Community Access Media Alliance


The Community Access Media Alliance , also known as the Access Radio Network, is a group of twelve New Zealand community radio media organisations. The stations were established between 1981 and 2010 and have received government funding since 1989 to broadcast community programming and provide facilities, training and on-air time for individuals and community groups to produce programming.
In addition to government funding conditions, the stations also have an individual and collective mandate to broadcast programmes for people of a wide range of particular religions, cultures, languages, ages and sexualities. Stations operate independently and locally, with each station expected to make decisions on programming and scheduling by internal consensus. In total, they produce content in at least 40 different languages.
The member stations currently serve Auckland, Waikato, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay, Manawatū, Wairarapa, Kāpiti, Wellington, Nelson, Canterbury, Otago and Southland.
Some community stations have powerful frequencies, while others are low-power stations with a small local reach.

History

Establishment

The stations of the Access Radio Network were established between 1981 and 2010:
  • April 1981: Wellington Access Radio
  • March 1986: Arrow FM Wairarapa
  • 1987: Planet FM Auckland
  • 28 February 1988: Plains FM Canterbury
  • 1990: Otago Access Radio
  • 1992: Free FM Hamilton
  • 1992: Radio Southland
  • 1994: Fresh FM Nelson
  • 1995: Radio Hawke's Bay
  • 1996: Coast Access Radio
  • 1998: Manawatū People's Radio
  • 2010: Access Radio Taranaki
The association was set up in the early 1990s following a meeting between community station managers and New Zealand on Air officials in Wellington. It was the first opportunity many station managers had to meet each other and share the challenges each station had faced, including operating on limited resources, relying on volunteer support, serving diverse communities or operating from remote locations.

Funding

In 1989, the Broadcasting Act set up the Broadcasting Commission - known publicly as New Zealand On Air - to fund New Zealand content for both mainstream and minority audiences. Funding of access radio has always been a part of that function, and the ongoing funding of the Association member stations remains a core component of the commission's Community Broadcasting Strategy. A government funding pool of approximately $2 million is now allocated annually for the eleven stations to produce programming for women, youth, children, ethnic and other minorities and people with disabilities in accordance with section 36 of the Broadcasting Act.
Individual station funding is allocated on a four-tier system based on audience reach, with each station receiving between $110,000 and $220,000 in annual, contestable and publicly transparent funding rounds. Auckland's Planet FM is in the highest-funded Tier One; and Free FM Hamilton, Wellington Access Radio and Plans FM Canterbury are Tier Two. Radio Kidnappers in Hawke's Bay, Access Manawatu, Fresh FM in Nelson, Otago Access Radio and Radio Southland are Tier 3; and Arrow FM in Wairarapa and Coast Access FM in Kapiti are on the lowest-funded Tier 4.

National operations

The association has established itself as the national lobbying and resourcing organisation of community radio stations and aims to promote, develop, foster and support the community access model. It is affiliated with and emulates the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia and the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters but has no domestic affiliations. Instead, it has become a self-support network, allowing the stations to share resources and ideas.
Each year, the association holds an annual general meeting at a member station and appoints a chair, secretary and treasury with each station allocated a single vote every year. The association has remained non-profit and consensus-driven, with discussions taking place in face-to-face meetings, teleconferences and via email. However, while the association can introduce policies, it cannot dictate the content of individual community radio stations.

Awards

Community stations have picked up several awards at the annual New Zealand Radio Awards since community radio stations were allowed into the event in 1993. The first awards went to Wellington Access for Terry Shaw's Songwriting Show and John E. Joyce's Basically Speaking and This is Jazz USA. Later winners have included Viva Latinoamerica, Jazz Bros, Like Minds Like Mine, Six Degrees Music Show and Candela.
Fresh FM music programme The World of Leopold Bloom - the work of Leopold Bloom and Matt Budd - has received more radio awards and finalist placings than other community radio show. In 2014, a Leopold Bloom tribute special on Nelson Mandela and the music of South Africa won best community access programme, and the South Africa New Zealand Association Mandela Memorial Programme on Planet FM won best spoken programme.
Edward Swift won best new broadcaster in 2010 for his work on the morning show Plains FM and has since gone on to work for Newstalk ZB and Radio Sport. Plains FM has also picked up awards for Sounds Catholic, A Belch on Sport, Japanese Downunder, Joanna Cobley's The Museum Detective, Tim's Talk and Janet Secker's Focus On Arts. A station staff member Naoko Kudo was recognised in 2008 by sister access station Fresh FM at their Fresh FM Vox Radio Audio Theatre Award for Aki's Adventures Downunder.

Programmes

Most Access Radio Network programmes are English-language. However, the metro stations broadcast many Chinese, Hindi, Samoan, Tokeluan and Tongan language programmes. Nationally, there are a handful of programmes in Assyrian, Burmese, Chichewa, Gujarati, Indonesian, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Nepali, Persian, Filipino, Sinhala, Somali, Tagalog, Tamil, Urdu and Vietnamese languages - mostly on Planet FM. Some Pacific community programmes are broadcast in Cook Islands Māori, Niuean and Fijian. There are also programmes for European migrants and language learners in Croatian, French, German, Greek, Italian, Polish, Russian and Spanish.

Music

The stations broadcast a wide range of specialist Scottish, jazz, blues, metal, brass, hip-hop, Latin and country music shows. Free FM Hamilton has shows for Asian pop, rock, bluegrass, electronic, vocal, reggae and garage punk. Otago Access Radio has experimental, pop, indie, vinyl, Afrocaribbean, jazz, stage and screen, Māori, German and women's music programmes, and a show dedicated to the work of Michael Jackson.
Otago's Less Signal programme is an hour of experimental music, noise, free improvisation, drone and musique concrète; talking with local practitioners, aficionados and promoters and highlighting performances and releases. The band the Futurians claim the show was one of the first to interview them and play their music.

Arts

Some programmes review arts, books, film, poetry and visual arts, while others focus on local artists in Southland, Otago, Canterbury, the Kāpiti Coast, Hawke's Bay and Waikato. Nelson Arts Festival, Nelson Evolve Festival, Nelson Village Theatre, Dunedin Botanic Gardens, Dunedin Public Libraries, The Globe Theatre Palmerston North and Meeanee Earthcare Gardenshare also have their own radio shows.
Crime writer Vanda Symon hosts a writing show on Otago Access Radio sponsored by the Otago branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors. It has featured interviews with local authors like Fiona Farrell and Philip Temple through to international authors like Diana Gabaldon and Annie Proulx. Former Workers Party of New Zealand candidate Don Franks presents a show of his original music and commentary on Access Radio Wellington.

Culture

Members of Otago's Chinese, Italian, Samoan and Japanese communities, Canterbury's English community, Wellington's Japanese and Jewish communities, Manawatu's Irish, Russian and Bhutanese communities, and Hawke's Bay's Dutch community host shows. Access Radio Wellington, Coast Access Radio, Access Manawatu and Free FM Hamilton have shows on gay, lesbian and transgender issues, while Plains FM Canterbury has a shown about men's issues.
Otago Access Radio features of a raft of local youth shows about comedy, online personalities, multiculturalism, children's stories, music and leaving school. Aoraki Polytechnic, Otago University, Otago Girls' High School, Kaikorai Valley College, Queens High School, Kāpiti College and several primary schools have their own shows. Several young people also host programmes about news, celebrities, social justice, sports, health, teen issues, worker rights and motherhood. The Great Big Kids Show with Suzy Cato airs at various times on Free FM, Access Radio Taranaki, Fresh FM, Plains FM, Otago Access Radio and Radio Southland.

Religion

The Access Radio Network has Eckankar, Baháʼí, Buddhist, spiritualism, New Age, spirituality, meditation and interfaith programmes, and shows dedicated to Maitreya, Sai Baba and Ching Hai. With Rhema Media reaching evangelical Christian audiences and Radio New Zealand Concert featuring traditional Christian hymns, access stations serve other Christian audiences through specialist Catholic, Chinese Christian, Christian Science, Reformed Church, Gospel music, Greek Orthodox, Hindi Christian, Samoan Baptist, Wesley Methodist, Bible and ecumenical programmes.
Radio Kidnappers volunteer Charles Herb Peterson has received a Hastings Civic Honour Award for his Sunday night Christian programme At Close of Day. Broadcasting since April 1995 and partially sponsored by the Salvation Army, the show includes contemporary and alternative music, Christian commentary and devotional messages.

Current affairs

programmes like Today in Parliament and A Week in Parliament are fully funded by the New Zealand Parliament and available for access radio stations to broadcast free-of-charge. Many others purchase broadcast rights to BBC World Service, Women's International Newsgathering Service and Democracy Now! programmes through community sponsorship.
Free FM, Radio Kidnappers, Access Manawatu, Coast Access Radio and Otago Access Radio have programmes dedicated to Parliamentary and council politics, and Otago Access Radio and Access Radio Wellington have weekly shows on women's issues. There are local shows for Nawton, Hutt City, Golden Bay and North-East Dunedin.
Several politicians, like Labour MP Iain Lees-Galloway, New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball, Palmerston North mayor Grant Smith, and Palmerston North city councillor Vaughan Dennison host their own shows. Access Manawatu has a show about setting up start-ups, Free FM has a men's rights programme, Otago Access Radio has a show about creating homes without domestic violence, and Massey University academic Cat Pausé presented a show about fat feminism and acceptance.