Further job cuts expected.
The ABC has closed its Adelaide sound library as part of plans to rationalise that area of operations. As reported in January here on radioinfo, the ABC plans to centralise its CD collection, cut music library staff, and eventually rationalise its vinyl record collections,
The closure came just days before the March South Australian state election, with reports suggesting that the eastward drift of ABC jobs away from South Australia over several years contributed to the decision.
Answers to questions on notice provided to South Australian Labor Senator Penny Wong reveal that the library was closed despite its headquarters being moved just last September at a cost of at least $20,000.
Until the recent closure of the Adelaide facility, the ABC maintained physical Sound Libraries comprising CDs and vinyl in each of the capital cities. The introduction of the Broadcast Music Bank enabled digital delivery of music as FLAC files to music programmers.
This service has replaced the physical loan of CDs, with content makers now able to access the content via their desktops and drag and drop files directly into their production and playout systems.
InDaily reports that the closure of the Adelaide sound library led to two staff members losing their jobs, with the loss of two or three further senior staff expected over the coming months. Thousands of items from the library are to be shipped to Melbourne and duplicates disposed of.
The ABC says there are no plans to do anything with its vinyl collection, which numbers about 373,000 across Australia, and there are no longer any library staff in Adelaide to oversee the collection.
Former ABC Adelaide sound librarian Andy McCarthy, who worked at the ABC for 33 years, said “It was depressing… like having to make preparations for your own funeral.
“It was a death of a thousand cuts, slowing moving Classic FM away from Adelaide. That (Classic FM) was basically the work of the sound library – you could see the writing was on the wall.”
Two points: Program distribution and caution on wholesale selling of surplus disks.
First:
While I feel sorry for people losing jobs at the at the ABC Adelaide, I hope that they may be deployed elsewhere within the organization. At the same time centralisation of program material began in 1986 with the deployment of the Aussat (now Optus) satellite. What used to be a duplication in each state of the distribution of TV program material is now distributed from Sydney with the appropriate time delays. One would have thought that music and spoken word CDs and LPs would have been digitized and stored in a central database much earlier than today (2018) and that any program maker anywhere would be able to retrieve the relevant file in a lossless format (*.wav, *.flac) for editing.
Two:
I don't like the wholesale removal of staff and resources. For staff, I don't like it when any business entity reduces staff numbers then later on recruits for staff to fill similar roles. Look for example at the ABC recruiting new journalists doing roles similar to the 'redundant' staff. It also happens with large accounting and law firms. For resources, be very careful that the library's CDs and LPs are not sold. I would not be surprised if there is material that is unique to Adelaide that if sold would not be added to the central repository of digital material.
Thank you,
Anthony of exciting Belfield NSW