.... our servers only go back 10 years so missed the article you replied
to, but...
Seems family fm, run and funded by the catholic church, lost their way
only a couple years ago when ACMA issued them a show cause to keep their licence for not following the rules, multiple times, we all know they
dont issue show causes lightly. So being on a their last warning, there
just may be another FM licence issued in BRI RA1 in the future afterall.
That said, either way, never say " never " times change, AM is all but
gone, one of them just might prove a case for conversion, govts change,
ACMA's directions and instruments change, the minister could get a
compelling request to issue a M/D to ACMA to offer or approve one.
Dont know what Uni broadcasters you refer to, only one I know of was
4ZZZ, who existed a *LONG* time before family fm was thought of, I
remember hangin out with Billy Rhiner when I was a kid when their studio
was in the schonel <sp?> theatre building at UQ, gaaaawwwdd that was a
tad over 45 years ago. 4ZZZ was also the first community FM station lic'd
in Qld, so unsure of what other Uni community stations "after family fm"
you speak of are, unless you are referring to some other state.
Cheers
On Wed, 17 May 2023 04:37:26 -0700, Andrew Smith wrote:
Hoo-boy! Sorry for being two decades late to the party on this one but
it needs a response. It's an absolute doozy.
There is no such thing as "too professional". And if you're a community station you aren't compelled to be amateur either. The thing about this station is that we cared enough to do things better, and also to train
other volunteers. Over *26 years* (that's how long it took to get the licence) we managed to purchase a bit of the right gear along the way
and build some studios (after initially having them in a caravan).
Family Radio / Family FM got the licence because the submission for it
was overwhelming compared to all others competing for that same licence.
It was night and day, and after 26 years you could only hope that would
be the case. No idea if anyone was told to not include letters of
support, but it would have to be a weird thing to happen as that is the
very time it would count. Family Radio had them from right throughout
the political spectrum and elsewhere.
These "fun days" you speak of were a danged lot of hard work, but also
part and parcel of what you can do when you are a community station.
They also only happen through the power of volunteers.
As someone who was there, and also the person who typeset the licence submission, I can tell you that there were no cozy deals or anything
else. Sometimes the organisation itself was done over. Back in the
1990s, due to the history of Family Radio as an aspirant broadcaster, a 'special purpose' FM licence was made available in the Brisbane region
as it would suit the organisation. Family Radio was the only contestant
at that stage (from memory). Ahead of the tribunal hearings a few
university funded aspirant broadcasters magically popped up --
"educational" use of a special purpose licence -- and the aboriginal
group was given the licence. It was found out later that the whole
thing was a predetermined kangaroo court situation and the episode is
covered in a book that is/was in the UQ law library. This is now the Triple-A station (and they likely had no idea of the machinations behind
the granting of the licence).
So that licence that Family Radio won? It's a good thing as everyone
knew that it was the last FM allocations to be done for Brisbane ...
ever. (Totally understandable that some of the non-winners would be unhappy.)
Andrew
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