The future direction of community radio in the ‘digital era’ was examined and debated throughout a two day symposium on the 29th and 30th September, at Rydges Camperdown in Sydney. The CBAA organised a productive gathering of representatives from wide-coverage stations from the state capital cities, sector representatives, Government officers and industry experts. Attendance by community broadcasting sector delegates was funded by DCITA and the CBF. Station representatives were those from the wide-coverage stations in capital cities (“capital city metros”), because these are the stations that in January 2009 will have the first opportunities under the Government’s Digital Radio Framework to gain access to the Eureka digital platform.

The symposium was held in order to develop the sector’s perspectives on the Government’s Digital Radio Framework (released by the Minister in October 2005) and to evaluate implementation options and costs. In April 2005 the CBAA provided a submission to Government setting out key digital radio issues. In January 2006, following the October framework announcement, the CBAA provided implementation and cost models to Government within a paper entitled ‘Adding Digital Value’ and needed to undertake consultation with the sector on options identified in a further discussion paper ‘Digital Broadcasting: Some Implementation Challenges for the Community Radio Sector’. The symposium was successful in furthering sector knowledge on the issues surrounding digital radio and was a valuable way for station and sector representatives to have input to policy processes, which will shape the sector’s future.

Day One of the symposium comprised of presentations and panel discussions from community stations, Government spokespeople, various specialists in the wider broadcasting industry, relevant sector bodies and a business futurist. Topics covered included; industry delivery models, infrastructure and capital costs and defining ‘community’ in a digital environment, to name a few.

Following from Day One’s highly informative and mind-challenging talks, the second day became an ‘in the family’ forum of community broadcasters and sector representatives. Day Two’s proceedings included an overview of the previous day’s central themes, followed by question and answer sessions, where ideas and concerns were expressed, discussed and taken onboard. A productive element of the second day was breakout group discussions covering three major themes identified as requiring in-depth analysis. The sessions over the two days enabled sector perspectives to be generated, with Andrew Buchanan, a communications consultant, facilitating discussions.

Throughout the two days there was much debate but in the end there was an encouraging level of consensus on key themes and options. These included the need for the community broadcasting sector to maximize its involvement, facilities and services in the digital radio spectrum, as it was agreed that digital transmission is extremely valuable and we cannot afford to not utilise this opportunity. The significance of digital radio was identified in its ability to offer flexibility and responsiveness.

It was acknowledged that the outcomes endorsed by symposium participants need to be put to Government as part of the 2007 Federal Budget process. There was significant support for sector representatives going forward to Government. The issue of whether new and innovative content would be developed for services using digital spectrum was avidly discussed with the view that new services might provide opportunities for providing content on new platforms. There was overwhelming agreement that digital services should be new and distinct, rather than replicating or simulcasting analog services. In this sense the need for stations to be innovative in their approach to content production and delivery of services were identified as important factors. The symposium participants recognised the emerging necessity to establish partnerships. There was strong support for fully establishing systems for content contribution and exchange. There was also agreement that infrastructure and cost models should be ready to fully exploit increased channel capacity made possible by new encoding technologies and to continue to lobby Government for greater spectrum availability.