Interview with Loretta Hart, 94.7 The Pulse

LORETTA HART, HOST: As we celebrate 50 years of community radio in Australia, we're featuring women doing great things in the sector and those making an impact on it. One such woman is my next guest, someone who is a champion for all things community broadcasting, the Honourable Michelle Rowland, Minister for Communications. Welcome to the program.

MICHELLE ROWLAND, MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS: Great to be with you. 

HART:  And we've also been joined by Libby Coker in the studio as well, our Federal Member for Corangamite. Welcome, Libby.

LIBBY COKER, FEDERAL MEMBER FOR CORANGAMITE: Welcome to you too. It's great to be with you.

HART: And look, I can’t go past that we actually got our station manager. Leo. Leo, welcome back from long service leave.

LEO RENKIN, 94.7 STATION MANAGER: Thank you, Loretta. It's been a very entertaining first day.

HART: Absolutely. So, Michelle, you know, we know that the Labor Government introduced community radio back in the ‘70s. Can you share with us the importance of community broadcasting and radio, what- the importance it holds for the Government of today?

ROWLAND: It's absolutely an essential part of our media ecosystem, and I think it is opportune to reflect when Gough Whitlam started community broadcasting 50 years ago, it was referred to as experimental. So this was a step into the unknown about what can be done with this very valuable resource we call spectrum. I think it was one of the wisest moves that's been made in communications regulation in this country, because where community broadcasting fits in in this whole ecosystem is it provides the heavy lifting that's been done on media diversity. We are one of the most concentrated media ownership markets in the world, and to have hundreds of community broadcasters right around Australia serving localism, supported by volunteers, having connections with community.

I'm really privileged to be here, just seeing the connections that you have with individuals, with community, how you reflect the local area. You try and think of another media format that can do that. You can't. You can’t do it on a digital platform. You can't do it in a profit making commercial broadcasting sense. It's done through people who want to make a difference. Meeting Marwa, earlier from Syria, one of your stars. Clearly, that's been life changing for her and she's found a place here. I just think that says it all. It says everything about community broadcasting, community radio. It really does bring people together. Congratulations to The Pulse for clearly doing it so well. You really are the epitome of why we support this sector.

HART:  Thank you so much. You used the word experimental, and I know we're 50 years on, but I would say it still feels experimental. We have this opportunity to bring in new voices, to try new things to be nimble, which is such an exciting place for us to be. I'm wondering, Michelle, you know, as we move into this on demand lifestyle, I watch everything these days on - when it suits me on the TV, people are into their podcasts. Where do you see community radio fitting into this on demand space?

ROWLAND: I think community radio is going to continue to innovate. Everyone thought radio was going to die with the advent of the iPod and then the iPhone, but community radio has really still found its place. You can find the app; you can listen to it anywhere you want. We've introduced a prominence framework in Australia as well to make local content easier to find. I think that the sector will continue to adapt, and I think it does it through two ways. Firstly, it is that local element, but it also is able to connect. It’s two-way. It's not television. It's two-way. When you have those personalities that are able to engage, continue to innovate through innovations like podcasting. Podcasting is one of those things, you know, it took off a few years ago, as did- we saw it with the ABC developing iView to have a library. Community broadcasting is doing the same thing, and it's that kind of innovation that is going to keep it strong. But the key thing here, I'm sure Libby will agree, you need people. You need people, which goes to the whole reason why we're doing the first really deep sustainability dive into the sector. You can't operate for profit, but sponsorships are harder to come by. Volunteerism is on the decline, that's just a fact. So we've got to look at new ways of support, and you've got to be able to attract people to be part of this. You're doing it so well here. I could tell as soon as I walked in - you're very lucky, Libby, to be representing such a special electorate.

COKER: Yeah. Thanks, Michelle. I'm very fond of The Pulse. It's been a place where people can come together and it fills a unique niche in this region. We have commercial radio, but we are also quite limited in our range of media. So if you want to have an in-depth interview on an issue, you really need to come to The Pulse to do that. I wish you all the best, and hope you continue to go from strength to strength and be here for another 50 years. It's an impressive effort.

HART:  Thank you, Libby. We will hold you to helping us.

COKER: Yes, I know you will.

LEO RENKIN CO-HOST: Just one thing that we haven't really mentioned is the people who go on from the community radio station as well. Like we have Stefan, who's gone back to Serbia and now presents TV over there. We also have Michelle Rimmer, you might see who’s an ABC reporter over in the UK - they all get their start somewhere like here. It's very important because most commercial stations and there's very limited opportunities at the ABC to get experience, and without it, there would be a lot of people who couldn't go on and make a career out of radio. I think it's one of the most underrated, important things that happen, not only radio, TV they go onto as well.

HART: Couldn't agree more.

RENKIN: Yeah. That's part of I think that thing is getting harder and harder to get experience, particularly for people in the media. I think that's one of the things that we often forget about. You know, coming to a place like we've spoken about Marwa this morning, coming to a place where you can then get a chance to go ahead and do those things in media. Without it, as you mentioned before, it's not a very diverse sector in the media field.

ROWLAND: I think it's great that people who are in community broadcasting, like Rove McManus, you know, he got his start on community TV. They go on to great things. But we also want them to stay.

RENKIN: Exactly.

ROWLAND: To nurture others as well. So it becomes a virtuous cycle.

RENKIN: That’s right. They get picked very quickly, yeah.

HART:  That's right. I keep telling Marwa not to be so good because SBS is going to find her. She's our most downloaded program and does an amazing job for her community. But I think that's right. I mean, and we're really proud of the links that we're making with Deakin to support young journalists, students, and those in communications and marketing to come in. I want to give a shout out we had a young man, Cooper Watkins. Cooper came and did an eight-week intro to broadcasting program with us. Just on the weekend, he hosted an hour program with three interviews, and then on Monday, did six interviews for a two-hour program. And he’s just finished his journalism degree. But he is eager to get his hands on these buttons, to get behind the microphone and to get experience.

So you're right, Leo. I think that whilst we can have diverse voices, we can have underrepresented stories being given some air, but we're also a training ground. But you're right, Michelle, we want people to stay as well. Yeah.

RENKIN: I've got Loretta chained to the desk actually.

[Laughter]

I think one of the underrated things about community radio is, like we've seen this morning, a diverse group of people coming together, and I think that's very important for social cohesion as well. We often think of everyone in the community being different, but a place where they can come together and be different is a very special thing to have.

ROWLAND: Couldn't agree more.

HART:  Michelle, just lastly, what can we look forward to- as community broadcasters, what can we look forward to the Albanese Government supporting and providing in this space?

ROWLAND: Well, I want to reiterate that this is a government that doesn't just say we support community broadcasting. We've backed that up with $23 million in funding. We want to continue to make sure that this sector remains strong. The first Bill I actually presented to the Parliament as Minister was on community broadcasting to help ease some of that regulatory burden. We have the sustainability review that's being finalised by my Department now. I think it's been really important to go out and to consult with the sector about what their needs are. When that comes through, I'm sure it will have some really practical suggestions in there for reform.

But as Libby will tell you too, you know, we want to be judged on our delivery. It’s really something to be able to go to- I've lost count of how many community radio stations I've been to or have been on around Australia. But I want to be clear to your listeners. We're a Government of delivery. We're not afraid of the hard reforms. There are hard things happening in the media at the moment. This sector is under great challenge through the multinational digital platforms, under great stress through just the transition as well. It's not the advertising market that it used to be. It is hard. There has to be that adaptation across mainstream media, but also by every part of the ecosystem, including community and just discussions today. This is an area that's not without its challenges, even here in Geelong.

But I can give you this commitment that we want to follow through on ensuring sustainability. We are going to have to make some hard decisions. But you can be assured that with good people like Libby backing you up in the Parliament as well, I think that this is a universally supported sector. It's one that actually goes right across the aisle. You get people from regional areas and from metro areas who do support community radio. So I think that the proposals that we will put up, I'm confident that they'll have strong support. There’s always a need to do more. Let's be clear. I want to do expectations management. There's always a need to do more. With hundreds of community radio stations across Australia with so many thousands of volunteers, we do have to remember I think come back to first principles. This is the fourth estate. It's about making sure that authentic Australian voices, entertainment, and news get out there. We're in an era of mis- and disinformation that is harmful to our democracy. This fourth estate that you support here is the front row of that fight against it. That's one of the key reasons why I'm so passionate about it.

RENKIN: Can I just add to that, Loretta?

HART: Yeah, well, you can, but you've got 30 seconds.

RENKIN: Sorry, 30 seconds. We found in COVID that we did have enormous amount of people come to us from different ethnic groups and want us to promote the vaccination programs and things that were going on because the only information they were referring to was online stuff, information from their own country. So for example, they were getting information from Croatia about what was going on, and then trying to think that was what was going to go on in Australia. Well, it was completely wrong. So we had some of our presenters come in and say, we have to get this message out, we have to get this message out. I think that's one of the things that we- you know, when you said before about being the fourth pillar, I suppose, is that we can provide information from local community groups and for the local community groups, the best thing they know is word of mouth. And if it comes from one of the representatives, and then-

ROWLAND: They trust. 

RENKIN: They trust, exactly.

HART:  They do indeed. It's been a very fantastic conversation this morning. Thanks so much to Leo. Thanks very much to Libby Coker. And also thanks so much, Michelle, for being here, our Federal Minister for Communications. It's been wonderful to have you in the studio with us.

ROWLAND: Absolute pleasure.

COKER: Thank you.