Celebrating 50 Years for the CBAA
This week, we are excited to acknowledge and celebrate the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) 50th Anniversary with all community broadcasters.
On 5-6 July 1974 our founding members met at the University of NSW in Sydney for an Independent Seminar on Public Broadcasting. And on Sunday 7 July 1974 they issued a public statement to announce their decision to form the Public Broadcasting Association of Australia (PBAA):
“The first organisation to link together, on a national basis, the burgeoning number of local groups, who are working towards establishing new public broadcasting stations…”
“The Association, which is non-party political and non-profit, already draws its support from all mainland capitals, Newcastle and Bathurst. All 16 groups attending the seminar supported its formation and future operations.”
“Widely diverse groups in the public broadcasting movement found that they all face an extensive set of common problems before they can get on the air. As a result of the formation of the Association, groups as widely distinctive as student broadcasters and university institutional broadcasters, classical music and pop music broadcasters, local suburban regional and metropolitan-wide broadcasters, public affairs and cultural broadcasters, colleges of advanced education and adult education broadcasters, will work closely together in a united front to establish the new public broadcasting sector.”
“This new sector will provide a wider and richer diversity of programmes than possible through the existing commercial and ABC sectors. They will use the new FM and extra AM frequencies which are now becoming available.”
We are grateful for the vision and dedication of this founding generation of broadcasters.
Today, community broadcasters deliver over 500 AM/FM/DAB+ services and two dedicated TV services that reach over 5.19 million people across Australia each week – almost one-quarter (24%) of Australians. The social and economic impact of community broadcasting is driven by over 17,000 volunteers and almost 1,000 employees who together play an increasingly important role in connecting Australian communities that are underserved by other media.
Community broadcasting services deliver on the vision held in 1974, and we’d like to thank you and your team for providing valued services that enrich and strengthen the social and cultural fabric of Australian society.
From the outset, the formation of CBAA has been driven by and integral to the sector having a unified and strong voice to Government. A few days prior to the formation of the PBAA, the Department of the Media held a conference to consult on the introduction of public broadcasting. Our Association was, in part, motivated by the sector’s desire to influence the outcome of this Government process. Experimental community broadcasting licenses (Australia’s first experimental community radio licenses) were subsequently approved at a Cabinet meeting held on 23 September 1974.
Today, we continue to work closely with our members and the Government to underpin the sustainability and community impact of our sector.
The CBAA, in many ways, retains the hallmarks of the original PBAA, with our purpose to support strong and successful community broadcasters. The diversity of voices, and the creative, unique, specialist and hyperlocal content that broadcasters amplify, remain key. CBAA continues to focus on increasing the capacity and capability of all broadcasters and our sector collectively. As technology continues to evolve, along with audiences, we strive to support all stations with affordable, quality services to make stations accessible to all communities on all platforms.
50 Years of Community Broadcasting - Telling Our Shared Story
John Martin OAM, the Chair of 2RPH, Past President of the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia and the Community Broadcasting Foundation presented this reflection on the Australian community broadcasting sector featuring figures from sector bodies and community broadcasters. Our thanks to guests including:
- The late Tony Staley AO
- Ian Stanistreet
- Keith Conlon OAM
- Penny Mulvey
- Wayne Bynder
- Ada Hulshoff
- Dr Juliet Fox
- Ange Barry
- Andy Colvin
Produced by Story Strategist.
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