Photo: Christina Goodman

Eight Sydney community radio stations have launched their digital transmission service, improving audio quality and doubling their broadcast capacity..

The newly launched digital radio stations 2RPH Digital, 2SER Digital, FBi Radio, Inspire Digital, Koori RadiOO, 2MBS Fine Music, 2MFM Muslim DR, 2000Languages are part of a nation-wide rollout of digital transmission services for all community radio stations. Phase one of the rollout is nearly complete with 33 capital city stations already transmitting digitally. Regional areas will follow.

Melanie Withnall, manager of Sydney’s 2SER said feedback has been good from listeners so far.

“The feedback that we have had is that people are listening to us on digital. We sound really nice and clear,” she said.

“The music sounds better and it does have that CD quality sound.”

Quality improvements for stations that broadcast in AM should be particularly noticeable.

Ms Withnall said going digital will give listeners more choice.

“One of the beauties of digital radio is that we do have that option now to say we’re still 2SER with the same great content, with the same interesting programs and music, but you can listen to us either on our website, FM radio, or on digital radio, or podcast us.”

According to Adrian Basso, head of the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia, transmitting in digital will double broadcast capacity for community stations. One of the benefits will be greater access to broadcast for multicultural stations that service niche communities.

“Often there wasn’t enough space, or if there was space it was late at night,” Mr Basso said.

“So this gives new avenues for those emerging communities.”

Most stations will start by ‘simulcasting’ – broadcasting in both mediums at the same time – and slowly introducing a wider variety based on listener feedback.

Ms Withnall is excited by 2SER’s ability to offer special features on the digital service, having already transmitted one special feature program on digital that was not available on FM.

“With special features it is quite hard to give over your whole station. WomAdelaide was something that we could put an extended version on our digital service and say to people “if you want more, here it is”.”

Stations can also choose to time-shift, offering similar content at different times.

Many community radio stations will also use the same transmission multiplex, allowing stations across Australia to share content, for example broadcasting the same show in different capital cities.

Mr Basso said: “We’ve built a backbone, where one radio station could do an outside broadcast and feed it through the chain, and all stations can pick it up and broadcast it.

“I know there are a few stations that will share and do some networking,” he said.

According to Basso, the audience for community radio is larger than many people realise.

“We reach 26% of Australian listeners every week. That’s pretty significant.”

On the future of community digital radio, Mr Basso said: “It’s not meant to replace AM or FM, it’s a supplementary service. This whole technology is so young that I think there are a lot of things that people haven’t thought of yet that will become a reality in the future.

“I think whatever happens community radio will be there pushing for the grassroots stuff and work out ways to really promote that with new technology.”

Source: Christina Goodman, Alternative Media

Janet Stewart says the station is going from strength to strength

More than two thirds of the 59 fully licensed community radio stations in Victoria are in country areas. The stations, mostly run by volunteers offer a range of programs and services often not found on commercial stations. Reporters Anthony Loncaric and Charlotte Cullum Jenkins speak to some of the people behind the microphone.

When Janet Stewart went out of her comfort zone to become a radio presenter on Melton’s 979fm she wouldn’t have thought she’d end up being the station’s president within three years.

Stewart, who came to Australia 31 years ago from Yorkshire in England, decided to join the station because she wanted to get involved with Melton community.

‘‘I’m a very community-minded person and I’m also the vice-president of the Lions Club of Melton,’’ she says.

‘‘It was quite scary to sit behind the microphone at first but I settled fairly quickly and I’ve really enjoyed working at the station.’’

She has her own music show Born to be Alive, which airs on Wednesdays from 8-10am. She spends the rest of her time attending to her administrative duties.

‘‘I play fast-paced music in my segment which I really enjoy doing because it gives young listeners something to look forward to in the morning,’’ she says.

‘‘We have 76 volunteer presenters on the station and they are all really hard-working people.’’

According to the National Listeners Survey, the station attracts 13,450 listeners in a typical week and an average of 29, 417 listeners a month.

‘‘When former president Bob Turner took over the station 10 years ago, it was really struggling. But now our listener numbers are rising each year,’’ Stewart says.

‘‘People of ethnic backgrounds listen for information on their cultures while young people tune in for announcements.

‘‘I definitely think we’re going from strength to strength.’’

The station hit the airwaves on November 29, 1981.

The first presenter was Leslie Vitale, at the time a 14-year-old student at Melton High School.

This first test broadcast was over two days, using borrowed equipment.

The original name of the station was Satellite City Radio but was soon changed to Melton Community Access Radio before becoming 979fm.

As well as a few name changes, there have also been location changes. Its first studio was at the Melton Resource Centre but soon moved into the regional shopping centre and is now at Mowbray College.

The Community Broadcasting Association of Australia, the national body for community radio stations, has set out some of the broadcasting guidelines that the station adheres to and supports the running of the station.

‘‘Community radio is based on the principles of access and participation to members of the community in a local area. It provides a broad range of programs produced and presented by people who are part of the local community, provides training and experience in broadcasting and in many communities forms an important part of the social framework and information network so critical to maintaining a strong sense of community,’’ the general manager of the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia, Kath Letch, says.

‘‘Community radio stations play a vital role in small communities throughout Australia, with 75 per cent of stations located in regional and remote areas. According to our industry research, approximately 30 per cent of regional community radio services are the only radio services providing information specific to their local community or region.’’

Community radio offers a variety of programs to cater to many interests.

But one of the challenges that community radio stations face is raising the money to run them. Mostly they rely on sponsors and membership.

In nearby Sunbury, it costs about $15,000 each year to run the town’s local station 3NRG.

Station manager Mike Cherriman says there are also grants available from local, state and federal governments and community groups.

‘‘Funding is a huge challenge … we have just enough money to manage our affairs so we’re not attractive to grant givers, which is a bit of a catch-22, so we rely on grant givers.

‘‘As a manager there’s a lot of networking, a lot of getting out there and helping people understand what community radio is, why it’s there, what it can do for them, engaging various community centres — providing them a platform to promote themselves. We offer the opportunity to anyone who wants to come along and stand on their soapbox and be heard. The airwaves are there for that.’’

Source: Melton Weekly

The station is also conducting a survey of residents, both current listeners and also non-listeners, to find out what people want to hear.

According to station president Basia Klim, the new name and the survey are part of a push to tap into and be more responsive to the community they are broadcasting to.

“We are trying to get 1000 responses to the survey so we have got statistically relevant information,” she said. “We are about halfway through and the main thing people have said they want is an emphasis on local content; local music and talent, arts, current affairs and local government issues. That’s been a big definite.

“Sport is obviously the national religion so we are planning to have a new sports show that will cover everything from local martial arts to soccer and the races. That will be on Saturday mornings from 9 to 10am. Then there will be a round up of the weekend sport on Monday from 3 till 4pm.”

Basia said the name, too, was an attempt to really identify with Lismore.

“Our thought was that the reason Lismore is here is because of the river. Its identity is tied up with the river, so we figured that would be a nice nickname for us. It’s local, it brings us home,” she said.

Basia also said there was still some confusion with 2NR, which is the old name for ABC North Coast.

“We get three or four calls a week from people who think we are the ABC,” she said. “We want people to know who we are. We are a community organisation… A lot of people still think we are attached to the university even though we haven’t been for about seven years. That’s how a lot of people see the station, which has limited people’s involvement.”

Basia has been involved with the station for about four years as a presenter and as president for a year. She said in the past six months they have been doing outside broadcasts at various events such as the Lismore Show, Lismore Cup, and the homeless shelter benefit as well as other ones from the skate rink and a nightclub.

“It gets us out there in the community and talking to people so they know who we are.

“We’re working hard to have a service that people will want to support.”

Basia said they are always looking for new people to volunteer in all areas of the station, not just on-air.

Other new programs they have in the pipeline include a weekly arts and culture show, a new environment show and a new Indigenous show.

Source: Echo News

Originally (and ambitiously launched as three separate titles– the paper recently relaunched as one title serving Cairns and Far North Queensland, Townsville and Mackay and inland.

The paper undertook a comprehensive survey of its readers in April 2010 and published the following results:

* 88% travel by plane to South East Queensland

* 50% work full time, while the rest work part-time/casual and/or attend university

* 63% purchased between 1 and 9 CDs in the last month

The Place has been successful in attracting advertising support from the local community and have now appointed Spots & Space to represent them national and for agency sales.  General Manager for Spots & Space, Daniel Laforest said: The Place is a very professional paper, well run and with a team who are committed to offering a range of marketing services to advertisers.  These services can include online promotion, poster distribution and e-blasts.  We are very happy to be working for The Place.  The fact that they’ve already put out 22 editions shows their staying power in this niche market.

With the addition of The Place, Spots & Space now represent 20 street press titles nationally and are well placed to assist advertisers to plan and excecute national campaigns.

General Manager of Spots & Space Pty Ltd, Daniel Laforest says: Muslim Village is the leading portal for Muslims in Australia – it has an excellent user interface, highly active forums, more than 10,000 members and a flow of constant and relevant, content.

Australia’s Muslim community is a diverse group of approximately 400,000 persons made up of people from Arabic, Afghan, Indonesian, Bosnian, Turkish, Pakistani, Malaysian and Lebanese backgrounds.  Through muslimvillage.com, the community can share news and views, as well as post, and access local classified advertising.   The Muslim community is united by their faith, and increasingly, mainstream companies are seeing the benefits of tailoring products and services to the needs of Muslim consumers.

One example is the so-called “halal” banking and insurance products to comply with Sharia law.  Fast food chains in Australia’s major capitals have been serving halal food for a long time now.  Similarly, airlines and tertiary education providers are keen to accommodate Muslim travellers and students.  Importantly the Muslim community are younger that the general population and this adds to their attractiveness as a “community of interest” for advertisers.

Bwgcolman Radio is a five-year-old initiative of the Palm Island Police Citizens Youth Club, which is itself considered to be a great success story, despite its controversial beginnings in February 2005.

The radio station is a vital community asset and provides the only local opportunity for the community to make their own media, and hear their own voices on air.

Palm Island has a resident community of approximately 4000 people of whom more than 93% are Indigenous Australians.  Because of its complex history, the community consists of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders from approximately 42 different clan groups. Compared with other parts of Australia, the Palm Island community is young with 35.6% under 15 and only 6.4% over 55. Torres Strait Islander Kriol is the most commonly spoken language.

They commenced local braodcasting from West Mackay on this day at 12 Noon – within a few months they ventured to fully local programming 24/7 – while other stations are celebrating much bigger numbers i.e. 80 years broadcasting (and good on them). For Mackay and indigenous braodcasting this is a significant day. Here’s to another 5 years and more .

Happy Birthday to us.

Having just received the Award cheque in the mail, station manager Ari Geerdink has decided to use the prize money to purchase a video camera to build on the momentum of this year’s success.

“The camera will be used for our newest project – Faces of Derby,” he says. “Serena, Rickie-Lee and Wai who interviewed locals for the ‘Voices’ project, are going to check in with the locals they’ve talked to in recent years to see what progress they’ve made and how they are going.”

Faces of Derby will be the third successive project of 6DBY 97.9 FM, following Sounds of Derby – a compilation CD of local Derby bands and the recent Voices of Derby project. “Winning at The Voxies has really given us the motivation to keep going,” he says. “That’s why these awards are so crucial to the community broadcasting sector.”

A career in radio sounds like a pretty good idea to a group of kids learning to put their own community radio program to air.

Sarah found out there’s a rich history of radio broadcasting in Australia and its future is sounding solid with these DJs behind the microphone.

SARAH LARSEN, REPORTER: Wherever you are and whatever you’re doing you can always count on the radio to bring you news, laughs or your favourite tunes no matter what your taste.

But have you ever wondered what it would be like to work on the radio and hear your own voice coming from that speaker?

That’s something these guys are getting used to. They’re the stars of Jibba Jabba radio a show that’s by young people, for young people.

It looks easy sitting around here and talking. Is it easy?

KIDS: No, no don’t say that. Planning is so easy but once we get in here and actually start recording it’s like oh god what do we talk about now.

Jibba Jabba was started as a way of advertising events for young people. Community radio seemed perfect.

But it soon grew to a regular half hour show a way for these guys to get their voices heard while getting some valuable radio experience.

They meet weekly to plan and research their show.

REPORTER: What sorts of things do you put in the show?

KID: We do all sorts of things discussions, chat, jokes, celebrity news, etc.

Then they take it in turns to record. Today Tristan is in charge of all the dials and buttons.

TRISTAN: I control all the sound levels I make sure these lovely CD players play the music when we want to play it.

The show isn’t live so they have a chance to go through and make sure everything they’ve said is OK. Because you never know who could be listening.

DENISE, PBA FM CEO: They’re slowly building listenership and not just their friends oldies like me who want to know what young people are thinking.

There are community radio stations like this one all around the country. They’re designed to bring communities together and give them a voice. They’re also training grounds for people who want jobs in the media.

Compared with TV, radio has been around for a long time.

When radio first came to Australia in the 1920s there were only a few stations. And they were the main source of entertainment for anyone who could afford to tune in.

Instead of Neighbours or Home and Away whole families would gather round to listen to radio plays performed by actors in studios.

Sports matches were retold by commentators, complete with sound effects and the biggest news stories were heard first on the radio.

But in the 50s things changed.

“Welcome to television”

When television came along lots of people thought it would replace the radio.

But that’s not what happened.

SARAH: Radio still has a place in the world I think because when you’re on the go you can’t watch television while you’re driving so you flick on the radio you hear the news you hear what’s going on, celebrity news, the hottest songs.

Over the years radio has grown and changed. In the 70s we got FM stations with stereo sound. Then the government helped start up a whole bunch of community stations. Now there are more than 400 on the air.

Then there are the ABC’s four national and sixty local stations and there’re heaps of commercial ones too.

Now there’s digital radio which has more channels and even better sound so these guys can look forward to a future in an industry that’s proven it’s here to stay!

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/

ICTV – compiles content produced by Indigenous community video-makers in remote communities and makes it available to remote audiences around Australia.

Each week, ICTV transmits 60 hours of Indigenous television on Optus Channel 23.  ICTV has capacity to reach 42 remote communities, plus outstations, prisons and homes.

Currently 42 communities, listed below, have been regularly switching over to ICTV each weekend and sending out a signal on either community broadcasting or open narrowcast licenses. These communities include from

Western Australia: Warnan, Warakurna, Tjukurla, Blackstone, Jameson, Warburton, Bidyadanga, Looma, Kalumburu, Roebourne, prison work camp at Wyndham, Djarindjin, One Arm Point, Beagle Bay, Warmun (Turkey Creek), Irrunytju, Tjuntjuntjarra, Tjirrkarli, Kiwirrkurra, Parngurr (Cotton Creek), Yandeyarra, Wakathuni, Youngaleena and newcomer Balgo.

South Australia: Ernabella, Fregon, Indulkana, Amata,  Mimili and Umuwa.

Northern Territory: Yuendumu, Batchelor, Ramingining, Pirlangimpi, Milikapiti, Yarralin, Warruwi, Nhulunbuy and Docker River.

Queensland: Hopevale, Darnley Island (Torres Strait) and Aurukun.

Please contact us for more information about communicating with remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.