Canberra fires

During the devastating fires in Canberra last weekend, local radio stations dropped out of network programming to provide news and emergency service information to local listeners.

While the fire emergency in the ACT has now eased, areas of surrounding NSW and regional Victoria are still badly affected by fires.

January is normally a quiet time in Canberra as Parliament is not sitting and many public servants take holidays, so it is traditionally a time when media people also leave town. Those radio staff who were left in the capital found themselves working even harder than normal under emergency circumstances to provide coverage.

If you have information about what your station did during the Canberra bushfire emergency you can email it to radioinfo
for inclusion in this item.

666ABC

ABC Canberra Manager Liz McGrath, who returned from leave because of the fires, told radioinfo about the converage on her station:


666 ABC Canberra provided continuous & comprehensive
coverage from early Saturday afternoon to midnight and again on Sunday from 6am to 6pm. Our staff did (and continue to do) a fantastic job, many turning up &
ringing in to help. Much of the city is still on alert and/or without key services, so our coverage is continuing.

The station’s website guest book contains messages of thanks for the job done by 666, including: “Thanks for an absolutely fantastic job over the weekend. You were our lifeline and rock in the darkness and confusion. Julian Abbott on Saturday especially was a reassuring influence all afternoon and night. It was an effort completely above and beyond the call of duty. I am proud my taxes support such a community resource.”

And another comment: “Just wanted to say THANK YOU! for your courageous, informative and reassuring coverage of the bsuhfires in the Brindabellas and the ACT. Our farm is in the Mullion district and has been under threat for a week but Elvis and 666 ABC make us feel we aren’t facing it alone. You’re all heroes :)”
For other “ABC Guestbook” comments, click on link below.

FM104.7/Mix

Geoff Fisher, Program Director of Canberra FM Radio Pty Ltd told radioinfo:

“Both FM104.7 and MiX 106.3 have provided comprehensive coverage since the emergency arose. Interestingly, on Saturday night our stations were the only Canberra stations to remain live overnight (even the ABC were on relay from Sydney after 12 midnight). The phones were still running so hot we had people in answering phones for the announcers til after 2am, so the need was there! We’re maintaining 24 hour live programming til the whole emergency situation is over (again, the only stations to do it!).

We’re very proud of the coverage we gave, and I’m exceptionally proud of the amazing effort from all our staff who rallied together to give fantastic information to our listeners. It just shows what a great medium we have when there’s an emergency.”

2CC/2CA

Network Program Director of 2CC/2CA, Jason Costa told radioinfo about the station’s timeline of coverage:

“2pm Saturday January 18, 2003. The smoke had completely covered the
south of Canberra, as day was quickly turning into night. By 3pm Street
lights came on, as did car headlights. The eerie feeling was felt by
all Canberrans. What was going on?

Canberra’s Talk Radio 1206 2CC was the only station providing full
minute by minute coverage of the bushfire crisis, taking phone calls
from concerned listeners. Then, hearts dropped, as 2CC broadcast the
State of Emergency signal and began reading out suburbs in immediate
threat of the oncoming bushfire.

At 2CC, it was all hand on deck, as staff came back in on their days
off. The 2CC newsroom filled, now busier than a normal weekday
breakfast shift. On-air staff included Dan Mullins, Simon Robson, Dane
Svensen, Mike Jeffreys, Kane Bond, Mike Welsh. Producers Zoe Sanderson,
Matt Fossey, Francisco Meza, Tom Mullins and Kylie Johnson. Some, who
were already at work since 6am for their regular shift, remained on deck
to cover the oncoming disaster.

By 3pm, the situation was so dire, sister station 2CA flicked the
switch, and became 2CC to save on resources. Now 2CC was broadcasting
through 1206AM & now 1053AM, instantly doubling their audience. The
switchboard lit up, there were callers listening to program through both
frequencies. Every single line was in use. Every single caller
concerned over the emergency situation.

There was also concern for the lack of media advice. It seemed 2CC and
2CA were the only stations providing continual coverage and talk back.
One listener claimed to have called the ABC to say that Conder was burning, and
was asked “where’s Conder?”. The ABC switchboard had been diverted to
Sydney.

There was little television could do – as Prime and Ten had recently
ceased local news services, there was no one to call in to cover the
fires. WIN TV provided minimal updates, that hardly provided current
information. Canberrans needed to know what was happening, and what to
do. 2CC quickly became the only station providing up to date and
regular information.

By midnight, winds had eased, it appeared the worst was over. However,
I manned the stations live till news staff could return at 5am the next
morning.

2CC was back into into full coverage by 5:30am Sunday, and staff are
still working around the clock keeping Canberra up to date.

2CC Program Director and breakfast presenter Mike Jeffreys told radioinfo about his role:


“It’s been an extremely busy weekend, and is still very busy. Of course we have had all the emergency services personnel on, but we’ve done more than that. Radio is an important medium for reassurance during times like these. People have rung in to offer help to others via the radio, offering accommodation, food and money, and just a supportive voice. We have broadcast the offers and put people in touch with each other.

I came in early on Saturday morning, then was on-air 3-6pm and stayed until midnight working with the rest of the staff here to remain on local programming for the emergency. I left at midnight and was back the next morning at 5pm. Everyone else here was working long hours too. We still are. Today we took the John Laws program and he has also been doing a great job of keeping his huge network in touch with what is happening here, while still providing the information we need locally in that timeslot.

People have been ringing us to thank us for what we are doing – talk radio can help in a special way during times like this. We have passed on the messages of thanks to our owner Kevin Blyton, who can be very proud of his team.”


Arts Sound

Canberra community station ArtSound FM 92.7 was also directly affected by the fires as Program Manager Seth Jordan told radioinfo:

ArtSound FM, Canberra’s MBS affiliate station, was abruptly thrown off the
air at the height of the bushfires on Saturday evening, when power was cut
to their southern Canberra studios in Curtin, one of the bushfire affected
suburbs. Prior to that the station had regularly been updating listeners
with information from the ACT Emergency Services Bureau, as well as
directing listeners to ABC 666 for more detailed information. Power was finally fully restored to Curtin on Tuesday morning.

One of ArtSound’s veteran presenters, Clinton White, lost his family home in
the nearby suburb of Rivett during the fires, and a number of other ArtSound
volunteers living nearby were also affected.

ABC TV was due to begin their first Canberra based TV weekend news services next week,but they brought that forward to Saturday night due to the fire situation.

For information on the ACT fires see www.canberraconnect.act.gov.au

Other comments:


Hi RadioInfo,

Just thought I’d pass on what a great job the stations in Canberra did of covering the bushfires.
I’m from Queanbeyan and was down there for a family occasion when the whole situation blew up.

FM104.7 were on the case very early, the I switched to 2CC/2CA (as Mike Jefferies mentioned they simulcast 2CC on 2CA) and they too were very comprehensive, including abandoning Southern Cross News for their own bulletins.

Later I heard 666 ABC Canberra and they too did a great job.

I didn’t hear Mix, but being across the corridor from 104, I’m sure they shared resources and did an equally good job.

After criticism of how some stations covered Sydney bushfires, and having seen stations get stripped back to very little by management, it was heartening to hear a good performance from stations which would have had skeleton staff on a weekend.

Regards, Andy Maher


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I have a few friends in Canberra (who were in safe suburbs) and they were surprised at the good quality of the coverage on Kevin Blyton’s AM stations.

They aren’t radio people but from a listeners’ perspective found 2CC/2CA
to be better than usual. They are usually ABC listeners but tuned to 2CC
because they started their coverage first.

What I’d be interested in is the quality of bushfire coverage in the
smaller, less resourced markets like Cooma/Snowy Mtns, Wangaratta and if
the fires are in their market, Albury. These are stations which survive
on automation and networking.

Kind regards, Marcus Fitz-Gerald


**********

Listeners in other fire spots report that Albury’s 105.7 The River has been “doing a good job running with local coverage” and that Dave Robertson’s 3NE/Edge FM at Wangaratta has been on local programming during the fire emergency, “with journos and announcers talking directly to the emergency services on air.”