That’s not an SCA style email signature. The wording also doesn’t sound all that professional or understanding of the process. It sounds more like a member of the public, possibly someone involved with one of the community stations. The email signature does indicate a business email, but it could just be a member of the public using their work email.
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Reading the investigation report by the ACMA . Its a pretty open and shut case, as soon as I saw a very broad music format including 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s and today along with sport, interviews, live hosted programs, weather and news, i was thinking this is not narrowcast.
If you study each of the recent narrowcast investigations, where the ACMA found against the narrowcaster, there is a common thread, too many programming elements mixed together.
Narrowcast radio is really like theme radio, you gotta keep to a theme and if you are unsure of what the theme is, i would say you are no longer narrowcast.
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The only aspect about the investigation that concerned me, was that ACMA was listening to the station’s online stream, other investigations ive seen involve the ACMA reviewing the stations website, social media or interviews on soundcloud, in my opinion this is inappropriate as ACMA do not regulate media on the internet.
I understand the ACMA may be only using this information to get a sense/feel of what the radio station is about, however ACMA should limit their investigation to what content has been broadcast to air on a broadcast services band (bsb) frequency, nothing else. Otherwise, the ACMA is leaving itself open by relying on information that is outside their jurisdiction.
But in this case and others, I think the ACMA have made the right call.
The BSA sets the groundrules regarding the type of service (i.e. commercial, community, narrowcast, national, etc) that is allowed on a particular licence and from the ACMA’s perspective, depending on the licence you have, you are restricted by the rules of that licence type: for example:
Community Radio - not more than 5 minutes of sponsorship per hour / open access for volunteers, run by association, detailed renewal process, etc
Versus…
Narrowcast Radio - niche programming, religious, racing, tourist info, specialist music, privately owned/operated, etc.
Each operator needs to stay in their lane, its as simple as that!
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I doubt whether ACMA field staff could be bothered going to Orange. Though they could have a lavish Christmas party at one of the many high end restaurants there, and get more than a little tipsy on the cool climate vinos. At our expense, natch.
I agree that material posted online is complementary to the material being broadcast and thus should be outside the scope of the investigation. There will come a point though when the BSB frequency is merely used as an adjunct to the (broader reaching) online content…indeed this is already happening with some narrowcasters. Where then should the regulatory burden lie?
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Im not suggesting the ACMA visit Orange, as every broadcaster is required to keep a record of broadcast (for instance, audio recording of what has gone to air). This is what the ACMA would ask for, from previous investigations, they have asked for a bunch of timeslots to get an overview of the programming on a narrowcast service (eg, Monday 6am to 9am, Tuesday 9am to midday, Thursday 4pm to 7pm, Saturday 6pm to 9pm. Etc).
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I certainly agree regarding the strategy of using the BSB signal as a tool to reach people to sell them on your digital platforms (e.g. mobile apps, online stream, satellite, social media, etc). As you suggest, many narrowcasters already appear to be building a digital distribution ecosystem built on top of their analog BSB frequencies, with the digital platforms mostly outside of ACMAs regulatory reach.
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When reading the CRA complaint regarding FAB FM, the whole thing stinks of the analogy of Payless Shoes having a shop open on the town mall. I open an independent shoe store, and the larger Payless Shoes chain complain that I’m actually selling shoes, or, how dare I sell, or have exactly the same product in stock. This is absolutely rotten to the core. Department of fair trading instruct me to remove all my shoe stock and tell me I can only sell socks, otherwise they’ll close me down. The “no compete” law gone into absolutely lunacy overdrive.
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Just read another cracker of a report from ACMA regarding CRA’s complaint toward One Central West, so much of it so ridiculous. I’ve just made a FOI request for the original SCA letter of complaint, looking forward to another intriguing read. Even the most hardened cinics of what I’m saying here holds a huge degree of absurdity. If two 3,000w commercial radio stations in Orange feel threatened enough by a 1w LPON, to the point of complaining to ACMA, where is the boldness for ACMA to tell SCA to go and “get a life”.
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I agree, if SCA and others cant compete against a 1 watt LPON, how can they compete against internet streaming coming at them like a freight train.
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Does it actually say anywhere that tue complaint in Orange came from CRA or SCA? Quite often complaints about station me like this which are closer to a community format come from a community station or narrowcaster, who stand to lose much more in the fight for very limited advertising spends on non-commercial stations.
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The Broadcasting Services Act gives ACMA quite the opposite you’ll find.
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But there should be a balance. The BSA was written in 1992, the media landscape is very different now.
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Does anyone know the name of the LPON on 87.8 FM currently being heard the Sydney area whilst Radio Austral is off air? It’s been playing Christmas Carols for ages & no identification announcements. Could this be 2KA? I’ve no idea. I can’t access the 2KA stream. There might be another station under 87.8 but I can’t decipher content.
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That’s “2KA”, however the Richmond service is running a different program (Christmas Music no IDs) to the Katoomba service (Classic hits and Christmas Music with IDs).
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The Christmas music has gone from 87.8 and now it’s playing Top 40/Dance with no IDs.
The signal is now stereo but weaker.
Maybe it’s a precursor for the relaunch of Noise FM? They have a website stating they play dance and broadcast on 87.8 but it streams different content.
Sad Starter FM Noises 
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Yes receiving it at my location, some competition for RAW fm?
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I assume this is the Richmond/Kurrajong Heights transmitter you’re referring to?
Good point. Yes I wonder too.
Also re 87.8 Radio Austral I noted on two occasions in the last 12 hours where they were on low power, before back to full power, not sure if a fault or due to work at transmitter site. As I now type it’s back to full power.
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According to ACMA Site locator, 87.8 is Bowen Mountain.
87.8 cannot be used at Kurrajong Heights because of River on 87.6, and the Seventh Day Dentist’s on 88.0.
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It comes from North Richmond, I believe, they also have increased power again and still without IDs.
Never get a tooth cavity on a Saturday 
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That is gold (filling)
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