Community broadcasters keep fingers crossed during lead up to Federal Budget
by Chris Zajko

In light of the current economic climate, the upcoming 2009/10 Federal Budget has the community broadcasting sector understandably worried that they won’t see as much funding as they may need to get through these tough times.

Community broadcasters have always been drastically under-funded but have usually managed to scrape by on sponsorship, donations and subscriptions. Now that these avenues are drying up due to the global financial crisis (GFC), it is more important than ever that the Government makes a real investment in local economies and communities by meeting the sector’s requests.

The Community Broadcasting Association of Australia’s (CBAA) general manager, Michele Bawden discusses the impact of the current economic situation: “Certainly I would expect that sponsorship income would decrease during this climate. Even in Sydney it has always been tough to attract sponsorship income, but imagine if you were in a town like Wagga Wagga and you rely on the local businesses as your sponsors. These businesses will be struggling and the first thing to go will be their advertising on the local stations.” She goes on to point out that “A combination of state and federal government grants makes up only 4.6% of the average community station’s income.”

In a proposal [1] submitted to the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy last October, the community broadcasting sector’s national peak bodies have requested that just over $14 million be allocated to the sector as a part of the 2009/10 budget.

According to Bawden, “past government funding has not been enough.”

If the government believes that community broadcasting is a vital information source for the community then there is some obligation upon them to provide suitable funding.

According to a March press release from the CBAA, “Support has not kept pace with growth – since the last major funding review in 1996/7 over 200 new services have been established, a 53% increase in station numbers.”

So why not just cut back on the number of stations’ Is there even a market for the huge number of community broadcasters in Australia’ Well, in a word, yes. There is definitely a market. According to mid-2008 Community Radio National Listener Survey [2] conducted by McNair Ingenuity Research, the number of Australians (aged 15+) listening to community radio in an average month has risen from 45% in 2004 to 57% (9,562,000 people) in 2008.

Bawden refers to the sector as “a kind of public service” and understandably so, as there are 23,000 unpaid volunteers that work in community broadcasting who put a lot of work into contributing back to the community through their involvement.

The time has come for government to put their money where their mouth is and help cushion the blow of the GFC on the invaluable service community broadcasters provide.

In a time where the government will be inundated with requests for financial support, there is no doubt that many will be left wanting. We can only urge the government to recognise the importance of the community broadcasting sector as a training ground for the Australian media industry, as a source for localised and alternative information and news and as a tool for uniting of diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

The government must take this opportunity to step up support from community broadcasters. Australian media’s cultural diversity is at stake.