Indigenous broadcasters form a unique segment of Australian Broadcasting. The Aboriginal people, through their own broadcasting services, produce programs in their own languages that enhance and preserve their culture. The Aborigines comprise only 2 percent of a total population of 17 million; half live in the coastal urban areas and the remainder in rural, more traditional communities.

ABC's Indigenous Broadcast Unit

  In the early 1980s, ABC began making time available to Aborigines over some of its larger urban stations. In 1985 ABC provided three hours a day for Aboriginal groups in the northern part of Queensland. Training and support were provided by ABC, but the Aboriginal staff had full control over content. In 1986 ABC began to share a 50,000-watt shortwave transmitter with 8 KIN. This improved 8 KIN's reach across the Northern Territory, but no one knew how many Aborigines had shortwave receivers (Browne, 1990).

ABC Local Radio is committed to Aboriginal Broadcasting in three ways. First, ABC is not a funding agency but provides professional advice in the development of indigenous media organizations. Second, in 1988 ABC agreed to work toward employment equity for Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. An employment target of 2 percent in a variety of positions across the company has been set for ABC by an agreement with the Department of Employment Education and Training. Third, ABC Radio carries Speaking Out and Awaye, programs produced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders for a general audience. ABC also purchases programs from independent indigenous production houses and also expects to develop new programs for in-house production.

     Speaking Out deals exclusively with the culture of the Aboriginal people in Australia and the politics and issues that affect them. The show airs every Sunday night live for one hour. Awaye airs programs that deal with the art and culture of indigenous people; the program airs on Friday and is repeated on Sunday. To hear the theme music for Awaye, visit their web­ site at www.abc.net.au/message/awaye.

8 KIN Programming

  By the end of 1985, the first exclusively Aboriginal station, 8 KIN, a 50,000-watt noncommercial FM station, came on the air in Alice Springs in Central Australia. Eventually, relays were added in Ntaria, Ali Curung, and St. Teresa. Until 1992, the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) operated this, the only licensed Aboriginal community broadcasting service. By June 1994, six additional licensed stations were operating for Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. Additional Aboriginal media associations, with community broadcasting licenses, operate in North-East Queensland, Brisbane, Perth, Darwin, and smaller stations in Western and Southern Australia. Programs on Aboriginal-owned community radio stations include news, sports, current affairs, Aboriginal music, talk back, Aboriginal oral stories, health, employment, housing, and land rights information. A special program goal is to reach both the young and the old. In addition to the seven licensed broadcasters, 11 other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander regional media groups produce radio programs for Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and other broadcasters. In 2001, the government provided A$3.1 million through the Community Broadcasting Foundation to facilitate radio access for indigenous Australians and ethnic communities.

     Today, station 8 KIN FM broadcasts 18 hours a day and reaches a potential audience of 60,000 indigenous people from 25 major language groups. The station broadcasts in English and seven Aboriginal languages which are spoken in Central Australia. These programs account for 90 percent of the time on air or about 11 and one half hours per day. The amount of time in program categories varies from one language to another, but music accounts for 60 percent with spoken language programs comprising the remainder.

     Programming includes news from wire services, local and national newspapers, and reports phoned into the station. There is a journalist coordinator and trainer and two Aboriginal journalist trainees, but ·much copy is translated from English. There are occasional documentaries and traditional stories. Music on the Aboriginal language program is about 75 percent Aboriginal, the rest European.

Satellite Services

  Domestic satellite services became available in Australia in 1988 with the launch of AUSSAT, which made radio and television broadcasting available to remote parts of Australia for the first time. There has been debate since the early 1950s about the use of satellite by Aboriginal people as there was concern about the impact of satellite programming on traditional cultures. Two Aboriginal communities, Yuendemu in the Northern Territory (Warlpiri people) and the other in Erna­ bella in northern Southern Australia (the Pitjantjatjara people), were already producing video and radio. They lobbied for funding of their locally produced services, which at the time were being broadcast illegally on low power equipment (Buchtmann, 1999).

     In 1984, the Department of Communication and the Department of Aboriginal Affairs recommended policies that would allow local Aboriginal people control over the new satellite service. This led to the establishment of Broadcasting in Remote Aboriginal Communities (BRACS). In many indigenous communities there were objections to programs by white people, and BRACS was considered a shield to protect their culture. Seventy-four communities were given equipment, but in many cases they did not know how to use it and were given no training. In some communities, there was no interest in learning or training and, in this situation, English programs were rebroadcast. Tribal elders in some communities were more active, and under their leadership BRACS assists in developing Aboriginal programming, especially for television.