History
The history of community broadcasting in Australia is more than the story of the challenges of expanding a limited broadcasting environment. It also reflects the changing face of the country’s social, political and cultural landscape, which began in the sixties and achieved a critical momentum over the next two decades.
Before what was then known as public broadcasting was legally enshrined in the late 1970s, it is estimated that governments of all persuasions received over two thousand unsolicited applications for radio licences.
Groups as varied as Ethnic and Indigenous communities, academics, students, political activists and classical music buffs were looking for avenues to make the media serve and reflect their interests. And they all saw a model of broadcasting which was not restricted by commercial interests or the whims of government as a way to do it.
The Diversity on the Airwaves: Histories of Australian Community Radio is a multimedia project funded by the Community Broadcasting Foundation through the CBOnline Project. It was produced by Craig Liddell on behalf of 2SER-FM in Sydney. The series is broken up in programs focusing on different aspects of the movement which made community radio the vibrant force that it is in Australia’s media environment today. The themes are: Education, Fine Music, Ethnic, Policy, Regional, Radio for the Print Disabled and Indigenous broadcasting. Each article is accompanied by an audio program on the same theme or will provide a link to one.
The programs are being distributed via the community radio satellite, ComRadSat, and the Digital Delivery Network (DDN) to community radio stations around the country. Broadcasters and other groups and individuals interested in CD copies of the series should send an email to info@cbonline.org.au.
Copyright for this material is held by 2SER-FM. It may be used and reproduced in whole or part for educational purposes or any purpose consistent with the aims and objectives of community broadcasting, provided that it is attributed to 2SER-FM, the Community Broadcasting Foundation and the CBOnline Project.
Nutters on the Wireless
Radio Adelaide may not be on air today if not for an anonymous donation from a former mining company accountant. Even when the station became a reality, it was limited to the broadcast of educational courses only. But the station moved beyond the halls of academe to become a pioneer in community broadcasting, grappling with many of the issues that are commonplace in community radio stations. This included the concept of access, which many believed would encourage nutters on the wireless.
Author: Craig Liddell | Source: 2SER
Perth’s Radio Revolution
In the early days, academics and other educationalists led the charge for greater access to the airwaves and the use of radio as an educational tool. Some of the university radio stations which resulted grew out of the halls of academe to become larger than their maker. In other cases, faced with shrinking budgets, universities began to rethink their
commitment to community broadcasting.
Author: Craig Liddell | Source: 2SER-FM
The Frequency Modulation (FM) Fiasco
Fine music aficionados frustrated by the closure of classical music broadcasts on the ABC led the push for the introduction of Frequency Modulation (FM). Inadvertently, they would also contribute to the establishment of the public broadcasting sector.
Author: Craig Liddell | Source: 2SER-FM
The Pasta and Dance Routine
Australia’s population burgeoned after the Second World War as people from various European countries responded en masse to government calls for migrants. By contrast, the media continued to reflect an Anglo-Centric view of the world because government restrictions limited the broadcast of languages other than English. Ethnic communities battled for three decades before making real inroads into getting their voices heard on the airwaves.
Author: Craig Liddell | Source: 2SER-FM
Beyond the Pasta and Dance Routine
Early official attempts at ethnic broadcasting may have been more about politics than equality, but it was a government initiative that inadvertently provided the model for ethnic community broadcasting as it exists today.
Author: Craig Liddell | Source: 2SER-FM
Oppression Breeds Creativity
As the fine music aficionados pushed for the introduction of Frequency Modulation (FM) during the 1960s and 1970s, many students became increasingly radical through a series of protests that began during the Vietnam War. The two movements shared a common goal in wanting an alternative on the airwaves even though they operated at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Author: Craig Liddell | Source: 2SER-FM
Revolutionary Radio
Students at two Melbourne universities staged similar anti-Vietnam War protests to those in Brisbane. Hamstrung by the same restrictions on civil liberties and freedom of speech, they developed two pirate radio stations to counteract the limited focus of mainstream media. This developed into a loose federation of diverse interest groups who eventually secured a radio licence. However, their philosophy of positive discrimination would also threaten their future.
Author: Craig Liddell | Source: 2SER-FM
The Battle with the Bureaucrats
Somewhat ironically, the community broadcasting sector was established through a period of ad hoc policy making under an arcane Act created in the early 1900s. Perhaps more surprising is the fact that political parties of all persuasions contributed to its development. As is often the case with Australian media legislation, however, it required a number of interest groups to pressure the government for change.
Author: Craig Liddell | Source: 2SER-FM
Policy by Pressure
Despite the hive of activity on the public broadcasting front during 1974, only a handful of stations were actually on-air. But a couple of enthusiastic bureaucrats finally responded to pressure by interest groups pushing for a more democratic broadcasting environment.
Author: Craig Liddell | Source: 2SER-FM
Music for the Trees
The impact of community radio was clearly felt in regional and remote areas. Before the development of a third alternative, local communities could only listen to either the ABC or commercial broadcasters, which were often based many kilometres away. Community radio provided a unique service. Listeners could hear their local postie, headmaster, or relatives providing locally relevant information. But sometimes, there was the possibility that you were simply broadcasting music for the trees.
Author: Craig Liddell | Source: 2SER-FM
From Coffs to the Kimberlies
Five years before 2WEB first broadcast in 1978, a Salvation Army Captain developed a cable radio station that also allowed high students to broadcast. Much further west, community radio was a relative latecomer to remote Western Australia. Not to be outdone by their city counterparts, however, one group of people developed an integrated media organisation to overcome some of the challenges of living in regional Australia.
Author: Craig Liddell | Source: 2SER-FM
Turning Print into Sound
Australia’s first dedicated Radio For The Print Handicapped (RPH) station began at a time when the range of information for people with vision impairment was extremely limited. Talking books and computers were not yet available and even radio news was more limited than it is today. The original idea behind RPH services was to specifically assist the vision impaired. However, this quickly attracted a wide range of listeners including the elderly, the infirm, and many English teachers keen to show students how the printed word is spoken.
Author: Craig Liddell | Source: 2SER-FM
Making Tracks
The Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) began as one person’s dream in 1979. Ten years later, the organisation had developed radio, television, and sound production facilities that also laid the groundwork for the development of Indigenous media throughout remote Australia.
Author: Craig Liddell | Source: 2SER-FM
The Perfect Place to Sit Down
The launch of Australia’s first communications satellite in the 1980s reignited concerns about the impact of technology on Aboriginal and Islander communities. Through community exploration and many years of lobbying, however, Indigenous people did manage to gain control of media at a local level through the Broadcasting For Remote Aboriginal Communities Scheme (BRACS).
Author: Craig Liddell | Source: 2SER-FM
Not Just Visiting Anymore
The experience of Koori Radio in metropolitan Sydney is indicative of the situation faced by Aboriginal people in cities throughout the country. The station began as a collection of programs on Radio Skid Row and 2SER-FM and it would be many years of broadcasting this way before Sydney's Indigenous broadcasters could say they were not just visiting anymore.
Author: Craig Liddell | Source: 2SER-FM