Radio

 

Radio in Australia

    Depending on the area you live in, the radio may or may not still be a big hit. Some people may see it as outdated, but others still use the radio as they please. In this case, the radio is still instrumental in Australia. The radio is still a useful source for advertising but is also helpful in case of an emergency or disaster. Australia sees that the radio will never be able to top the online industry but then again it is not trying to move into the online industry. In some countries when you look at charts of radio use, it is common to see a decline. In Australia's case, they have had a 3.1% decrease from 2017-2022 in their market size growth but a growth of 2% just in  2022. A recent study showed that 95% of Australians had a radio but from 2018-2020 the percentage of radios in homes went from 67% to 60%. Australians aged 45 and older are also more likely to listen to AM or digital radio in their home rather than anyone 18-44 years old. 

    Before this assignment, I had never heard of Radio Garden. I have found it to be a very useful source with a lot of variety to look through. Taking a look at Australia and listening to the different radio stations it had to offer, I do not think that I came across two that were releasing the same content. My favorite station by far was in Sydney, Australia which was 2RRR 88.5 FM specifically because I find myself to be a huge Elvis Presley. This station plays Elvis Presley and other music that fall into this genre. I found this specific radio station very comparable to American radio. In Myrtleford, Australia one of the radio stations has a talk show called "WTFR Where the Thought is Free" where they sit around and talk about stories and things going on
in Australia. I would beware that this talk show has a tendency to be vulgar with the words they use but I think this does its part in showing the culture and the people in Australia. Binjang 91.5 streamed in Wellington, Australia is the first radio station that I came across that was streaming American music and the one that is most similar to what we listen to. Every time I would go back to check to see what they were streaming, the songs that would be playing were very popular songs that everyone would probably know or had at least heard. Another similar station I found is Magic 87.6 in Mudgee, Australia which plays a variety of throwback music.

    Australian news channels are set up very similarly to news channels in America. 7NEWS in Australia covers local news, videos, sports, lifestyle, entertainment, politics, tech, finance, world, and weather. 7NEWS has its most recent and top stories displayed on its front page. ABC News Australia also has their top stories covered and you can also watch their live broadcast, and they also have links to updates on the Coronavirus, politics, world, business, sports, science, health, and fact-checking. I found other news sources throughout Australia that covered all of the same topics and made sure that they produced what Australians needed to see and hear. 

     Australia is a country that does not use the radio as its main form of communication. Unlike other countries that are geographically in remote areas that have to use radio, this is not the case for Australia. According to ACMA also known as the Australian Community and Media Authority says that their main source of communication is through calls, texts, and emails. The use of landlines has dropped from 54% in 2017 to 24% in 2021. 99% of Australians use smartphones. Although the radio is not the most used form of communication, a recent study done by Infinite Dial Australia shows that the number of Australians listening to online audio has gone up by 8% each week in the last year. They considered online audio to be AM, FM, DAB+, online podcasts, and music streaming. I feel like this increase in online audio from Australians along with other people around the world has come from the new rise in podcast streaming. 

    

    I have gathered from listening to various podcasts and radio stations throughout Australia that they have a lot of freedom to discuss any topics they deem appropriate. As I mentioned from listening to the talk show "Where the Thought is Free" previously is that they can come off pretty vulgar on some of the topics they choose to talk about which most of the time are personal topics or stories. In certain situations, Australians have to be careful about the topics they choose to speak about and it has been said that they are slowly losing their freedom of speech. 

    Before I started to research radio in Australia, I halfway expected it to be a lot like radio in America but at the same time, I also expected Australians to use the radio more than Americans do. As far as what is streamed in Australia, you will hear a lot of the same music that we hear in America along with talk shows and podcasts. Their podcast and talk shows cover similar topics that we do in America just with their twist of an Australian Accent. News channels throughout Australia cover the main topics that you would usually see like breaking news, politics, health, and sports. Overall, through my research, I have learned that even though Australia does not use the radio as its main source of communication, it is slowly on the rise. I would say that Australian radio and news channels are comparable to American radio and news.