Broad hopes for community radio

Facing closure, Sydney’s arts-focused community radio station Fbi 94.5FM, is hoping Richard Branston will shout them a quick million.

“We thought given you know a thing or two about music, radio and enjoy the odd stunt, we could appeal to your philanthropic side.’ Writes Fbi, in an open letter to Branston. It comes as part of the new ‘Ask Richard’ campaign, where listeners are invited to ask Richard Branston to donate $1,000,000 to the station, with the chance of winning themselves $50,000 in the process.

Despite steady growth in audience share since it was founded in 2003, the recession has taken its toll on Fbi. With decreasing donations from supporters and the withdrawl of major sponsors, the station can no longer cover its costs, 93 per cent of which are fixed.

“Community broadcasters always live on the edge financially. Sydney’s a tough town for community radio to survive in; there’s not the same sort of love and appreciation as in Melbourne,” said Michele Bawden, General Manager of the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia.

“Part of it’s about community awareness, people think that we get a lot of money from the government, but for most broadcasters it’s less than five per cent of their income,” said Bawden.

Some support was offered in last week’s federal budget, with $2.5 million dollars over four years allocated to management and broadcast training for community broadcasters, but operational costs remain a concern.

“ People think that because we’ve go this new building now, that we’ve got all this money, but we’re pretty much in the same boat as always. We don’t have much money but we’re just rolling along the same as we have for the past fifteen years,” said Mark Ross, Program Director of Sydney’s indigenous broadcaster Koori Radio, 93.7FM.

The establishment of a new in-house record label, in partnership with Universal Music and the ABC, has helped attract support.

“We’re seeing more sponsors I suppose because we’re becoming more mainstream thanks to the record label, and getting more listeners,” said Ross.

More mainstream, commercial radio in Sydney has seen a slight dip in revenue this year, but it remains profitable. Data from Commercial Radio Australia reveals that $643.6 million in advertising revenue was generated by metropolitan commercial stations in 2008, which is just a drop of 0.1 per cent off the $644.5 million they made in the 2007 calendar year.