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Friday, May 21, 2010
New Zealand Budget 2010 Radio Funding Review : Public Radio Funding 'Holds the Line' whilst Commercial Radio Adjusts to Recession
Radio Heritage Foundation
www.radioheritage.net
New Zealand Budget 2010 Radio Funding Review
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Public Radio Funding 'Holds the Line' whilst Commercial Radio Adjusts to Recession
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Publicly funded radio broadcasters in New Zealand have essentially
had their funding frozen in the latest government budget for
2010/2011 announced in Wellington yesterday.
New Zealand On Air, the main funding authority has seen its budget
remain the same. It's total budget is NZ$126.9m [US$84.4m] and
includes TV, radio, archiving and new media responsibilities.
It funds Radio New Zealand, community radio stations, the National
Pacific Radio Trust [NPRT] and a small amount of contestable hours
for commercial radio.
Radio New Zealand is again funded to produce 17,520 hours of radio
programs in 2010/2011, which is the same as two x 24 hour networks
across the year. It is likely to continue to operate its RNZ
National and RNZ Concert services and maintain its AM and FM coverage
with this funding.
Fourteen existing community access radio stations and the NPRT will
be bulk funded, but like Radio NZ, they'll also have to meet
increases in operating costs [such as the increase in the Goods &
Services Tax [GST] rate to 15% from October 1, salaries, rentals,
energy] from within existing allocations.
This will put pressure on creativity to find new income sources, such
as finding more sponsorship partners, increasing the paid membership
base for the access stations, or increasing charges to program makers
and holding back on capital expenditure such as new facilities.
NPRT operates the Niu FM Network, Niu FM 103.8 [Auckland] and 531pi
[Auckland] and its budget is frozen at NZ$3m [[US$2m] with each
station funded for 24 hour operation and an increase in the number of
hours broadcasting in at least 9 Pacific languages.
In addition, funding for the nationwide network of Iwi [Maori
language] radio stations has been frozen at NZ$11.34m [US$7.54m] to
provide for 60,000 hours of Maori language and cultural radio
programs. There are currently 21 iwi radio stations.
Meanwhile, New Zealand's international shortwave broadcaster to the
Pacific, Radio NZ International [RNZI] sees its funding also frozen
at NZ$1.9m [US$1.26m] for continued delivery of 16 hours of quality
reception level of its programs to a minimum of 11 Pacific nations.
According to the Radio Heritage Foundation, the funding levels will
challenge all publicly funded broadcasters. However, no public
broadcasters are expected to reduce or remove existing services
although there may be more music programs and less spoken word
documentaries and current affairs programs.
The two major commercial radio networks in New Zealand [Radioworks
and The Radio Network] have already faced declines in advertising
revenue, and rationalized some local services with increased
networking hours and closure of marginal stations to cope with the
ongoing recession.
Another network operator [Rhema Broadcasting Group] relies heavily on
membership dues and donations and has seen its donation income drop
considerably in the past year.
New Zealand private and commercial broadcasters are also faced with
20 year licence renewals scheduled in 2011, over 250 FM frequency
changes currently underway, and increased competition from new local
commercial stations and online streaming of radio stations from
overseas.
Digital broadcasting has been tested but is unlikely to be introduced
within the near future.
Like the publicly funded broadcasters, private commercial radio in
New Zealand also faces increased costs from the GST increase,
pressure on salaries and operating costs and has the added challenge
of reduced advertising expenditure.
The Radio Heritage Foundation is a registered non-profit organization
connecting popular culture, nostalgia and radio heritage across the
Pacific. Its global website www.radioheritage.net offers free
community access to Pacific Radio Guides and other valuable
resources. Annual supporter packages start at US$10 and online
advertising rates are now available.
New Zealand Budget 2010: RNZI (Radio New Zealand International) Funding Frozen
Radio Heritage Foundation
www.radioheritage.net
New Zealand Budget 2010
Radio New Zealand International Funding Frozen
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Radio New Zealand International [RNZI], the country's shortwave
broadcaster receives no additional funding in the latest government
budget for 2010/2011 announced in Wellington yesterday.
Funding remains at NZ$1.9m [US$1.26m] and it's required to deliver 16
hours of good quality reception daily to a minimum of 11 Pacific
nations with one 100kW analog transmitter installed in 1990 and one
100kW digital capable transmitter installed in 2005.
The primary coverage nations it's funded for are French Polynesia,
Cook Islands, Tokelau, American Samoa, Samoa, Niue, Tonga, Wallis and
Futuna, Fiji, Tuvalu, New Caledonia and Vanuatu.
The secondary coverage nations are Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea,
Nauru and Kiribati, whilst general coverage must be provided to the
Asia/Pacific and Pacific Rim region including the Federated States of
Micronesia, Marshall Islands and Palau.
In addition, RNZI must increase the number of Pacific radio stations
relaying or rebroadcasting its news bulletins to 18 and is permiited
a maximum 1% of transmission time lost from equipment failure.
The Radio Heritage Foundation welcomes the continued funding of RNZI
as recognition by the government that it provides a valuable service
for New Zealand's interests in the Pacific.
'At a time when many shortwave broadcasters face budget cuts and
complete closedown of services, this continued confidence in RNZI's
ability to deliver a quality service with a bare-bones budget is
tribute to the extreme dedication to duty and pragmatism of the
entire RNZI team" says chairman David Ricquish.
RNZI provides valuable cyclone, extreme weather watch and tsunami
warnings for the entire South Pacific region. It also provides local
FM quality news, information and other programs for rebroadcast on a
growing number of local Pacific island radio stations.
"With Fiji in media censorship lockdown and media freedoms poorly
understood in many of the target nations, RNZI provides local
listeners with a respected and valuable news source from a Pacific
perspective" adds Ricquish.
"Every week, thousands of New Zealanders are on holiday, on business
visits or working and living in the Pacific and RNZI provides a
valuable service for their continued safety."
"To maintain this security, RNZI should also be urgently capital
funded for a replacement of the 20 year old analog transmitter with
another high power digital capable shortwave transmitter sooner
rather than later" says Ricquish.
Catastrophic RNZI transmitter failure co-inciding with natural
disasters or sudden political events and instability in the region
could threaten the lives of New Zealanders and New Zealand's security
and commercial interests.
Radio Heritage Foundation is a registered non-profit organization
connecting popular culture, nostalgia and radio heritage across the
Pacific. It's global website www.radioheritage.net offers free
community access to Pacific Radio Guides and other valuable
resources. Annual supporter packages start at US$10 and online
advertising rates are now available.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Logs from South Asia - Middle East MW, SW from Africa - Djibouti, Uganda, Botswana, Sao tome[São Tomé]
Thanks & Regards,
Partha Sarathi Goswami
Siliguri – 734001
Dist. Darjeeling,
West Bengal
INDIA
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Saturday, May 08, 2010
RTI Plus Winners
The following listeners will receive a souvenir from RTI. They include:
* Martin Gallas
* Terry Robinson
* Ashanti Region
* Charles Wompiah
* Chris Larkosh
* Sandhya Yadav
* Rajdeep Das
* John Rutledge
* A. K. M. Nuruzzaman,[ Rajshahi, Bangladesh ]
* Swopan Chakdroborty, [Kolkata India]
* Aspak Ahammed Chaudhury
* Helmut Matt
* Panha Pen
* Ejaz Ahmad
* Samsun Islan Mou , [ Rajshahi, Bangladesh ]
* M.N. Sentu , [ Rajshahi, Bangladesh ]
* Mark F. Tattenbaum
* T. Elampooranan
* Deepa Chakraborty
* Jaydeep Chakrabarty
* P. Pravathi Ramana Rao
* Jayanta Chakrabarty ,India
* Agide Melloni
* Anil Tamrakar
* Cam Archbold
* Salahuddin Ibrahim
* Samson Manohar
* Aaron Tiu
* Ashik Eqbal Tokon [ Rajshahi, Bangladesh ]
* Christer Brunstrom
* Kanchan kr. Chatterjee
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
New Australian Radio Guide :: radioheritage.net
Radio Heritage Foundation
www.radioheritage.net
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Australian AM Radio 1611-1701
Italian, Country, Arabic, Greek and Gold
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Almost 70 low power stations are now broadcasting in Australia's
expanded AM radio dial almost two decades after the new channels
became available says the Radio Heritage Foundation which has just
updated a contemporary guide to them at www.radioheritage.net.
Originally populated by ethnic broadcasters and niche formats, the
situation remains little unchanged in 2010 as attempts to bring the
low cost extra frequencies into mainstream media have largely failed
to materialize.
Existing commercial broadcasters saw these licences as a dangerously
cheap back door into digital broadcasting and lobbied strongly to
exclude 1611-1701 AM stations from digital entitlements. Coupled with
poor availability of AM radios able to tune to the new frequencies,
attempts by commercial aspirants like Radio 2 to establish economics
of scale and a nationwide network collapsed.
In 2010, the major players on air are Rete Italia [part of the
Italian Media publishing and media group], The Goanna [a fledgling
country music network co-owned with 2ME an Arabic language station],
Smart Group's Hot Country from Queensland, whilst small footholds in
the band have been claimed by 3ABN and Queensland based Christian
network Vision FM.
A small cluster of independent stations air a variation on the 'Gold'
music format of 1960's hits popular with babyboomers, two Greek
language stations compete for listeners in Sydney, and a handful of
other stations serve ethnic markets for Chinese, Hindi, Arabic,
Islamic and Lebanese Christian audiences.
A large number of licences held in the 1611-1701 AM band have
remained silent for many years and are unlikely to ever come on air.
The Radio Heritage Foundation has released a detailed list of
Australian stations currently operating in the 1611-1701 AM band
together with analysis of this fascinating and little known
broadcasting landscape.
It's currently available as a downloadable Word document at
www.radioheritage.net and will be updated regularly.
____________________________________________________
Radio Heritage Foundation is a registered non-profit organization
connecting popular culture, nostalgia and radio heritage across the
Pacific. The global website is www.radioheritage.net and all content
is available free. Annual supporter packages starting at US$10 and
online advertising rates are now available. Donations welcomed via
PAYPAL.
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