Cairns radio station 4CCR breaches licence condition

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has found that community radio broadcaster 4CCR Cairns has breached the licence condition that requires licensees to encourage community participation in the operations of the service.

After investigating a series of complaints from members of the Cairns community, the ACMA found that the licensee was not encouraging the community to become involved in the operations of the service as it had policies that restricted membership. The ACMA considers open membership to be critical to encouraging participation in the operations of a community broadcasting service.

In response to the breach finding, 4CCR has begun the process of redeveloping its membership policies and constitution to ensure it has open membership. This process is being undertaken in conjunction with a range of agreed measures that were implemented in December 2009 when 4CCR’s licence was renewed.

The ACMA considers that 4CCR is demonstrating a commitment to meeting its obligations under the licence conditions and that the current management committee is working to address these operational issues. While the ACMA will take no further action at this time, it will continue to monitor 4CCR’s implementation of the agreed measures. In this regard, 4CCR is required to provide regular reports to the ACMA.

Cairns Community Broadcasters Inc (4CCR) holds a long term community broadcasting licence to provide a radio service in the Cairns RA2 licence area in Queensland.

More information about community broadcasting is available on the ACMA website.

A copy of the investigation report 2350 is available on the ACMA website.

For more information or to arrange an interview please contact: Donald Robertson, Media Manager, on (02) 9334 7980, 0418 86 1766 or media@acma.gov.au.