The Future for Radio

The Future For Radio 1995 will be year of steady revenue the networked format, is providing growth, along with increasing con Commercial Radio added incentive to reduce the local centration of ownership in com sourcing of programs, even in prime mercial radio, while the expan listening time. Localism has longbeen sion of popular ABC services will The outlook for the commercial radio championed as a major ingredient for produce further audience growth industry on both the AM and FM bands successful programming and loyal au for the national broadcaster. looks bright, with revenue and profit diences, but it is now being seen in The Australian Broadcasting Au margins improving. Costs are on the some commercial circles as more rel thority is aiming to put its radio serv way down, as commercial operators evant to smaller markets. ice planning exercise back on track, as take advantage of changes to broad It remains to be seen how listeners resources diverted to deal with the casting rules that allow them to own will react to this cost-saving approach mushrooming narrowcast industry are two stations in larger markets. to radio as 1995 progresses. reassigned to the main game. ‘Duopoly’ is the term used to describe On a more positive note, music ra SBS Radio is hoping to consolidate this development and it will be the dio formats have been evolving to in last year’s establishment of a national name of the game for commercial radio clude more contemporary and Aus network and second stations in Mel in 1995. tralian popular music. This will con bourne and Sydney, with the introduc The merger of the nation’s two larg tinue as commercial networks attempt tion of extensive English language pro est commercial networks - Triple M to counter the growing popularity of gramming in prime listening time. and Austereo - gained attention last the ABC’s Triple J Youth Network. Community radio will benefit from year. These networks, which together The success of talk radio will con a revitalised industry body, while pay attract almost half the nation’s under- tinue to add resilience to AM Radio in audio (as part of subscription televi 40 radio audience, also account for major cities, while the growth of re sion packages), along with digital around 40 per cent of the metropolitan gional networks will do the same for broadcasting, will remain on the hori radio industry’s advertising revenue. AM in the country. While AM radio zon this year. However, other major operators refuses to die, the generational divide Australian radio’s regulator, the have also been busily buying up sta between AM and FM listeners will be Australian Broadcasting Authority tions, so that as 1995 dawned nearly reinforced by evolving network strate (ABA), will continue its planning re 60 per cent of the nation’s metropoli gies and duopoly arrangements. view of the radio industry, a task ear tan stations were in seven ownership Recently there has been significant marked for completion by the end of groups, the two largest of which foreign investor interest in the now next year. It involves analysing the (Austereo, Wesgo) dominated the mar deregulated Australian commercial demand for radio services in each li kets in the three largest cities. radio industry. The US Corporation cence area across the nation, a process Regional commercial radio is also ‘Clear Channel’ has taken up a 5 per encompassing both community and experiencing rapid transformation, as cent interest in Wesgo, while the Brit industry consultation. operators build up extensive networks, ish Associated Newspaper Holdings As a result, change in the Austral with two stations per broadcast area. has an 11 per cent stake in Austereo. ian broadcast radio road map during Networks have been changing hands Meanwhile, local operators (Village/ 1995 will occur only as each area plan as some experienced operators jump Austereo and John Singleton among is completed. The Authority has been ship and print media interests buy in. them) are branching out into Asia. running behind schedule and the first The consolidation of the com plan is now due for completion in March mercial radio industry under fewer or April. With remote and under owners and into broader networks will serviced areas targeted for review first, continue this year, as operators posi National large capital city markets are unlikely tion themselves to cope with competi Broadcasters to be investigated this year. tion from new commercial operators A flood of more than a thousand licensed by the ABA as part of its The ABC applications for narrowcast services industry plan. ABC Radio’s audience increased some had forced the ABA to divert resources For listeners, however, radio’s tra 7 per cent last year, with a consider to more effectively plan this burgeon- ditional localism will be the main able upsurge of interest in the na ingsector. With the backlog now being victim of progress 1995-style. For ex tional broadcaster’s stations in Syd soaked up, the overall area-by-area ample, the year began with Austereo’s ney and regional Australia. planning exercise should gather pace Triple M networking a breakfast pro this year. gram from Melbourne to Sydney. Tech nology which enables the use o f‘win dows’ for local news, sport, weather, traffic and commercials, to disguise Continued on page 34... Communications Update ♦ 33 ♦ February 1993 based, ‘do-it-yourself and often inno ices will be licensed by the end of this vative, sector of the Australian radio year, along with the appearance of pay ... Continued from page 33 industry. audio, as part of the subscription serv The Youth network Triple J is prov The revival of community radio’s ices offered by Galaxy (Australis) Pay ing increasingly attractive to younger umbrella organisation, the Commu TV or its affiliates. Galaxy itself re audiences and now has more listeners nity Broadcasting Association of Aus mains non-committal about this pre than the ABC’s local stations at some tralia (CBAA), last year, sees the sec diction. times of the day. Since January, 17 tor better placed to negotiate its sur The ABA’s interpretation of what new transmitters have greatly ex vival in radio’s changing technological constitutes narrowcasting will con panded the network’s reach into rural and service delivery environment. The tinue to be a source of discussion and areas. CBAA’s ability to work out an agree debate, particularly in the music area, With its sometimes provocative ment with copyright authorities seek as pressure grows for more niche mu programming, Triple J’s influence will ing significant increases in payments sic format stations. further increase as a second stage of will be a test for the newly invigorated regional expansion occurs over the next body. Other Issues two years. 1995 will also be a test year However, frustration over the slow for the innovative ABC News Radio. rate of licence approvals for aspiring Testing of Digital Sound broadcasting This network occupies the Parliamen community broadcast groups will con (DSB) systems, seen by many as the tary Broadcast frequencies when Par tinue in 1995. The Australian Broad future for radio, will continue this year, liament is not sitting. The attractive casting Authority has attempted to although the ABA does nothave a DSB ness of the format, promising the lat placate long suffering aspirants by in planning timetable established as yet. est news every ten minutes, is likely to troducing a new temporary transmis Overseas, plans are somewhat more be limited by the parliamentary inter sions policy for community broadcast advanced. The BBC for example, aims ruptions and the low power of its trans hopefuls. to establish DSB versions of all its mitters in some cities. Existing stations are being encour aged by the CBAA to establish their services in London by September this The Special Broadcasting Service own narrowcast operations, while some year. SBS Radio’s expansion of English lan aspiring community broadcast groups Meanwhile, the true pioneers of guage programming, announced at the are likely to apply for narrowcast per radio, the amateur radio licence hold end of last year, provoked disquiet mits to get around the licensing log ers whose forebears made modern ra amongst staff and some ethnic com jam. dio possible, are the latest group to fall munities. foul of economic rationalism in the SBS stations will broadcast 18 Federal bureaucracy. Amateurs, who hours a week of English language pro Narrowcasting still play an important role during gramming this year, much of it during emergencies such as bushfires, are prime breakfast and drive listening incensed by a decision of the Spectrum Narrowcasting looks like being the only time. This will add broadcasting in the Management Authority to almost dou major area of expansion in the radio ‘common language’ to the 66 languages ble their licence fees. □ SBS offers, and follows the introduc industry this year. Most of the 700 tion of a full national network on FM licensed narrowcasters run low-pow Dave Lane has an MA in Communica and AM and a second network in Syd ered stations at the bottom end of the tions and has worked since 1978 in FM band and provide focussed serv ney and Melbourne last year. The both community and ABC radio. second network, SBS 2, is to be ex ices such as tourist services or real tended throughout the nation over the estate information. next 18 months, funds permitting. Last year the ABA bent to pressure While SBS sees ethnic community and issued temporary, two-year, high- and narrowcast stations as comple powered narrowcast licences on va mentary to their service, an increas cant AM frequencies, which havebeen ing number of narrowcast operators taken up by operators offering formats establishing services in languages like racing and non-English language other than English will make competi services.

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