27 November 2014
Australian music to suffer as a result of ABC cuts
How will cuts to the ABC's funding and approximately 400 job losses at the national broadcaster affect Australian music content on ABC networks? This is what we have learned so far:
• ABC Classic FM's Australian Music Unit will lose staff and continue
its all-important work relying on one employee only.
• Live and recorded broadcasts of concerts on ABC Classic FM will
diminish by approximately 50%.
• ABC Classic FM's New Music Up Late program will cease
to exist - some kind of online existence for Australian music
content is being planned but details are as yet unclear.
• Many of ABC Radio National's programs that have included
Australian new music in its various forms are being
decommissioned. For Australian music, of particular concern is
the disappearance of Into the Music, The Weekend
Planet, The Quiet Space, Sound Quality and
Poetica, but also other programs such as
360documentaries, Hindsight, and
Encounter will cease to exist. Some of this content will
be covered in a new time slot for shorter documentary programs on
ABC RN.
• ABC RN's The Music Show will be divided in two and
broadcast as two separate 1-hour programs on Saturday and
Sunday.
• ABC Classic FM's Jazztrack program will be moved to
ABC Radio National.
Many people who have worked tirelessly for the good of Australian
music will be directly affected. The flow-on effect to the
Australian new music community at large will be significant, with
fewer opportunities for Australian artists' work to be heard and
recorded, and fewer ways for the audience around Australia to
access performances on the radio.
Read also: Open letter to ABC management by the AMC CEO John Davis
Further links
'Open letter to ABC management' by John Davis
(Resonate 28 November 2011)
'ABC cuts: Managing director Mark Scott announces more than 400
jobs to go' - (abc.net.au 25 November)
'Major cuts to ABC Classic FM programming
confirmed' - Maxim Boon's article on Limelight (24
November)
A petition on Change.org to keep New
Music Up Late program on ABC Classic FM
> For other links, statements and expressions of concern by members of the Australian new music community, please check the AMC's Twitter feed @ausmusiccentre
© Australian Music Centre (2014) — Permission must be obtained from the AMC if you wish to reproduce this article either online or in print.
Anni Heino is a Finnish-born journalist and musicologist, and Editor (Communications & Resonate) at the Australian Music Centre.
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