Director of regional and local Judith Whelan spoke to ABC Mornings radio host Virginia Trioli and said the broadcast costs the ABC approximately $1m, primarily in the cost of setting up a studio in the host city. She called the decision ‘incredibly difficult’ and said the broadcaster hadn’t taken it lightly.
“The vast majority of that cost is the staging of the commentary. We have to set up a seperate broadcast centre in the host city and staff that with commentators, producers, technicians,” said Whelan.
Trioli said the decision may put the ABC in ‘flagrant breach of the ABC charter’. Whelan agreed that the decision was less than ideal, but said given the current budget concerns, it was one that had to be made.
I can’t see how. Sport and the Olympic Games are not mentioned in the charter. The Olympics are news relevant to Australia and ABC Radio will be covering it as news. The charter section of the ABC Act:
http://www7.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/cth/consol_act/abca1983361/s6.html
She would say that. Without bothering to actually have it checked.
Guess it depends how broadly or narrowly you define the S6(1)(a)(i) requirement for the ABC to broadcast “…programs that contribute to a sense of national identity…”
Giving it a broad definition is the only way I could see covering the Olympics coming under the charter
Simon Lauder, formerly of ABC Melb and ABC Current Affairs (AM, World Today, PM etc) is on a treechange, hosting breakfast in Bega for ABC SE NSW.
Due to Port Macquarie working around the clock on emergency broadcasting, the Fiona Wyllie hosted Statewide Drive from there is otherwise engaged.
Simon and his production team, including Adriane Reardon as producer (missed the name of the other producer) have been presenting great radio. Simon’s experience in Melbourne is evident in the content choice, the interview talent origin gives the clue.
Simon has ruffled feathers of a local pollie too:
Finishing on a comedic note, the 1630 cross to the BoM had meteorologist ‘Zewan Park’ (unsure of spelling) on the other end of the phone.
What made his cross interesting was his voice, a striking similarity to UK actor, William Tomomori Fukuda Sharpe. I once sat through an episode of the UK tragi-comedy Flowers and his voice was strikingly similar.
2 Likes
From the article…
By Thursday afternoon, there were no mentions of #turnoffabcsoutheast on Twitter, Facebook or Google.
What a classic 
1 Like
Was listening on the car radio earlier and came across 96.1 in Melbourne. Very patchy reception but it appeared to be a slightly delayed (about 10 seconds) relay of 774. Not sure where this was coming from. I checked ABC’s reception page but couldn’t find any reference to it, but the station had “ABC Radio Melbourne” promos and IDs and Raf Epstein’s drive time show. Any ideas where this FM signal is coming from?
1 Like
That would be their Warburton translator, which launched in October 2017.
3 Likes
Thanks for that. That didn’t come up on my google either. I couldn’t see it on ABC’s reception page but maybe because it’s a self funded transmitter ABC doesn’t list it
Site is on Mount Donna Buang. The delay is because the transmitter is fed off-air via DAB+, and so doesn’t carry any of the sports coverage that airs on 774 AM
5 Likes
Smart setup. Love it.
Strange use of a picture of a giant tower somewhere in Europe by the look of it!
Wonder why the station isn’t listed in the ACMA “book”? It should be.
2 Likes
Think @Vidiot is referring to the this book (which, I might add, is nigh on impossible to find on the new ACMA site): October 2019 Radio and Television Broadcasting Stations Book (Internet Edition) (PDF)
The repeater is listed there however, 200 W and vertically polarised. The Apollo Bay repeater (callsign 3ABCRR) is also listed, 200 W omni-directional
4 Likes
Thanks Australian Aerial. That was the book I was referring to. It isn’t listed in older editions (earlier this year) for some reason. But it is there now. Thanks for finding that.
And agreed. The new ACMA site is so hard to navigate to find things like that now. Grrrrr.
3 Likes
Sounds cheap if you ask me.
Obviously means residents there have to rely on Grandstand Digital if it’s available for sports coverage such as AFL.
I would have preferred a direct 774 relay.
1 Like
I doubt dab+ signal would make it out there in the hills and valleys. Raf Epstein explained today that digital services will always carry more bushfire updates as there’s a mandated point that they break into cricket coverage as agreed between the emergency agencies and the ABC. Perhaps this is why this repeater signal uses the digital feed.
2 Likes
That doesn’t make sense to me.
Why - with something critical like that - would they restrict it to digital only where’s there’s a lot fewer people listening than there is on AM in general? Particularly in regional areas.
2 Likes
Not sure if it applies to regionals, he possible explained it better than I did.
3 Likes