Radio Adelaide broadcasters, staff and volunteers will hear tomorrow about the station’s future.
The University of Adelaide will announce its decision about transferring the community broadcast license to another organisation, after spending a month considering submissions from various organisations that would like to take over the station.
Four organisations are believed to have made submissions to take over the licence.
Last month, Bruce Lines, the Chief Operations Officer at University of Adelaide told radioinfo:
“I can say we were quite pleased with the number of parties who stepped forward. They come with various backgrounds and interests. They are all open to pursuing ongoing discussions. Some have a track record with community radio… We will then go into negotiation with the parties by the end of January, so we can make an announcement then”.
On December 14 the university announced a surprise decision to off-load the station much more quickly than anticipated (only a few weeks), and in response over 6000 people signed a petition to pressure the university to pull back from that position. Neither campaign appears to have been successful in changing the university’s approach.
The Save Radio Adelaide campaign has told radioinfo:
Naturally, Radio Adelaide broadcasters will need time to consider the implications for the station community when the University’s decision is revealed to us. We ask our supporters, the media and commentators to consider the University’s announcement in the light of this and we will provide a considered response as soon as possible.
Radio Adelaide broadcasters have been living with an uncertain future since the University gave notice in November 2014 that it was selling the station’s home at 228 North Terrace…
Despite this overwhelming message from the public, the University chose an option not presented: to negotiate with existing organisations to take over the licence.
Meanwhile, time is running out to relocate Radio Adelaide before the demolition of 228 North Terrace begins on July 1.