Australia’s network of more than 450 community radio stations has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, as sponsorship drops and volunteers are forced to work from home.
The Institute is providing funding to the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) to enable it to provide its National Radio News service free of charge for six months.
Currently more than 80 stations pay a subscription fee for the service, which reaches about 1.3 million listeners a week.
Making the service free will provide cost-relief to these stations and will also enable many more to access it. It will give the news service a total potential reach of 5.8 million listeners a week.
