Is Community Radio in Australia Flatlining?

Community Radio has always a been a healthy if not thriving sector in Australia - a rather rare occurrence since most wealthy western countries haven't managed to support a third tier of broadcasting.

So it was with much sadness that I read plans for 2SER in Sydney to abolish its talks coordinator  - with questions over how news and current affairs on the station can be maintained without a producer.

If you have had any experience as a journalist in Sydney you'll know that since the station began in 1979, it's trained many investigative journalists and many have gone on to do very well, often ending up as ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) correspondents.

That training doesn't happen by osmosis - having a dedicated talks coordinator who can teach concrete skills is vital - otherwise it's very hard to hone your abilities. Journalism and broadcasting rarely comes naturally - it's a learnt skill.

Broadcast journalism can be a closed shop to many budding reporters - quite often jobs don't happen unless you know someone. That's especially true in Sydney. 2ser offers the space for anyone from any background, with many connections or none, to learn to be a skilled journalist and use that to break ground into the mainstream. If 2ser stops investing in journalism I'm not sure who will be left to train the young-ins!

2ser has been in financial strife for some time and with FBI - another community radio station - starting up in the last decade it has lost listeners. The two universities who fund the station often look great in reports that identify the stations as excellent social capital assets - but sadly the kudos Macquarie University and UTS get (the two universities that co-own the broadcast licence), doesn't translate into increased funding.

You might say one station can't keep training the journalists of Sydney when no one pays it to do that. Fair enough. But each of the above universities have thriving communications and media courses and its students often find their way to the radio station to gain the practical training that just can not be taught in one course with 3 hours a week of face time.

With 12 staff positions it does seem strange to choose to abolish the one position that allowed 2ser to differentiate itself from the other stations it competes with. The station is keeping its music producer, so the decision is leading many to believe that talks on 2ser will eventually suffer from a huge loss in quality and therefore will lead to a reason to scrap them altogether - maybe just keeping a short breakfast or drive program if that.

With no one to steer the ship it can get very scary out there.

Here's hoping 2ser sees the light - and if not - the ABC and other broadcasters are going to have to quadruple their cadetship programs because young journos won't be getting their training in Sydney community radio no more.

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