Australian Radio's Relationshop with Youth

Frequently Modulating: Australian radio’s relationship with youth Chris K Wilson Submitted in total fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Swinburne Institute for Social Research Swinburne University of Technology 2015 Abstract In the mid-2000s the radio dial in each of Australia’s mainland state capitals was home to three stations either purporting to service youth or widely described as doing so. This was remarkable given the federal government maintained a conservative approach to the management of broadcast spectrum at this time and a range of interests competed for its use. Furthermore, each of the three youth stations operating in the mainland state capitals at this time were licensed in separate broadcasting sectors, complicating the notion that these commercial, national and community sectors addressed distinct objectives. This thesis examines how this settlement was reached—how mainland state capital radio came to include an outlet of the national broadcaster’s Triple J youth network, a youth community broadcaster, and Nova FM, a commercial station widely described as youth radio when it emerged in the 2000s. In accounting for the development of this settlement, the thesis focuses on the intersection of technical affordances, including technological, legislative and regulatory conditions that govern the use of radio spectrum, and the discursive formulation of rationales that made it possible to conceive of a specific relationship between radio broadcasting and youth and established the desirability of maintaining this relationship. The thesis draws on a range of empirical material to trace the historical lineage of these technical and discursive underpinnings, resulting in both an historical explanation of the broadcasting settlement of the 2000s and a history of the frequently modulating relationship between Australia radio and youth. The thesis contends that the youth radio settlement of the 2000s was founded on policy work undertaken during the 1980s and 1990s that problematised the shift of commercial stations out of the Top 40 music radio format. Instigated by music industry stakeholders, this policy work initially focused on the reduced role commercial radio played in promoting new music. But, since Top 40 appeared in the early 1960s as the first substantive articulation of Australian youth radio and, - i - despite the emergence of national and community broadcasting alternatives, remained the dominant articulation of youth radio for more than two decades, its demise was increasingly problematised as undermining the relationship between radio and youth. I argue that it was this policy story that generated the necessary rationales for the federal government to facilitate the allocation of broadcasting resources to new non-commercial youth radio services between the late 1980s and early 2000s. - ii - Acknowledgements For their guidance, encouragement, support and great patience I would like to thank my supervisors, Jock Given and Julian Thomas, along with Denise Meredyth, who provided supervision in the early phases of the research. Moreover, I would like to acknowledge them as a source of great inspiration—each is an exemplar of the engaging, rigorous, and impactful academic that I aspire to be. I would like to extend my deepest appreciation to those that contributed, and/or facilitated access to, the raw materials that form the basis of this thesis. I would like to thank my interviewees: Gary Roberts, Stuart Matchett, Giles Tanner, Michael Gordon-Smith, Joana Poznanovic, Gavin Oaks, Margaret Cuppitt, Barry Melville, Cameron Woods, Melissa Page, Bryce Ives, Justin Smart, Cameron Woods, Wayne Regan, John Staley, Lee Burton and Craig Campbell. I would like to thank Geoffrey Whitehead for his correspondence on the origins of Triple J, Phoebe Thornley for providing access to the Geoff Evans Archive, Joana Poznanovic for providing access to documents relating to Groove FM and Hype FM, and Michael Counihan for providing a range of material related to the Australian Music on Radio Inquiry. I would also like to acknowledge the assistance provided to me by librarians and archivists, including Maryanne Doyle (National Film and Sound Archive), Teresa Garcia (Australian Communications and Media Authority), Mez Wilkinson (Swinburne University), the RMIT Document Delivery Team, and Michael Munson (ABC Library). I would like to acknowledge the work of Dr Clare Shamier in undertaking copy editing of the thesis. While Dr Shamier is a media studies scholar her contribution was limited editing to ‘ensure consistency, accuracy and completeness’ in accordance with the Australian Standards for Editing Practice definition of copy editing. This thesis was produced as part of the Australian Research Council Centre for Excellence in Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI) project Youthworx: Youth media and social enterprise. For providing the encouraging and stimulating environment in which the thesis took shape I would like to thank the Youthworx - iii - project team of Denise Meredyth, Julian Thomas, Ellie Rennie, Aneta Podkalicka, David MacKenzie, Liza Hopkins and Jon Staley. I also wish to acknowledge the important role played by the CCI in both the development of the thesis and my development as a scholar. The CCI provided access to a network of leading academics, an exceptional program of early career researcher training, and an open, supportive and collaborative intellectual forum. I would particularly like to thank the CCI’s Stuart Cunningham and Jean Burgess for their academic leadership, and administrator extraordinaire, Colleen Cook. It was the CCI that encouraged the development and publication of my first journal article and I would like to thank my CCI co-authors, Jonathon Hutchinson and Pip Shea, and the champion of our paper, Lelia Green. The majority of this thesis was composed while I was based at the Swinburne Institute for Social Research. I would like to thank the academic leadership team of the Institute, Julian Thomas, Ellie Rennie and Denise Meredyth, and the Institute’s administrative staff, particularly Grace Lee, Gemma Villani and Yee Man Louie who provided support of the highest quality and plenty of good humour. I would also like to thank the research administrators at the faculty for their years of support, including Aimii Scott, Robyn Watson, and Hayley Mowat. Apart from providing a highly professional academic research environment, the Swinburne Institute for Social Research was like my second home and the talented scholars and administrators engaged there were like an extended family. I would like to thank all those associated with the Institute that made it such a fun and productive place to work. I particularly want to acknowledge the collegial support provided by: Penelope Aitken, Trevor Barr, Peter Browne, Terry Burke, Brian Costar, Michelle Dimasi, Andrew Dodd, Stephen Glackin, Dustin Halse, Liza Hopkins, Amanda Lawrence, Grace Lee, Annika Lems, Ramon Lobato, Klaus Neumann, Aneta Podkalicka, Josefine Raasch, Ellie Rennie, Kerry Ryan, James Scambary, Steffi Scherr, Kathrin Schmeider, Lorenzo Veracini, Vivienne Waller, Katherine Wilson, Jon Staley, Skye Krichauff, Olaf Kleist, Sean McNelis, Ellie Rennie, Lise Saugeres, Angela Spinney, and Rowan Wilken. - iv - In the final days of this project I was situated at the RMIT Centre for Urban Research. I would like to thank Ian McShane, Sophie Turner and Alianne Rance who were excellent office-mates as I struggled to produce the final words. Further afield, I would like to thank a range of media studies, media history and radio studies scholars who supported me in my endeavours through kind words of encouragement and stimulating discussion. They include: Alex Wake, John Tebbutt, Mia Lindgren, Shane Homan, Brigit Griffen-Foley, Ben Goldsmith, Jason Potts, Jo Tacchi, Larissa Hjorth, Heather Horst, Huw Walmsley-Evans, Tom O’regan, Ed Montano, Virginia Madsen, and Marcus Breen. I would particularly like to thank Scott Ewing, Ian McShane, Jonathon Hutchinson and Lorenzo Veracini, who not only provided friendship and support, but also took the time and considerable effort to engage with my research. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the great support provided by my family. Firstly, thanks go to my extended family - the Boeremas, Stroeks and Randalls. In particular, I would like to thank Jan for lending an ear during our rides in the pine forest and beyond where the ups and downs were not only emotional. Thank you to my parents and their partners, Wendy and Len, Ray and Pat, who continue to encourage and support me in my endeavours – scholarly and otherwise. I would also like to acknowledge the support of my grandparents, Mary McDermott, and May and Ray Clayton, who passed during the production of this thesis. I greatly appreciate the support of my brother Tim. He has always looked out for me and was a constant source of support as I produced this work. This thesis is dedicated to those that provide the daily dose of love, kindness and laughs that make life special, my wife, Cathy and my children, Otis and Moby. - v - Declaration This thesis contains no material that has been accepted for the award of another degree at a university or any other educational institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person or persons, except where due reference has been made. Chris K Wilson - vi - Table of Contents Introduction ......................................................................................................

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