2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission Letters Patent issued 16 February 2009 Witness Statement of Grant Johnstone ACE Radio Broadcasters Pty Ltd GPO Box 4358 MelbourneVK 3000 Tel: 1800 243 650 www.royalcornrniaion.virgov~u 111111 Ill1IIIYIII IIIIIY II WIT 7500.001.0002 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission Letters Patent issued 16 February 2009 Witness Statement of Grant Johnstone Ace Radio Broadcasters Pty Ltd I, Grant Johnstone, of 9 Coonoc Road, Traralgon, in the State of Victoria say as follows: 1. I am employed by ACE Radio Broadcasters Pty Ltd (ACN 064 882 042) (ACE Radio) as the General Manager of ACE Radio's Traralgon-based TRFM and Gold 1242 regional radio stations. 2. 1 have been employed by ACE Radio since 1994. During that time I have worked in three of the ACE Radio markets (the areas into which ACE Radio is licensed to broadcast) being Traralgon, Swan Hill & Colac. During this time I have worked as a Program Director, being responsible for everything that goes to air on a radio station, Assistant Group Program Director and for the past nine years as a Radio Station General Manager responsible for the overall operation in a given market. 3. In my current role as General Manager of TRFM & GOLD 1242 1 manage a staff of 26 people. My role involves the day to day operation of the business (sales, programming and administration) as well as liaising with the local business community, service clubs and community groups. ACE RADIO NETWORK 4. ACE Radio is Victoria's largest regional commercial radio network. ACE Radio employs over 160 staff, the majority of whom reside in regional Victoria. 5. ACE Radio has been operating its network of regional radio stations since 1984. It operates 13 AM and FM radio stations throughout Victoria. ACE Radio currently owns and operates the following regional radio stations: (a) Radio 2AY which broadcasts from AlburyNVodonga (b) Radio 3CS which broadcasts from Colac (c) MlXX FM which broadcasts from Colac (d) Radio 3HA which broadcasts from Hamilton Page 1 of 7 (e) MlXX FM which broadcasts from Hamilton (0 Radio 3WM which broadcasts from Horsham (g) MlXX FM which broadcasts from Horsham (h) Radio 3SH which broadcasts from Swan Hill (i) MlXX FM which broadcasts from Swan Hill (j) TRFM which broadcasts from Traralgon (k) Gold 1242 which broadcasts from Traralgon (1) Radio 3YB which broadcasts from Warrnambool (m) Coast FM which broadcasts from Warrnambool 6. Each station is operated independently of the other in that the broadcasts are generated in each case from the station in question. Each has its own announcers and studio. Typically, each local station broadcasts live between 6am and 6pm, 7 days a week. Between 6pm and 6am each station typically broadcasts pre-recorded content. The pre-recorded broadcast can be interrupted at any time to allow for live broadcast. 7. ACE Radio has a combined audience reach of over 500,000 people. Attachment GJ- 1 is a map of the ACE Radio Network coverage within Victoria. 8. A recent survey carried out by AC Nielsen Media Research Australia in East Gippsland in 2008 and commissioned by ACE Radio gave the following results concerning the listening habits of people over the age of ten years old: (a) 33.3% of the total population over ten years old listened to the ABC; (b) 15.6% of the total population under the age of 50 listen to the ABC; (c) 61% of the total population under 50 listen to the local commercial station TRFM; (d) 10.2% of the total population under 40 listen to the ABC; and (e) 63.5% of the total population under 40 listen to TRFM. 9. These results are included in this statement as attachment GJ-2. Page 2 of 7 lo. In my opinion, the above share of audience could safely be assumed as being generally consistent throughout the year and typical of the audience share throughout regional Victoria. In my experience, regional surveys across Australia generally show a consistent collective share of audiences, irrespective of where they are. EMERGENCY PROCEDURES OF ACE RADIO BROADCASTING The owners (ultimately, the Paterson and Handbury families who are both residents of Western Victoria) and employees of ACE Radio have a strong sense of social responsibility to regional Victoria and place significant value on the role that ACE Radio can play as emergency broadcaster. ACE Radio follows the procedures contained in the Commercial Radio Australia Ltd Codes of Practice and Guidelines for broadcasts of emergency information. A copy of the relevant part of the Code is attachment GJ-3 The ACE Radio's Network Operations Manual contains a protocol for emergency broadcast. A copy of the relevant pages of the manual is attachment GJ-4. The system currently used by ACE Radio for broadcasting emergency service announcements relies heavily upon the various emergency services directly contacting ACE Radio by telephone, facsimile transmission or email. It also relies upon ACE Radio staff being able to speak to emergency service personnel directly when the need arises. ACE Radio provides to each of the local emergency services in the areas in which it broadcasts (including police, ambulance, CFA and SES) a list of names and contact numbers to telephone in the event that an urgent broadcast is required. In "out of hours" periods when local stations are not typically broadcasting live (6pm to 6am) emergency service callers are directed to a 1800 number which is diverted to a nominated ACE Radio General Manager or Program Manager. Managers are rostered on to receive the 1800 calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for a two week block. In the event of an emergency broadcast request, the General Manager andlor Program Manager of the ACE Radio station closest to the incident is called by the rostered 1800 recipient. They will then go directly to the station and put the message to air. This process generally takes approximately 15 minutes from receipt of the call. Page 3 of 7 If calls are received between 6am and 6pm messages can be put to air within 5 minutes. Being a network of regional stations, ACE Radio can target the emergency information to the relevant area. For example, Gippsland people can hear emergency information about the Gippsland area without having to be distracted by information about Kinglake. It is vitally important that our announcers have a clear understanding of the local area. It assists them with articulating the urgency of threat messages. It also enables our stations to directly target the relevant information to the appropriate areas. ACE Radio does not give airtime to members of the public to provide bushfire information. February 2009 Fires 20. During the period in which fires affected Gippsland (late January to about 18 Februrary) ACE Radio's Gippsland stations were manned 24 hours a day, on most days. 21. By 7 February 2009 we had already experienced a full week of broadcasts related to the BoolarraNinnar group of fires. 22. On 7 February we received our first "Urgent Threat Message" by email during the mid afternoon for the fire known as the "Churchill fire". Throughout the remainder of the day we received further email emergency messages from the Traralgon ICC, principally through DSE's Rachel Dawkins. When received, the messages were broadcast in 15 minute intervals as requested. ACE Radio has not retained a record of messages received during that day. 23. During 7 February we were able to make contact with Peter Lockwood at the Traralgon ICC. Peter Lockwood is personally known to me and to ACE Radio's journalist, Greg Allen. Having an established relationship with Peter was of great benefit during 7 February because when we called the Traralgon ICC for information about the fires, we were generally able to get through to Peter. Until about midnight on 7 February we did not experience any difficulty in making contact with the ICC to seek information. 24. On 7 February we received many calls, on a fairly constant basis, from members of the public who were seeking information from us about what was happening. A large number of callers wanted information about where the fires were heading. By about Page 4 of 7 3pm on 7 February flames from the Churchill fires were visible throughout the Latrobe Valley and by about 4:30pm the valley was effectively in darkness. 25. We also received a large volume of calls from the public seeking information about the fires during the whole of the period in which the fires burned, both prior to and after 7 February. The fact that local residents called us seeking information reflects an entrenched pattern - residents of the Traralgon area frequently call us seeking information about incidents of all kinds. 26. After about midnight on 7 February we experienced some difficulty in obtaining information about the fires, either in the form of official notifications by email, or directly, by making contact with the ICC. Over the following days, the gap between notifications could be as much as six hours, which prompted us to contact the lncident Control Centre directly for more accurate and up to date information. By this time we were receiving hundreds of calls from the public looking for more information on fire movement. 27. Without contact from the lncident Controllers we were left with a potentially outdated email as our only source of information for many hours, particularly overnight. The most critical time for current information was between 6am and 9am, when listening audiences are at their peak. However most mornings the latest information was supplied the night before, up to 12 hours old.