Trouble continues to plague Cairns community station Cairns FM 4CCR, amidst accusations of assault, and the formation of a new group called Friends of 4CCR. In January, a meeting between station management and a group of people wishing to become members allegedly turned ugly.
According to a police report, Councillor Diane Forsyth, who attended the January meeting with the station president and deputy president, has formally accused deputy president Pieter Blaauw of assault after a door was closed on her arm and membership application forms were thrown to the ground.
Station president Rodney Coutts the following day apologised to the councillor in a letter quoted on local blog site cairnsblog.net:
“. . . the situation last night, in regards to yourself, should not have happened at our radio station, and on behalf of the Management Committee and myself, I unreservedly offer an apology.”
This week Councillor Forsyth and a group of concerned citizens, some of whom had their memberships rejected by the station, launched the Friends of 4CCR group. Former Councillor Ross Parisi, who was elected chairman of the group, says the launch of ‘Friends’ is “the community’s reaction to the serious administrative turmoil that has engulfed our local radio over recent months. . .”
This week’s Cairns Post reports Councillor Forsyth, the Friends group’s treasurer, saying the situation at the station is an abomination: “It needs an overhaul, it needs fixing, it needs, perhaps, stopping and starting again.”
Ross Parisi told radioinfo he is concerned about the lack of separation between board and management powers in the station:
“I would like to see a line of separation of power between the policy structure and the management. A lot of the problems have to do with the way the current management has handled personal relations. Personalities have been bruised and because of the disruption eyes have been taken off the ball, so things like the technical area are going into disrepair while energies are being taken up putting out fires and trying to win the upper hand.”
Parisi is hoping the Friends group can negotiate a face saving way out of the difficulties for all concerned. “I’m working for the best interests of the community.”
Station president Rodney Coutts would not say if he would meet with the group, telling the Cairns Post their motivation was purely personal: “We won’t be removed by belligerent people who come out of the woodwork and say they want to reclaim the station – and my question is, reclaim it from what? The membership committee can only be removed by the membership in September (at the AGM).”
Cairns FM has not responded to contacts from radioinfo at this time, but President Rodney Coutts did speak to ABC Radio Far North Queensland. He said:
“We answer to our members [not the Friends of 4CCR]… I would like to put out a challenge to Ross Parisi… I would like you to do some volunteer work at the station.
“I am amused and bemused at this accusation of infighting… we are guided by our Codes of Practice and we have not gone against that.”
Rodney Coutts told interviewer Ginger Gorman that a meeting this week passed a vote of confidence in the present station management committee. Listen to the interview at the link below (courtesy of ABC Radio Far North Queensland).
Over the years ACMA has received series of formal complaints about the station, and is now investigating the station as part of its licence renewal process.