Emergency Radio Broadcasting in Australia

Radio, Print, and Online
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ABC Emergency Broadcasting

The ABC is helping prepare communities for an increase in fire and weather activity during the spring and summer months with an emergency information campaign across radio, online and social media.

The campaign coincides with Red Cross Emergency Ready Week which runs from 18 – 24 September.

With above average temperatures forecast in the coming months, the ABC campaign provides important information on how to prepare for an extreme weather event.

Audiences will be reminded of the ABC’s role as an emergency broadcaster and the support it provides to affected communities.

This includes the ABC Emergency website, which has important information including:

  • How to prepare for bushfires, floods, storms, cyclones and heatwaves.
  • Easy to follow guides on packing an emergency survival kit and safeguarding your home.
  • A link to set your local ABC Radio station in ABC Listen and find your nearest radio frequency.
  • An interactive incident map aggregating information from key emergency and support services, including rural and regional fire services, state emergency services and the Bureau of Meteorology. This allows users to check emergency events in their area as well as in other locations around the country.

The Bureau of Meteorology predicts higher chances of above average temperatures and below average rainfall for almost the entire country over the coming months.

ABC Director News Justin Stevens said people should start their preparations today.

“Visit the ABC Emergency website today to prepare your emergency plan so you know what to do, where to go and who to contact when extreme weather strikes,” he said

“Know your local ABC Radio station and rest assured that the ABC will be here for you in an emergency.”

The ABC recently expanded its EB team, which now operates 365 days a year and has members based around the country. Every summer the team expands to meet the increased demand and this year we have the biggest team ever.

Emergency broadcasting generally begins when there is a threat to life or property.

The ABC is also in discussions with our partners for fire mitigation strategies around transmission towers and is investing in portable satellite terminals for news crews to ensure audiences can be kept updated in the event of infrastructure damage.

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ABC Gippsland breaking into networked programs to cover bushfire alerts across the region.

Rolling coverage from 1pm - as of 4pm have reverted to updates every 30 minutes.

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What are people’s thoughts on the new vs old ABC Emergency Information theme?

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I prefer the old

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What does it sound like?

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The 3 ABC tones and then the VO.

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612 ABC Brisbane giving emergency updates (including SEWS) on the Mt French fire every 20-30 mins this afternoon.

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Heard the siren, most impressed. Good coverage of the fire.

4BC would’ve had minimal coverage as, disappointing as Nine had run promos saying 4BC the station for emergencies.

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Triple M & Hit Cairns (and Hit Mareeba) simulcasting at current and have been since shortly after 3 this afternoon. CD Smithy covering on air (presumably from Townsville).

Star 102.7 also running local in nights with Stu. 4CA sticking with the 20/20 Retro Countdown - updates on (with SEWS) as of 9pm local.

4KZ & 4AM also running updates

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Hit network afternoons announcer Harry continuing to cover across all three SCA stations until 6am before local breakfast takes over. Good to see SCA using the Townsville hub for this - helps spread the workload around (especially since we know how thin staff on the ground are now)

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Far North Queensland stations again into emergency coverage following the intense storms across the region.

Hit103.5 & 99.5 Triple M Cairns and Hit97.9 Atherton/Mareeba opted out of network earlier this morning, currently coming from Townsville. Harry Boucher announcing on Hit, CD Smithy on Triple M.

Star 102.7 live and local with CD Stu Tolan. Down the hall, 4CA seem to be asleep at the wheel with usual Sunday night best-ofs.

ABC Far North and ABC North Queensland are simulcasting, Adam Stephen anchoring at present.

Update - Hit and Triple M now simulcasting as of 7pm. Elliott Lovejoy anchoring.

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4KZ and 4AM should be all over it. As the last bastion of fairly independent local commercial radio, this is their time to shine.

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Listening to the ABC Far North Coverage. It’s excellent.

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Adam Stephen continuing until 11pm AEST.

Rolling coverage back on from 5am with Susan Graham-Ryan.

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Rolling coverage on ABC Far North continuing with Phil Brandel (Cairns based) hosting.

Reports read out on air that 95.5 (Cairns North) transmitter is offline, nothing on the ABC reception site regarding this.

EDIT: Annie Gaffney (Sunshine Coast based) taking over coverage at midday AEST. And rolling coverage also simulcast onto ABC North Queensland (Townsville and broader region, presumably because this covers the Ingham area which is also experiencing major flooding).

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Your post made me turn on 4AM. Nothing live. Voice tracked shift, clearly done in advance, makes no mention of the emergency, encouraging people to go Christmas shopping. No mention of station ID - most likely so it could be shared on 4KZ.

Hillariously, while talking about Christmas shopping the announcer urges listeners to “if you’re thinking of buying jewellery, consider buying it from one of the jewelers who advertises on this station”. No mention of who the jeweler might be. Generic radio at it’s best. It could have been played on any station in the country, and while it still would have sounded awkward on every single one of them, it would have been just as relevant.

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My god, don’t you know how vital that jewellery shopping is to the 4AM audience? That is the emergency for them, bugger the weather, they’ll steam through it in their old Land Rover or Cruiser.

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ABC Radio Brisbane and Southern Queensland broadcast the SEWS just after 10pm news tonight, for a ‘very dangerous’ storm the BoM is warning is going through the Lockyer Valley at the moment.

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For the region, it was a late and very strong storm.

Thanks @glen2006 for your observations.

I was at a late dinner with friends and here’s the warning from after 11pm:

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After last night’s Gold Coast storms there isn’t a lot of news on local radio this morning. ABC 91.7 is coming from Melbourne. The SCA news is networked though they do manage to have surf/beach reports.

Edit: Gold MMM had segment covering the damage with Paul Burt from Seven.

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