The second stage of ScreenSound Directions Paper has been completed, with most submissions coming from non-radio groups. One of the few submissions with a radio perspective came from the Australian Old Time Radio group, which gave a mixed critique of the work of the ScreenSound Archive – praising some of the radio work being done, and criticizing other aspects of the handling of the radio collection.
The AOTRG is a group of Australians who have an interest in Australian Radio
during the Golden Age, generally accepted to be from the 1920’s up to and
including 1960’s. Many of the group are collectors of Australian Radio Shows,
memorabilia and documentation. As well as from being collectors, they are also
documenting the Golden Age of Australian Radio for the benefit of all
Australians.
In the submission the group says:
“…from the point of view of the Radio collection… currently access is minimal. Whilst staff have endeavoured
to release CD sets of Radio Serials and these are well received by the
public, more marketing and planning needs to be done.
“It is only very
recently that collectors like ourselves have been consulted on what shows
are wanted by people who wish to purchase such releases. Whilst releases
have been popular, the lack of consultation has meant that Screensounds have
not been aware of the market potential and many opportunities have been
missed… access to the radio
collection will not be successful until the content has been fully
databased.
“It is one thing to know that episode 285 of a Jack Davey Show is
in the collection, but quite another thing for Mrs Smith of Dandenong to try
and find the exact episode that her Great Grandmother was on and won the
blanket which she has since inherited from her mother and is treasured by
the family.
“Many of the enquiries Screensound receive are from ordinary
Australians researching the family tree and hearing a story that Mum was on
the Amateur Hour in 1940 something. The first place they turn to is
Screensound and that enquiry ends in frustration for both parties due to a
complete lack of content information in the collection…
“As you have outlined in the proposal, online access to the collections
should be a key priority and would be the most successful method…”
The group’s submission is particularly critical of the proposal to wind up the Product Development section, which produces CDs for public sale. It says:
“Taking the entire Proposal into account, the decision or pending decision
hopefully, of abolishing the Product Development Section would have to be
the most disappointing from our point of view… The only ones who have really given access to radio shows to the
general public and they are the ones who ironically stand to lose their jobs
because AFC want to achieve what these people were achieving single
handedly. They are the reason for the backlash by people like me when this
review was announced and these people were told they would not have jobs.”
A full list of the latest round of submissions is available by clicking below.