Despite a strong campaign to ‘Save Radio Adelaide’ it seems increasingly likely that the University of Adelaide will cut the station adrift from university ownership and re-form its ownership structure under a different business entity.
For those who are not up to date with what is going on, here’s the story so far:
- The University sold the building that houses Radio Adelaide and told the station that it would find it a new location.
- Over many months there had been discussions to try and find new premises.
- At the same time a review took place to provide options to the University about the future of the station.
- A few weeks ago the focus changed away from the new building issue to the overall cost of running the station and the recommendations of the review. Submissions responding to the review were called.
- Fearing that the review signalled defunding of the station, a campaign was conducted to #SaveRadAd.
- Catch up with our previous coverage here.
- The University this week issued a statement saying it has identified “several organisations” that are “well positioned” to take over Radio Adelaide
Who are those organisations?
Bruce Lines, the Chief Operations Officer at University of Adelaide has 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 have an expression of interest form on the website [submissions due by Christmas Eve]. We will then go into negotiation with the parties by the end of January, so we can make an announcement then”.
What are the next steps?
“It is clear that the University will claim an interest in some way, maybe with a director on the board. We want students to still have access to the station. You can give the students experience in the classroom, but really there’s nothing like being on air.”
Will the new licence owners be acceptable to ACMA?
Speculation is rife in Adelaide radio industry circles about just who those “other parties” are.
Could it be a sub-metro licencee with infrastructure and an already existing community radio operating business entity?
Could it be a community business, a broadcast group within Radio Adelaide or a production company? Or is there another business entity inside the university that is waiting to take over the operating licence?
While the information remains confidential, the answers to these questions will remain unknown unless somebody comes forward to declare their interest publicly.
Meanwhile station staff have tweeted about their confusion with the way the process has been handled and the #SaveRadAd campaign continues on social media.
the same thing happened to 2 NCR in Lismore - one of Australia's oldest community stations. Southern Cross University pulled out. The station continued on campus, but was then shifted to an off-campus location. If the inevitable happens and RA is split from the Uni, it will need to maximize revenue and can perhaps start by securing key sponsorship supporters now while it has some media profile, backed up by making the best programs