On Jun 17, 1:12 pm, "australia.radio.broadcast.moderated -"
wrote:
isonliveradio.com said at the other place

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australia.radio.broadcast.moderatedhttp://groups.google.com/group/ausytaliaradiobroadcastingmoderated

Hunter broadcasters provided emergency information to the flood
stricken populace this weekend in Australia, but the natural disaster
exposed major
errors in the strategy of local commercial radio being used as a means
to help in such situations.

With a rapid drop in radio listening over the last decade, people not
accustomed to ever
turning on the radio spent the weekend glued to it desperately waiting
for important
announcements concerning their welfare.

Unfortunately, the local radio stations also had their usual
commercial considerations in
mind (after all regardless they have to pay the bills!) and this often
times interfered
with the clear transfer of important information. Very little change
was made to
programming to reflect the disaster happening in the region, it was
business as usual -
the flooding just gave presenters something else to talk about.

For example the need to drive listening numbers on Sunday in a lot of
ways contributed to the panic, with rumours of a body "floating in the
water at Morpeth" repeated hourly across every station, until silenced
by confirmation that it was just that - a rumour.

Stations advertised the beached ship incessantly, drawing crowds of
gawping ghouls into the CDB making the job of the SES and other
emergency services considerably more
difficult. Talk back callers spread much misinformation, which under
normal circumstances makes for fun rabble-rousing radio and good
ratings; in a disaster it just spreads fear and alarm.

In fact across Newcastle and Hunter radio the very real natural
disaster was treated very
much as a Media event and the attitude of some presenters was at times
so flippant as to be very offensive to many people who had lost
everything (indeed the socio-economic gap between radio talent and the
demographic they claim to be representative of was very
abruptly shown up). Much back-patting was engaged in by presenters
congratulating each
other on how they had valiantly announced through the crisis in the
studio, despite being paid to be there anyway.

It is quite clear that Commercial Radio (in Newcastle at least) is a
flippant entertainment medium, which under normal circumstances is
fine, but of little use in
times of natural disaster. Unless the ACMA is prepared to assume
control of local radio
services, or indeed hand such control over to the SES immediately
during such circumstances - a power they already have contained in
every type of broadcasting radio
license - other options should be considered. In particular the
establishment of the
recently aborted National emergency radio frequency.

Fortunately the flooding in Newcastle has subsided and the loss of
life has been limited to a few poor souls. The disaster could have
been a lot worse and if it had been the radio services would not have
been up to the job of guiding people to safety.

Its time for the Howard Government to re-think the idea of the
National Emergency Radio Frequency.

isonliveradio ends

And Darce said also at
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australia.radio.broadcast.moderatedhttp://groups.google.com/group/ausytaliaradiobroadcastingmoderated

While commercial radio failed in the Hunter it seems that the
listeners had a different view about the service provided by ABC local
radio.

Margaret Simons wrote in Crikey.com yesterday:

Those who wonder whether there is still a place for public
broadcasting in the era of media plenty should read the
http://redirect.cmailer.com.au/LinkRedirector.aspx?
clid=77ca1616-3fa8...guest
page for the ABC Newcastle Radio station in the wake of the floods and
storms.

Darce ends

keitha says

So Darce ( From the Friends of the ABC Lobby group) posting on

australia.radio.broadcast.moderated

said "commercial radio failed in the Hunter"

Thats not true. Radio as a medium shone through
2NC and 2HD

Should it be that only 2KO and NX FM and NBN
failed in a "duty of care" and why was that?

Perhaps Those stations who have local studios
being 2HD,2NC,2KO,2NUR and Community Stations and 2NM coild get
together for an after event chat. to ask " Could we have done it
better" ?

Its time for the Howard Government or a Rudd Government to re-think
the idea of the
National Emergency Radio Frequency.

It should have happened after the Canberra Bushfires. Think of
situations like Bushfires, cyclones,tsunami,terrorism,flooding,bird
flu,earthquake,invasion etc

Perhaps run by the Army ?


America, where the media is entirely private run, has this problem
sometimes too. But usually Americans know when to can the self-
righteous blathering and get on with reporting the news. America has
had private broadcasting for much longer than Australia, so our media
knows what's appropriate. For example, 9-11 coverage went interrupted
without commercials for nine days until it descended into absurdity
and the execs pulled the plug. At least their hearts were in the right
place. No American outlet would interrupt a major emergency for
commercials.

OTOH, the push to lure viewers sometimes gets them in trouble, as in
the mass shooting at Virginia Tech University in April. The gunman had
mailed DVDs and still photos to NBC. The material was copied, the
originals given to police, then for the next 24 hours America was
treated to wall to wall Mad Killer Coverage. The gunman's snarling
face and menacing poses with his guns and even a hammer were
everywhere. Finally an outraged public forced them to stop.

The opposite problem is when warm fuzzy stories are used as real news.
Recently a pair of humpback whales, mother and baby, swam up the
Sacramento River as far as Sacramento City, about 90 miles from the
ocean. For DAYS that was ALL the local TV talked about. Thousands
flocked to see the whales, lining the riverbanks and disorienting the
already wounded animals with their shrieks. Despite the media circus,
the whales eventually righted themselves and swam back out to sea.
This of course was a "success" and allowed the media to return to
normal.