A group of current affairs producers and presenters spoke about their programs and gave interviewing tips during the CBAA Conference in Melbourne.

Lisa Daniel, the host and producer of Word for Word (Joy FM), Jiselle Hannah, the host and producer of Acccent on Women (3CR) and Anthony Dockrill, producer of Fourth Estate (2SER) gave tips on interviewing within the communtiy radio sector.

James Cridland begun his presentation to the CBAA Conference with a history of radio and technology changes, and debunked the myth that video, and all the other new technologies, killed the radio star.

“As you might have guessed, radio is still large… it was not killed by those technologies.

“Radio is very big, we sometimes forget that.  65% of audio we put into our ears is live radio.

“Podcasting is only 8% despite all the public relations coverage it gets.”

At the CBAA Conference Abe Killian and Ian Gunn introduced the Collaborative News Network for community broadcasters.

The new system, funded by a special government grant, will link community radio stations with newsrooms together to share content, and will offer the combined content of the community sector’s news activities to smaller stations which do not have the resrouces to make their own bulletins.

“If we share our work we can use the slim resources we have to make better bulletins and increase your audience,” said Killian.

ACMA Authority Member James Cameron spoke about the regulator's recent consultation on the Future of Radio at today's CBAA Conference.

“Changes in media have prompted us to ask the question how best the future of radio can be facilitated. It was a fact gathering exercise…”

Some of the things the ACMA has learnt from the consultancy so far are:

The annual Community Bradcasting Association Conference has begun in Melbourne with a series of pre-conference workshops and a welcome drinks function (pictured).

Friday and Saturday will see a range of speakers featured, including Peter Greste and the lead singer of Weddings Parties Anything. The full schedule is below.

The conference is being held at the Pullman on the Park, near the MCG in Melbourne.

While CRA has reported a 10.2% dip in advertising for commercial metropolitan stations, and then SCA advising sharholders of an expected revenue drop across their radio and TV networks, some community radio stations in drought affected areas are now really beginning to feel the pinch.

The Commercial Radio sector has criticised the Community Broadcasting sector in its submission to the ACMA's Future of Radio consultation, for the overuse of temporary licences (TCBLs).

The community broadcasting sector says it is an ACMA resource issue.

In its submission, CRA says:

The CBAA is offering two Scholarships valued at almost $1,200 each for community radio station representatives to attend the CBAA Conference 2019, from 24 - 27 October in Melbourne.
 
Scholarships provide invaluable opportunities for under-resourced stations, volunteers and staff to attend the CBAA Conference to learn, network, share knowledge and participate in discussions to which they wouldn't otherwise be exposed.