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.
I fully agree about the issue of high power transmitters but disagree about the issue of podcasts produced by the ABC being a competitive advantage over the commercial stations.
As I have said elsewhere, the ABC could reduce its costs by (i) switching off ABC-fm and transferring the contents to DAB and DVB with a higher data rate. Digital transmission is not an anathema to ABC-fm. When ABC-fm started in 1976 in Collinswood, Adelaide, the national distribution of ABC-fm's signal was digitally transmitted via Telecom Australia's (Telstra) cables. Pure digital. At the capital cities, the digital signals were converted to analogue to be fed into the VHF transmitters. So ABC-fm going digital is not new. Therefore save power and move to DAB and DVB. (ii)The second reason is also about transmitters. If commercial radio stations whether metro or rural can cope with 2kW and 5kW AM transmitters, the ABC could wind down the 50kW transmitters to 2kW and 5kW in the metropolitan and rural areas.
I fully disagree with the concerns by CRA in regards to "aggressive cross-promotion" of its programs. If you listen to RN, you can hear something, "listen to the XYZ program on Sundays at 0830 or download the podcast". Commercial stations such as MML's 2GB and 2UE promote their podcasts of interviews.
CRA's concerns about the ABC promoting the unsolved murder mystery of "Maria James" being aggressively promoted through its webpages and channels is unfounded. The same could be said about the ABC using Google Ads and Facebook to promote itself on the internet. The cross promotion of programs is not new in commercial radio. The ABC has woken up about cross promoting its programs. One could say that the ABC promoting its programs via Google and Facebook is a very smart and economic allocation of its resources over traditional newspapers and outdoor advertising. Commercial radio stations also have websites and Facebook pages. They too should put podcasts of their programs and/or segments and use Google and Facebook to promote their product.
It seems to me that the lack of action of (some) commercial broadcasters in regards to promotion, cross promotion and aggressive marketing of its radio stations on the internet and its program podcasts is not an excuse to say that the ABC is not "competitively neutral"'. Before the internet, commercial radio stations aggressively promoted themselves on public transport at railway platforms, the back of buses, billboards, bus shelters, billboards and newspapers.
The internet is the new medium and commercial radio stations should have the foresight like the ABC to promote and cross promote its station and programs.
Thank you,
Anthony of exciting Belfield
ABC promoting its own contents - not new.