RTRFM General Manager Concerned For Community Radio Following Budget Cuts

RTRFM general manager and Eskimo Joe guitarist Stuart MacLeod has said this week’s Federal Budget cuts to digital community radio funding could have severe long-term effects for the sector and would also impact the local music scene.

The budget sees a $1.4 million drop in funding to the Community Broadcasting Program, which MacLeod told theMusic.com.au would likely cause a chain reaction and make matters worse as time goes on.

“It’s really not looking good for community digital radio,” he said.

“Each station has to pay a portion of the gap in funding. If one station cuts their digital signal, that portion per station grows, resulting in more stations dropping out. It’s a chain reaction that eventually leads to digital radio being reserved for commercial entities, and community radio disappears from the digital bandwidth altogether.”

With the direction broadcasting might take in the future unclear, MacLeod said it was important for community stations to be across all mediums, because if and when digital radio becomes the primary means of consumption and they aren’t on that spectrum, a large chunk of their audience would drop off.

“Fast forward to a time when the terrestrial radio signal is turned off and community radio is relegated to an internet only affair, with no free-to-air broadcast alternatives,” he said.

“It’s the long term effects that I am concerned about. There are two futures for community radio, long term, in Australia.

“One is digital radio, the other is internet radio. Eventually the AM/FM signal will either be switched off or reserved for emergency broadcast only. If it’s digital that wins the race, then RTRFM will need to be a part of it, otherwise that’s when the local music scene suffers.”

Following the cuts, the community broadcasting sector launched Keep Community In Your Radio in an effort to restore the funding, a campaign that will rally community support during the election.

The campaign can be found here, on Facebook, Twitter and across the internet via #keepcommunityradio.