Commercial Radio has a history of trying to get out of its local content quotas, and its latest attempts have been rewarded with a new commercial radio code of practice exempting any obligations to play Australian music on digital radio.
As Music NSW points out, “Aussie music has been bumped for ‘experimental’ radio such as 24 hour Pink and/ or Gaga.” This, according to the Australian Communications and Media Authority, is justified because “in these early days of digital radio, licensees should be afforded the opportunity to experiment with programming formats”.
They have previously said that “the imposition of Australian music quotas on new digital-only channels would prevent licensees from providing a wide range of new and diverse programming and hence would defeat one of the Government’s key broadcasting policy objectives”.
It’s not clear that the big commercial radio stations have “diverse programming” at the top of their agenda, but they seem to like the idea of Austereo’s temporary stations Radio Gaga (Lady Gaga), Pink Radio (Pink), and High Voltage Radio (AC/DC) which are dedicated to a single artist.
Amrap’s manager Chris Johnson asks: “Do ACMA and CRA seriously believe that devoting a radio station to advertise a single American pop star is a legitimate and innovative use of Australia’s radio spectrum?” They have launched a spoof, Midnight Gaga Radio, that plays a mash-up of Midnight Oil’s Beds Are Burning and Lady Gaga’s Poker Face.
Click here for non-stop Midnight Gaga.
There are still provisions for minimum levels of Australian content on radio in the Code of Practice:
- Mainstream Rock / Album Oriented Rock / Contemporary Hits / Top 40 / Alternative = no less than 25%
- Hot/Mainstream Adult Contemporary / Country / Classic Rock = no less than 20%
- Soft Adult Contemporary / Hits & Memories / Gold -encompassing Classic Hits / Hip Hop = no less than 15%
These quotas are within the framework which claims to encourage “new and diverse programming”, but even these levels do not apply to Digital Radio.
Want to read more?
- There’s an article by Music NSW
- The MCA’s letter to Commercial Radio Australia from March 2010
- And an article by AMRAP
- You can also read the Code of Practice
Written by Masso
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