The community youth radio station where the community youths had no say
A youth community radio station in Coffs Harbour NSW has been found guilty of breaching its licence conditions – because it wouldn’t let youths from the community have a say in its running.
The finding from the Australian Communications and Media Authority said that 2CHY “breached a condition of its licence by failing to encourage community participation”.
According to ACMA: “The investigation found that 2CHY did not offer opportunities for members of the youth community to participate in the selection of programs and decision-making forums, including annual general meetings and subcommittees. In addition, aspects of 2CHY’s constitution and confusion over membership types and fees discouraged community participation in the station.”
ACMA stepped in after a complaint about the licence owner Community Media CHY Ltd. The owner has now agreeed to have a committee with representatives from the youth community and to encourage greater particpation.
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This isn’t a surprising outcome. 10 years ago 2CHY fancied itself as a low cost commercial venture rather a community broadcaster, I’m glad to see that they’ve finally been taken to task over it.
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Now if they’d only look at 2NUR in Newcastle; a university-funded station that employs ex-commercial jocks like Todd Seargent, David Cochrane, John Slaven et al and deliberately plays only “soft easy favourites” through the day. There is very little public input there as well.
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