58 Annual Report 2004–05 in any situation Four Corners camera operator | Banda Aceh | Boxing Day 2004 Tsunami When the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami struck, the ABC was the first Australian broadcaster to have journalists on the ground in affected areas. Jakarta-based correspondent Tim Palmer was the first member of the foreign media other than Arab TV station Al-Jazeera to be in the devastated city of Banda Aceh. Within 24 hours, East Asia correspondent Peter Lloyd was in Phuket and South Asia correspondent Geoff Thompson reached Galle in Sri Lanka. For the first few days they worked virtually around the clock, sleeping when and where they could and dependent on the supplies they had carried in themselves. The ABC’s international services Radio Australia and ABC Asia Pacific provided the people of the devastated region with crucial information through news reports, community service announcements and warnings. The ABC’s ability to provide such rapid, on-the-spot coverage of international events is a result of its commitment to maintaining 12 overseas news bureaux–more than any other Australian media organisation. 59 Annual Report 2004–05 The 7:30 Report and Four Corners are as good as any news program in the world male 30s, Melbourne 60 Annual Report 2004–05 Sue Howard Director of Radio A lifetime passion for the wireless became a lifetime career when Sue Howard joined the ABC in 1986. She has presented programs on Radio National, ABC Classic FM and Local Radio and achieved some impressive firsts for the ABC, pioneering ABC Radio’s midnight-to-dawn shift, becoming the first woman to present a Breakfast program in 1993 and the first female Local Radio manager when taking on the combined metropolitan and regional management responsibilities in Victoria in 1996. Sue was appointed Head of Regional Services in 1996 and Director of Radio in 2000. She remains passionate about the wireless. Sue holds a Bachelor of Arts from Monash and a Diploma of Education. ABC Radio extended the availability ABC Radio of its services on multiple platforms through increased online streaming and In 2004–05, ABC Radio delivered the introduction of podcasts of triple j, comprehensive coverage of local, national dig, Local Radio and Radio National and international events through its traditional programming. This use of multiple core services while continuing to face the platforms provides audiences with challenge of the digital future. greater freedom to determine their listening schedules. Local Radio stations maintained the growth in tailored local programming digJAZZ joined the main dig channel as an achieved in 2003–04 through National audio service on free-to-air digital television Interest Initiatives (NII) funding and provided and all ABC Radio services became available comprehensive coverage of the 2004 Athens on subscription television platforms in June Olympic Games to Australians in regional 2005. ABC Classic FM and dig continue to and metropolitan Australia. The network be available on digital radio trials in Sydney established the ABC’s first regionally-based and Melbourne and ABC NewsRadio Radio Sport broadcaster in Townsville to in Melbourne. provide local sports content for radio and online throughout Northern Queensland. Distinctly Australian In its fourth year, the ABC Radio Regional ABC NewsRadio celebrated its tenth Production Fund (RPF)—established with Anniversary in August 2004, and launched new NII funding to identify and showcase new FM frequencies in Canberra and Tuggeranong, talent in regional Australia—commissioned ACT, in June 2005. The ABC called for tenders 106 hours of new Australian content across for the extension of ABC NewsRadio to 72 ABC Radio networks. regional centres with populations over 10 000. The Australian Snapshots project Internet music service dig introduced two distributed 150 disposable cameras new specialist music streams—digJAZZ in to Local Radio listeners across regional October 2004 and digCOUNTRY in April 2005. Australia to photograph aspects of daily 61 Annual Report 2004–05 Australia’s longest running radio program, The Country Hour, broadcasting live from Pine Creek, Northern Territory, as part of its 60th Anniversary Roadshow. life that created a sense of belonging Fresh Air 2004 attracted over 500 musical within their community. The result was a entries from unsigned and unpublished spontaneous photographic collection of regional musicians. The winning selections more than 4 000 images depicting Australian received airplay on Local Radio, dig and life. The photos were published on a special Radio National. The artists were invited to website that also contained a poll to select play at the ABC Exhibition Trailer stage at the public’s favourite photos and a selection the 2004 Queenscliff Music Festival in of the images as desktop wallpapers and November and at various The Country e-cards. A regional touring exhibition of Hour 60th birthday concerts. 40 of the best photos was launched at the Museum of the Riverina in Wagga Wagga in Australian Music November 2004. By June 2005, the exhibition In 2004–05, ABC Radio networks met or had travelled to Parkes in New South Wales exceeded their Australian music performance and Geraldton, Kalgoorlie, Perth and targets. Since inception, the new digJAZZ Bunbury in Western Australia. and digCOUNTRY Internet streams have exceeded their targets. The RPF commissioned Australia’s first art exhibition curated by the Australian public. triple j introduced the J Award for outstanding Radio National’s The Deep End teamed achievement in Australian music. A team up with the Newcastle Region Art Gallery, headed by network Music Director, Richard presenting listeners with a curatorial Kingsmill, each month nominates an album, decision each week and encouraging them with the inaugural Best Australian Album to vote online for their choice. The result J Award to be announced at the end of 2005. was a real-life exhibition that opened in May Nominations to date have included Autumn 2005 at the Newcastle Region Art Gallery. Flow by new talent Lior and When the Dust Settles by Downsyde. The RPF Short Story 2005 competition attracted huge interest with more than 2 000 AusMusic month on triple j included a special regional writers submitting unpublished stories Live at the Wireless broadcast featuring of 650 words on any subject. Twenty-six stories unearthed success and ARIA Award winner, were chosen for national broadcast on Local Missy Higgins. Radio and Radio National and for online streaming. The winning writers each received $650. 62 Annual Report 2004–05 ABC Radio (Continued) For the first time, ABC Classic FM carried the Port Lincoln community including live broadcasts of the APRA Australian The Country Hour and the Late Afternoons, Music Centre Classical Music Awards from Evenings and Weekends programs. ABC the Sydney Conservatorium, as well as the Classic FM’s popular music education Symphony Australia Young Performers program Keys to Music presented a concert Awards, which culminated in a live broadcast featuring the Stellar Wind Quintet performing of the grand final from the Sydney Opera music ranging from Mozart to Malcolm House Concert Hall. Arnold’s humorous arrangements of sea shanties. dig continued its support of Australian music at the Queenscliff Music Festival in In September 2004, ABC Classic FM 2004, simulcasting Radio National’s Live presented a baby grand piano to Wangaratta On Stage performance of Xavier Rudd, West Primary School in Victoria, winners of and recording and providing as audio-on- Grab The Goanna, a competition open to all demand interviews and performances Australian schools held every four years in by other Australian musicians including conjunction with the Sydney International Nessa Morgan, Hat Fitz and Dave Hole. Piano Competition. To celebrate the school’s win, ABC Classic FM hosted and broadcast Australian Communities live across Australia, a special concert The Boxing Day tsunami drew Australian recital from Wangaratta featuring Jayson communities together in support of those Gillham playing the prize piano. affected by the disaster. In addition to news and current affairs coverage, ABC Radio ABC Classic FM also broadcast directly from networks provided a local perspective the Bundaleer Forest Concert Weekend in on the global catastrophe, interviewing outback South Australia. The community- representatives of Asian communities in organised concert featured popular works Australia, charity and volunteer organisations, performed by leading soloists, including the Prime Minister and Government Teddy Tahu Rhodes and members of the Ministers, as well as people in tsunami- Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. The network affected countries. also recorded concerts of local artists in regional Tasmania as part of the Ten Days During bushfires on the Eyre Peninsula on the Island festival. and in the Adelaide Hills, as the official emergency broadcaster, Local Radio South Local Radio Victoria worked with the Australia provided updated information from Victorian Country Fire Authority to organise metropolitan and country fire services to the 2004–05 fire awareness and education listeners affected by the fires. campaign. As part of the Emergency Services Memorandum of Understanding To lift the spirits of communities devastated between Local Radio Victoria and the by bushfires, ABC South Australia staged Victorian Emergency Services, a series of the Lower Eyre Peninsula Road Show, road signs was erected to remind people including an RPF-supported community in regional Victoria to tune into their ABC concert in Port Lincoln. Local Radio South Local Radio station in an emergency. Australia presented live broadcasts to 63 Annual Report 2004–05 Local Radio in Queensland, Western Australia affecting the region. It was moderated by and the Northern Territory responded to the the Central Darling Shire Council General emergency posed by Cyclone Ingrid. Teams Manager, co-chaired by the ABC Radio in Townsville, Cairns, Darwin, Broome and presenters and attended by over 500 Kununurra provided around-the-clock people including politicians, business information on the cyclone’s progress and and community leaders.