Australians making a big sound out of FM radio

Press, 15 May 1981, Page 13

Australians making a big sound out of FM radio

The Broadcasting Tribunal is studying submissions about the introduction of Frequency Modulated (stereo) radio into New Zealand, in preparation for a Government public inquiry. Manufacturers appear to believe the move is just round the corner. JACQUELINE STEINCAMP recently returned to Christchurch from Sydney where she was greatly impressed by the progress made by FM radio in Australia.

FM radio is a big sound in Australia these days. And nowhere is it bigger than in the rapidly growing number of public radio stations. A survey released in February of the 28 public radio stations then on air (four more were nearly there), showed that of the 17 responding, to the questionnaire, 14 were FM stereo. Sydney alone has 11 AM and 7 FM stations. The Whitlam Government introduced FM broadcasting to Australia on the recommendation of a Committee of Enquiry chaired by Sir Francis McLean, a former Director of Engineering for the 8.8. C. The first broadcasts were made in 1974. Since at least half of the public stations are owned (and often operated) by educational institutions, there is already an impressive input of high quality people into broadcasting. Practical courses in writing, production, technical, and presentation skills are integrated into the programming and structure of the stations. Australian broadcasting is even now showing the benefits, according to Dr Allen Pattison, of the New South Wales Institute of Technology, and chairman of the board of 2SER-FM, an educational access station owned jointly by the Institute and Macquarie University. Nevertheless, there is considerable diversity in. the public broadcasting movement. Several stations are owned and run by classical music enthusiasts; one or two have religious backing. One station has an annual income of $800; another is a recognised charity. One devotes 97 per cent of its air time to music. Two pay all members of staff the same salary; another has only two paid staff members, the manager and engineer. Public access is prominent in most of the programming. Staff producers may assist with the production of programmes prepared by university students and staff members, and by other paying groups. The training of would-be programme-makers and presenters is an important part of their job. Station 2SER-FM regards its paid

staff as facilitators for the ideas of others rather than programme-makers in their own right. The desire by many groups to use public radio stations to put across their point of view is seen as part of the over-all trend away from the print media. “In the old days, people used to put out their own magazines or newspapers,” says Keith Jackson, the 2SER-FM manager. “Now they’re finding that the message does not always get through on print. Today, the emphasis is on radio and TV — but these skills are unfamiliar to most people. Since it is not possible for them simply to start a radio station, we are here to help them produce and present programmes.” The diversity of the 85 regular paying groups ($lO4 an hour) using 2SER-FM’s facilities is typical of the richly cosmopolitan flavour of Sydney. They include the Aboriginal Education Council, Art Gallery of N.S.W., Croats, Serbs, Poles, the Latin America Group, the Association for International Cooperation and Disarmament, Jewish students, the British Council, the Ethnic Community Council, Friends of the Earth, Gay Radio Collective, Henry Doubleday Research Association Ideas Centre, Museum of Indigenous Recording Labels, Natural Health Society, Saint Sava Association, Teilhard de Chardin Association,

Women's Radio Group, and Youth Hostels Association. There is broadcasting input from six countries: NewZealand is not among them. In addition to paid programming. grants, and sponsored programmes, some stations receive financial assistance from subscribers. Sydney's classical music public radio station, 2MBS-FM, operated by the Music Broadcasting’ Society of New South Wales, has about 5000 subscribers. Each pays S3O annually, and receives a well-presented monthly programme magazine. The station is run almost entirely by elderly volunteers. The atmosphere there must be unlike that of any other radio station in the world. The telephone receptionist who greeted me was a delightful. casually-clad, grey-haired gentleman’ a retired accountant who also looks after the station’s books. Beethoven’s “Choral” Symphony flooded the building, and serene superannuitants, with smiles born of total satisfaction with life, scurried by on their myriad tasks. For the first time in my life I was really envious of the retired. “It’s like piloting thick custard through a fog, running this place,” says the station manager, Peter Carrodus, one of the two paid staff members. “We are the social experiment that • should not work, but it does — and it’s

because of the dedication of the volunteers. "Everyone is here for a purpose — music; sharing the music they love with the people of Sydney. Working in a radio station comes second." Station 2MBS-FM started on a shoestring, thanks to the ingenuity of its technical members. The transmitter, put together and built by volunteers, cost $7OOO. Carrodus estimates the normal purchase price would be about $50,000. The new $25,000 antenna has circular polarity. Again, because it was built in a backyard by volunteers, the actual cost was also $7OOO, “If you have a band of people who are qualified, you can save enormously.’’ Carrodus says. “The $lOO,OOO talked about by the New Zealand Government for FM station equipment would be for a Rolls Royce station." The transmission problems of 2SER-FM are relevant to the future of FM in this country. Although the station had initially requested IOkW operating power. ■it was given IkW. The low power levels were due to the Department of Post and TeleCommunications' fear of interference to existing television services as its aerial was not situated in the same general area as the television towers (i.e. co-sited).‘ It was only after protracted negotiations with the department, and finally the Minister. Mr Tony Staley, that 2SER-FM was allowed to increase its power to 4kW. “Our experience contributed to a major Ministerial statement on broadcasting philosophy — that technical considerations should be the servant of broadcasters and not their master,” Keith Jackson says. “Though pretty uncontroversial and self-evi-dent — a truism, in fact — the department is now accepting it.”