A mixed bag in the budget for community broadcasters

Support for Australian musicians, a lifebuoy for Australia’s key broadcast training initiative and a new set of dates for Digital Radio: the community-broadcasting sector’s peak body, the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia welcomes the Federal Government’s support for three key areas of community broadcasting in the budget. But there are still some questions.

Amrap, the Australian Music Radio Airplay Project, is a unique initiative that promotes Australian music through the community radio sector. Since it’s beginnings in 2000, over 100,000 CDs by Australian artists have been distributed for airplay. Amrap has become an essential tool for local musicians wanting to connect with national audiences.

The Government has honored its election promise and provided Amrap with $2.4 million in support over four years and community broadcasters look forward to developing greater connections with the diverse music our communities create. With new funding, AMRAP will be able to expand and engage with new technologies to create even stronger relationships with musicians across every genre.

There’s finally a break in the cloudy skies over digital radio. The Government has renewed their commitment to including community broadcasters in the first stage of the digital radio rollout, with funding of $11.2 million provided over three years commencing in the 2009/10 financial year. While this has been welcomed by the sector, it also provides a further set of questions.

The start date for digital radio is to be pushed back to July 2009, but the government’s funding does not kick in until after that point – leaving a hole during the key planning period over 2008/09.

President of the CBAA, Deb Welch, said “We’re pleased and relieved that we have a digital future. There’s been an enormous amount of work put in already on the organisational, legal and technical basis to be ready, so we’re very pleased to have our inclusion confirmed. But the gap in funding for the 2008/09 year does provide a dilemma for us, as there is a significant amount of work to do over that time. So we will continue our discussions with the Minister in order to work out how this can be managed.”

The National Training Project (NTP) has also received $0.6 million over one year. Supported since 2004 as partial acknowledgement for the pivotal role community broadcasting plays in training Australia’s media personnel, The NTP was originally funded in 2004 with $2.4 million over four years and is at a crucial stage with the rollout of management training about to commence.

Acting General Manager of the CBAA, Craig Liddell said “Whilst the one year extension is welcomed. But all community broadcasters know that training is an ongoing and central part of their activities and will be looking for a longer term commitment into the future.”