Investigation report no. BI-178
Summary
File no. BI-178
Licensee Ashley Scott Thorburn
Station Old Gold Radio 1611 AM Mildura
Type of service Open Narrowcast Radio – general licence area serviced Mildura (VIC)
Name of program General programming
Relevant legislation Section 18 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992
Date finalised 23 May 2016
Decision The licensee is providing an open narrowcasting service within the meaning of section 18 Error: Reference source not found
Opening In April 2016, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (the ACMA) commenced an investigation under section 170 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the BSA) into a complaint that Old Gold Radio, broadcast on 1611 AM in Mildura, is not operating as a narrowcasting service as it is providing programs of broad appeal.
The service Old Gold Radio operates under an open narrowcasting class licence.
Old Gold Radio is described as follows:
OLD GOLD 1611AM is Mildura based radio which plays original hit songs from the years 1950 to 1975.
The current playlist comprises around 12,000 songs which charted either in Australia, the USA, Canada and the UK. There is some live programming on weekdays from breakfast host Mark Eckel, along with a unique music mix for a genuine oldies station. There are local news bulletins hourly at 5am, 6am, 7am, 8am and 9am most days of the year. A lot of good tourist information about Mildura (Victoria) and Wentworth (NSW) is presented daily to promote the Sunraysia area.
Monday to Friday: With Mark Eckel. 8am Country Breakfast. 9am Hitz Show.
Saturday: Sports desk reports with Sammy Smythe between midday and 5pm. 12.50pm Motorcycling News with Brendan Gledhill
Sunday: Memory Makers Max Thorburn or Paul Scott. 9am to midday. 12.30pm Three hours of Classic Country with Brian Barry
Daily: Local News at 5am, 6am, 7am, 8am, 9am.1
Assessment and submissions The investigation takes into account:
the complaint
submissions from the licensee
copies of audio recordings provided by Old Gold Radio for the periods selected by the ACMA:
o Monday 21 March 2016: 3.00 pm – 5.00 pm o Tuesday 22 March 2016: 7.00 am – 9.00 am o Saturday 26 March 2016: 12.00 pm – 2.00 pm.
1 http://www.oldgoldradio.com/ accessed 12 April 2016. 2 Relevant provision
Broadcasting Services Act 1992 18 Open narrowcasting services (1) Open narrowcasting services are broadcasting services: (a) whose reception is limited: (i) by being targeted to special interest groups; or (ii) by being intended only for limited locations, for example, arenas or business premises; or (iii) by being provide during a limited period or to cover a special event; or (iv)because they provide programs of limited appeal; or (v) for some other reason; and (b) that comply with any determinations or clarifications under section 19 in relation to open narrowcasting services. The investigation also has regard to the ACMA’s Narrowcasting for radio guidelines and information about open narrowcasting radio services (May 2011)2 (the Guidelines) and the relevant clarification notice.3
Finding The licensee of Old Gold Radio in Mildura is providing an open narrowcasting service, as defined under section 18 of the BSA.
Reasons Based on the complaint and the licensee’s submissions, the ACMA has considered whether Old Gold Radio’s reception is limited because it provides ‘programs of limited appeal’, as set out in Section 18(1)(iv) of the BSA. Does Old Gold Radio provide programs of limited appeal? The Guidelines provide the following guidance relevant to distinguishing a service of limited appeal from a commercial broadcasting service:
> narrowcasting services are broadcasting services whose reception is limited. A service whose reception is not limited in some way will not be a narrowcasting service under the [BSA];
> commercial broadcasting services commonly comprise a number of distinct program components (such as general news, weather, popular music and other programs of general appeal) which, in combination, form a broad-based service of general appeal;
> a service which, in addition to a narrowcasting element, also incorporates a significant amount of programs which are common to commercial radio services is unlikely to be a narrowcasting service;
2 The narrowcasting guidelines are available from http://www.acma.gov.au/Industry/Spectrum/Radiocomms- licensing/Apparatus-licences/low-power-open-narrowcasting-services-acquire-a-licence-acma. 3 The Broadcasting Services Clarification Notice 2016.
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> the ACMA’s assessment of a narrowcasting service will consider the program elements of a broadcasting service as a whole, not in isolation; and
> consideration of the target audience will be decisive in distinguishing ‘programs of limited appeal’ from those that ‘appear to be intended to appeal to the general public’.
As part of its assessment of whether or not Old Gold Radio provides programs of limited appeal, the ACMA considered three recordings supplied by Old Gold Radio upon request by the ACMA. The ACMA assessed Old Gold Radio’s service as a whole with regard to the music played, as well as any other relevant program components of its service. Programming on Old Gold Radio Old Gold Radio generally plays music from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, with a smaller proportion of music from the 1940s. It also provides limited local news and sports coverage.
The complainant submitted:
[…] the Thorburn family of Mildura are operating what appears to be a commercial radio station covering a wide range of music, interviews , etc from a station known as Old Gold Country operating on a frequency of 1611 am which they claim is a narrowcast station […].
I am now informed by reliable sources that the family are going to cover outside broadcasts of both basketball and football in the Mildura area and will be seeking sponsorship to cover cost, this would be clearly in breach of their licence if as the say they hold a narrowcast licence.
The licensee submitted:
As the programs are fully automated for 150 hours out of 168 hours a week, the insertions of live program are restricted to the balance and basically draw from our total library of tracks totalling 40,000 for the years 1950 to 1990. The automated component only plays some 16,000 tracks from 1950 to 1975 specifically with another 16,000 tracks from that era getting rare plays in live shows.
[…] the station focus is the older age people and local tourism, two areas other radio in Mildura does not service to any degree.
The ACMA has assessed audio recordings provided by the licensee.
Target audience
Based on the ACMA’s assessment of the information provided, it appears that 88% of music played on Old Gold Radio is from the 1960s or earlier. Old Gold Radio plays hit songs from the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, as well as a range of music including lesser-known songs from well-known artists and lesser-known artists. It also plays country music. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011 census data, the population of the state suburb area of Mildura was 30,647 people, with a medium age of 37. Of this group, approximately 39% were 45 years of age or older, and 26% were 55 years of age or older.4
4 Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011 Census of Population and Housing – Mildura (State Suburb). 4 The average age of Mildura’s population is the same as the medium age of the overall average population of Australia.5
Given the music composition outlined above, and the general demographic information noted, the ACMA considers that Old Gold Radio’s service is primarily targeted at listeners over a certain age, to whom music from the 1950s and 1960s is likely to appeal. The target audience is an indication that the service is not intended to appeal to the general public. Programming components During the six hours of random audio recordings reviewed by the ACMA: Old Gold Radio broadcast approximately the following percentages of music: o 2 per cent of songs from the 1940s o 14 per cent of songs from the 1950s o 66 per cent of songs from the 1960s o 12 per cent of songs from 1970-1975 o 6 percent of orchestral pieces from the 1950s or 1960s. The music broadcast included some hits from well-known artists but the majority of songs were not likely to be well-known to the general public. One song from the 1980s was broadcast. This was a country music song released in 1981. One percent of songs were announced or otherwise identified by artist and/or song title. There were intermittent time calls and station identification announcements. Other than the time-calls during live hosted periods (8.00 am – 9.00 am on 22 March 2016 and 12.00 pm – 2.00 pm on 26 March 2016), these appear to be pre-recorded and automated. On Saturday, 26 March 2016, a 15-minute interview was broadcast concerning a local motor cycle race meeting. There was no reporting of major sporting events, such as the AFL or NRL. A news bulletin was broadcast at 7.00 am on 22 March 2016, and repeated at 8.00 am, that focussed on local news from the Mildura area. The one news matter reported on that occurred outside this area was an arrest in Broken Hill. Comparison with commercial services There are three commercial radio services in Mildura: Star FM is part of the Southern Cross Austereo radio network and broadcasts syndicated programs such as Hamish & Andy, Dan & Maz and Rove & Sam, which predominantly play current music and major hits, as well as locally hosted programs.6
Sun FM is also part of the Southern Cross Austereo network and carries syndicated shows such as The Rush Hour (hosted by James Brayshaw and Billy Brownless) and
5 Australian Bureau of Statistics – Australian Social Trends, April 2013 6 http://www.starfm.com.au/mildura/ accessed on 11 May 2016.
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My Generation (hosted by Brendan Jones and Amanda Keller), as well as locally hosted programs.7
Easymix 1467 is part of the Grant Broadcasters radio network and broadcasts a range of programming including Mornings with Neil Mitchell and Sportsday (from 6.00 pm – 7.00 pm weeknights) which includes coverage of AFL, NRL and other major sporting events.8
All these services broadcast regular full news services. Although these services play hit songs from the 1960s and early 1970s, this is a small proportion of their programming. Songs from the 1950s and 1940s and lesser-known songs from the 1960s and 1970s are generally not broadcast on the commercial radio services in Mildura. This indicates that this music is likely to be of limited appeal in the Mildura area. Many of the program components commonly found on commercial radio services are absent on Old Gold Radio, including live announcers throughout the day, regular announcing of songs, weather reports, and news and sports bulletins reporting on events outside the local area throughout the day. Old Gold Radio broadcasts some advertisements and sponsorship announcements for local services. Section 18 of the BSA does not specify that an open narrowcasting service must not be operated for profit or as part of a profit-making enterprise. Therefore, there is no specific prohibition on an open narrowcasting service carrying paid advertisements or being funded by advertising, provided that its reception is limited. It is noted that the advertisement component of Old Gold Radio’s programming appears to be considerably less varied and frequent than is common on commercial radio services. Although there was some limited coverage of local news and local sporting events, taking into account all its programming components, the service does not resemble the commercial radio services in the Mildura area. The limited nature of programming components other than music significantly reduces the appeal of Old Gold Radio’s programming. Conclusion The ACMA is of the view that, in considering all of the program components, reception of the Old Gold Radio service is limited because it provides programs of limited appeal. Its programming does not have many of the characteristics of a commercial radio service and is likely to have little appeal for much of the general public in light of the following: the non-current nature of the music played (predominantly 1960s and earlier) the absence of live announcers or identification of song titles and artists for 150 of the 168 hours broadcast each week and the infrequent announcement of song titles and artists during live hosted periods the absence of traffic reports, current affairs programs, and news and sports coverage outside the Mildura area the infrequent and limited nature of advertising.
The licensee of Old Gold Radio is therefore providing a narrowcasting service.
7 http://www.sunfm.com.au/ accessed on 11 May 2016. 8 http://www.easymix.com.au/ accessed on 11 May 2016. 6 In coming to this finding, the ACMA notes that one of the objects of the BSA is to promote the availability to audiences throughout Australia of a diverse range of radio and television services offering entertainment, information and education. The concept of narrowcasting services was introduced to help achieve this diversity, and it appears that Old Gold Radio is providing programming which would not otherwise receive significant airplay on commercial radio services in the Mildura region. Although the ACMA is satisfied that the service currently being provided by Old Gold Radio is of limited appeal, the licensee is advised to be vigilant in limiting the level of 1960s and 1970s hits which may have currency today as the amount and nature of this music could threaten a narrowcasting categorisation.
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