History

In the 1960s, Australia's social, political and cultural landscape began to change and people wanted the Australian media, in turn, to reflect these changes. Many specialist groups, including ethnic and Indigenous communities, political activists, students, academics and classical music consumers, began to lobby for their own radio broadcasting licenses. This community radio movement was an important force in the birth of community radio and remains a vibrant force in the Australian media today.

In the 1970s, the Australian Government made a number of community broadcasting licenses available, establishing what it called the ‘third tier’ of radio. This meant that now there was a third kind of radio station operating in Australia as well as the existing commercial and government-funded stations.

From April 1973, Community Radio 2XX FM was simply known as a radio station established by students to broadcast to university halls, colleges, the University Union and University house, with a system of landlines had taken up residence and was initially housed in the eastern ancillary area of the Drill Hall. It was here that the beginnings of the uni radio started morphing into community radio 2XX (FM 98.3).

In 1975, the Council of Social Services, Council of Cultural Societies, ethnic communities and university students in the ACT started a new community organisation called 2XX and in 1976 the university radio became Radio 2XX and Australia's first broad-based community radio service. 

This was a special era for students. Students could be ‘full-time activists and part-time students’ by virtue of the quaint philosophy of free education which still lingered from the Whitlam years. Students were able to receive living expenses from the Tertiary Education Allowance Scheme. (The amount of money wasn’t too exorbitant however; students used to joke about dropping out of uni and going on the dole). As a result of this kind of freedom from financial pressures, there was a kind of community spirit on campus which today’s students often hear about. Students were more optimistic about what they could do to save the world – that there could be a system that was not based on greed. They were fired by a kind of energy and activism that grew out of a vision about what they could achieve as a community.

Groups as varied as Ethnic and Indigenous communities, academics, students, political activists and classical music buffs were looking for avenues to make the media serve and reflect their interests. And they all saw a model of broadcasting which was not restricted by commercial interests or the whims of government as a way to do it.

2XX FM is one of Australia’s longest running community radio stations, one which other stations look to as an example of what can be achieved in community media. Over the years 2XX has also fostered a vibrant music culture in the ACT through concerts, live recordings as well as providing a voice for grass-roots activists, ethnic and community groups and progressive movements. With 2XX focusing on new and up-coming artists its significance, therefore, embodied in the fabric of Canberra and cemented its place as an important feature of Canberra’s social and cultural life and a response that resonates in the community.

The long association of Community Radio 2XX with the Drill Hall came to an end on the 17th December 1999 when Radio 2XX moved to premises in Bunda Street. During this time it celebrated two changes of frequency, a multi-track recording studio and one burned-down transmitter!

In 2000 the station moved into converted studios at the Griffin Centre on Bunda Street in the heart of the city it also changed the broadcast frequency to 98.3 MHz FM but it lost its recording studio -Studio 3, however it endeavored to continue with its outdoor broadcasts and activities in the community which included a regular presence at the Gorman House Markets, a street live-to-air broadcast on the pavement outside the Bunda Street Studios; an event for all indigenous students who are scattered through-out the ACT and surrounding region school system during Reconciliation Week which was held at Boomanulla Oval by in conjunction with Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Service and various indigenous facilities through-out Canberra and the surrounding region. 

2XX FM also had the fortunate occurrence of having a working party from the Thai Senate travel across from Asia to study, learn from and table a model of the inner workings of community radio which they tailored from their findings of 2XX FM and have successfully implemented into their own system and cultural endeavors and are currently utilizing to this day.

In 2005 Broadcast Australia took 2XX FM off-air for 24hrs however the positives outcomes that were produced from this is that Senator Kate Lundy brought awareness to and expressed concern about the community radio funding model and was very keen to see how it can improve and make the sort of infrastructure and facility more affordable for community radio; it also brought focus from ABC TV’s program Stateline and in one week 2XX accrued approx $30,000 in donations firmly concreting 2XX’s place in the landscape of community radio in Canberra. Soon after, after a lot of hard work verifying its ongoing value, 2XX were successful in being approved for and included in the move across to the new Griffin Centre premises where yet again a new chapter began.

During this time, 2XX established a new partnership with the National Folk Festival and have been one of the main live-to-air broadcasters of the festival for the past 3 years. And at the end of 2007 Sylvie Stern together with Vic Rebikoff (former Senior Advisor of The Office of Multicultural Affairs) and with support from the Board, were victorious in being awarded $70,000 for the re-fit of the 2XX FM studios with new up-dated equipment. Kimmo Vennonen, Bruce Lemin and Brian Sudding of Sudzset Set Design worked on the design and installation of the re-fit. The studios were launched in July 2008 by John Hargreaves MLA Minister for Multicultural Affairs.

2XX continue to produce and facilitate new and diverse programs (the soccer show, story-time for the little ones and a show/portal for carer’s) alongside the tried and tested existing programs to its brief for the listening audience to benefit and enjoy a dynamic listening plethora of radio, relevant to the changing community.

Community Radio 2XX FM offers the listening public access to a more diverse range of music, information, news and views than would otherwise be available from commercial or government-based stations. It also provides communities with locally-produced content that is immediately relevant to their daily lives. It allows individuals and community groups to participate in producing their own programs and to maintain their local culture. It also fulfils an important role in providing basic media training for our local community per quarterly. 2XX FM encourages participation in all aspects of running a radio station from scheduling and producing programs to administration and fundraising.

2XX is a non-profit, which means that any money they make from the service we provide goes back into the station. Community radio stations receive government funding through the Community Broadcasting Foundation which was established in 1984 as an independent, non-profit funding body for community broadcasting in Australia.

Community Radio 2XX FM is limited in how we can use advertising or sponsorship to raise funds as all stations must follow the standard Code of Practice. The Code guides all Australian community stations in their operations and helps them maintain a community focus.

Many community stations rely on subscribers who can also donate money toward the station's running costs as well as to help raise money to pay for day-to-day expenses. And in return we provide music and on-air giveaways plus a discount card to meet your social needs. As well as donations and subscriptions 2XX rely government funding, philanthropic support to stay on air. There is a lot of choice 2XX FM. The people who work in community radio stations are mostly volunteers. They work in radio for many reasons: because they believe that the information that they present is important; because they want to develop the skills associated with radio production; or just because working in radio is fun. Until the 1970s all radio stations were either commercial companies or run by the Government. Community radio is about a diversity of people volunteering time and thought to give you great radio.

The purpose of community radio often will provide a voice for communities to address issues relevant to their local areas and their lives. The station also provides training opportunities so that people can learn what is involved in all aspects of radio production. Being that we define ourselves as a community radio station means that we play a wide range of music and information programs to promote culture and to educate the wider community.
In the early 1990s ethnic broadcasting at 2XX started with ½ an hour per week per language program. Approximately 25 different language groups participated, and some are still broadcasting at 2XX today. Multicultural broadcasters contribute one third of air time towards the whole station.

2XX FM is mostly present when things are most active in the community. Highlights in our history include the anti-apartheid campaign in 1984 when 2XX was part of the demonstrations outside the old South African embassy, and part of the response to racists' fire-bombing of the South African Liberation Centre. 2XX also served as the media centre for the Aboriginal community's bicentennial protest group and was instrumental in the campaign against the Gulf War in Canberra."

With community access striving to create an alternative style of broadcasting, the twin notions of access and participation have been high on the list of priorities for Community Radio 2XX. These have come to be seen as the essential criteria that differentiates the station’s style of broadcasting and represent so many community orientated ideas. 

2XX provides a voice for grass-roots activists, ethnic and community groups, and progressive movements and the role of the alternative media is critical. It provides information and analysis.
You can provide people with plenty of raw information, but often it just leaves them feeling helpless. Alternative media can provide an analysis of what's going on and give ideas about how to act and change things. The sort of alternative viewpoints and analysis of what's happening in our society just aren't available on the mainstream media, which is where freedom of speech steps into place.
So in order to get other ideas heard it's a really important role for locally-owned, locally-controlled independent community radio.

Community Radio exists:

• to make broadcasting accessible to individuals and sections of the community seeking access, particularly those who do not obtain access to other media

• to expand meaningful programming choice to satisfy a wide diversity of needs and interests of listeners, whether numerous or not

• to enable community organisations to own, operate and control their own independent broadcasting services, thereby diversifying control of the media  

Nowhere else world wide, has such a strong independent sector arisen where established commercially operated and state stations were already in existence.  It is a service for the community by the community, whether it offers a mix of programs for many different tastes and interests, or a range of programming with a particular broad interest in common.

It serves, providing access for groups and individuals within that community of interest to make programs and participate in station management and formulation of station policy. Community radio is also an extraordinarily diverse medium. It often covers aspects that the mass media overlooks. Where else can you listen to many different musical genres from all over the world, special interest programs, community information, news and current affairs and many different language programs all on the same day? And 2XX represents over 200 community groups and individuals. We broadcast in many different languages, and from under-represented groups.

The distinguishing feature of the community radio sector is the relationship between the station and the community

Rove McManus, Andrew Denton, and Roy and HG all started out in community radio, an invaluable experience. Many volunteers from 2XX have gone on to paid employment as radio announcers at the ABC, JJJ, and commercial radio or work as professional sound producers, promoters and journalists.

Industries allied with the community radio sector include:

• Journalism
• Music
• Literature
• Drama
• Tourism
• Sport
• Children - stories and information
• Community networks
• Sound engineering
• Multimedia

Volunteers bring expertise from their own lives and contribute to the exchange of information, work practices and possibilities for growth.

Community radio is a unique medium. Apart from its obvious role as broadcaster of entertainment, it acts as an extensive personal and portable information system. It can respond quickly and well to local needs and events. It can talk about its own community, reflecting the personalities and interests of its people. It can program for specific audiences, rather than aim to be all things to all people, or to serve only the lowest common denominator.

Community radio allows for the more personal, humanised expression that is tied in with broadcasting news and events and issues that are relevant to each centre of population so therefore through its media outlets . One person, or a small team, can conceive, write, produce, engineer, perform and deliver a product exactly as they envisioned, and receive direct and often immediate feedback from their listening audience. Few opportunities exist for that kind of expression anywhere else in the media.
Community radio is a powerful means by which people can communicate both common and
diverse values and experiences, and so learn about their culture and about themselves.

There is a symbiotic relationship between broadcasting and culture. We try to harbour and create a continuing, creative partnership with writers, performers, musicians and producers across Canberra and the surrounding region, and therefore contribute a shared enterprise with our audience.

By
S. Stern

 

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