)
10. Northern Rivers College of Advanced Education (2NCR-FM)
11. The University of Western Australia (6UWA-FM)
12. Gippsland Institute of Advanced Education (3GCR-FM)

Then in the following years Liberal Minister for Post and Telecommunications Hon Tony Staley MP continued work to grow community broadcasting by putting in place the legislative framework to support the expansion of licences in an ongoing manner. The CBAA annual Tony Staley Award, in his honour, is given to a community radio organisation or initiative that actively promotes the values of community broadcasting.

Community broadcasting today:

Over 500 AM/FM/DAB+ services and two dedicated television services that reach over 5.19 million people across Australia each week, almost one quarter (24%) of Australians.
18,100 volunteers
941 employees
Generating $1/4 billion in value
74% of licensees are based in regional and remote areas.
62% of regional listeners say their main reason to tune in is for local information and news.

First Nations Australians:

51 organisations provide 158 services, the great majority in regional and remote areas.

Australians from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background are 44% more likely than the general population to listen to community radio.

Multicultural Australia:

1.5 million Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) people listen to community radio (29% of total audience) for an average of 16.9 hours per week.

Community radio broadcasts over 110 different languages.

People with disability:

The Radio Reading Network provides 19 AM/FM and DAB+ digital radio services nationally with 668,000 listeners each month.

The sector increases the representation of disability in media, improve how disability is portrayed and improve community attitudes towards people with disability.

Faith-based communities:

32 Christian radio stations and 1 Muslim station.

95% of Christian community radio listeners say their station has a positive impact in their lives and helps them grow spiritually (88%) and relationally (74%)

Further examples of community radio serving local needs through an immense diversity of programming:

• Providing more Australians access to trusted, independent, diverse, local news and information;
• play a unique, hyperlocal role communicating emergency information and provide more support to build community resilience in times of disaster;
• support self-determination of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and close the gap in social and economic outcomes;
• promoting Australian music. On average, community radio stations broadcast 38% Australian music each week exceeding the 25% quota. 31% of community radio listeners say hearing Australian music is the main reason they tune in.
• strengthen social and economic inclusion and cohesion, support settlement of new migrant groups and strengthen multiculturalism; and
• provide more skilled career pathways into the media and communications industry for all communities.

Examples of programs from community radio are as diverse as the communities they serve, and include:

• WA station Wangki Radio’s Danggujarra – Good Language, an award-winning morning show that features stories, songs, and language lessons in the Walmajarri language,
• Brisbane station 4ZZZ’s Queer Radio, with news, views and music by and for the LGBTIQA+ community,
• Melbourne’s 3CR produced Beyond the Bars – a unique series of live prison radio broadcasts that give voice to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inmates in Victorian prisons.
• Tasmanian program That’s What I Call Science (see image above), featuring underrepresented voices in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine, which can be heard on Hobart youth station Edge Radio 99.3FM and the Community Radio Network,
• Alice Springs/Tennant Creek station 8CCC is known for its programming featuring local musicians, including Winanjjikari Music, which captures the best in music from Winanjjikari Music Centre in Tennant Creek,
• Canberra multicultural broadcaster CMS FM 91.1 is known for its diverse range of programs including award-winning Radio Manpasand, featuring music and news for the Hindi speaking community
• South Australian broadcaster Fresh 92.7’s current affairs program Wavelength has received multiple awards for its reporting on issues affecting Adelaide.
• Sydney’s Hope 103.2 produces content for Christian audiences including the Hope News Service.