The ABC will focus on the communities most affected by the ongoing bushfires as part of its 2020 Australia Day coverage while emergency broadcasting will remain at the core of its service for those communities still under threat from bushfires. 

It wasn't a great survey for ABC Local Radio - except for Adelaide’s 891.

With 11.4 percent share of the audience in that market it holds down second place overall while number one in Breakfast with Matthew Abraham and David Bevan on a 16.6 share. It’s not a bad effort for an AM station in an FM music leaning town.

In the more talk oriented markets of Sydney and Melbourne, ABC’s 702 and 774 have, until recently with a few odd surveys notwithstanding, held a mortgage on second place behind 2GB and 3AW respectively.

ABC Managing Director Michelle Guthrie will introduce changes to ABC Local Radio's brand and approach in a speech at the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne tonight.

In  a memo to staff from the Director of ABC Radio, Michael Mason said,

" We’ve put a lot of thought into revitalising the Local Radio brand to make sure it resonates for current and future audiences in the way they want it to.  A major development has been optimising the Local Radio websites for live and on-demand audio.  

With the 2016 programming year now fully underway, ABC Local Radio managers recently got together to plan priorities for the year ahead.
 
Chris Scaddan, the Acting Head of ABC Capital City Radio Group while Jeremy Millar is working on some special projects, has told radioinfo about some of the upcoming priorities.
 

Described as a “legacy broadcast” and “one of the most significant radio events we‘ll put to air this year,” ABC Local Radio will pay tribute to the career of one Australia's most loved and revered musicians, Archie Roach and mark the 25th anniversary release of his debut Charcoal Lane album.

Bureau of Meterology live crosses will not be heard on ABC Local Radio stations next week to ensure that messages about industrial action do not make it to the national broadcaster's airwaves.

ABC Local stations normally do regular live crosses to BoM reporters in breakfast shows, The Country Hour and many other timeslots, but will drop those segments over the next 7 days while the Bureau takes industrial action.

Melanie Tait will be the new presenter of Statewide Evenings on ABC Local Radio Tasmania.
 
A highly regarded broadcaster of depth and experience, Melanie’s career in radio has taken her all over the country and honed her consummate skills as a story teller.
 

Last Saturday morning ABC Radio networks RN and Local Radio Victoria joined forces to host an hour of live radio from the Virgin Mary Mosque at the Werribee Islamic Centre, Victoria in support of National Mosque Open Day.

Hosted by Drive presenters Waleed Aly from RN and 774’s Raf Epstein, the one hour program was broadcast state-wide on ABC Radio Victoria.

ABC Local Radio will deliver a special national broadcast of the 2014 ANZAC Day Dawn Service to commemorate the centenary of the First World War.

ABC broadcasters of Australian, New Zealand and Turkish decent will report live from Lone Pine, Gallipoli, anchored by ABC Radio broadcaster Richard Stubbs.

Richard has a deep personal and professional interest in the military - his grandfather was a stretcher bearer on the Western Front in WW1 and his father served in the Australian Navy on HMAS Macquarie.

Sian Gard has been named as the new Regional Content Manager and Breakfast presenter for ABC Gippsland.

Sian has a decade of experience with the ABC beginning with Local Radio in 2003 producing and presenting the Mornings program in Karratha, Western Australia. 

Since then Sian has lived and worked all over the country as well as produced national and international documentaries for television and presented programs to the Asia and Pacific region. More recently Sian has held production roles with Radio Australia and RN.