News feeds

You might be planning to take a well-earned break over the festive season but Training grants don't stop for summer holidays! The next intake of Training grants closes on 16 January 2009, so now is the time to start thinking about applying.

Members of the CBF Board, Grants Advisory Committees and staff were in attendance at the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) conference in Alice Springs and the Australian Indigenous Communications Association (AICA) conference in Darwin last week. We will also be available to answer your questions at the National Ethnic and Multicultural Broadcasters Council (NEMBC) conference in Sydney this weekend (29-30 November).

The Foundation's 2007/08 Annual Report has been published and will be mailed to stations and sector organisations in early December.

Notifications for grants in the Foundation's largest grant round for the year have recently been posted out to applicants. We publish details of all of the most recent grant allocations for each grant category on our website so that you can see which organisations received grants.

View the Community Radio Network programs funded by General - Program Production grants for 2009.

If your station is keen to reduce its carbon footprint - as well as your power costs in the long term - you can apply to the Australian Greenhouse Office for a rebate on the cost of installing renewable power generation systems such as solar or wind power.

Aiming to inject more young people into your station? The Myer Foundation supports youth-focussed initiatives with grants of up to $5000 through its G4 Fund category of grants.

A submission formulated by the FSG has recently been lodged with the Minister for Communications, Senator Stephen Conroy, seeking his support for an increase in Australian Government funding support within the context of the 2009/10 Budget.

The results of the 2008 McNair Ingenuity Community Radio Listenership Survey were launched in Canberra on 14 October 2008. An incredible 57% of Australians aged over 15 listen to community radio every month! That’s over 9.5 million people listening every month.

The community broadcasting conference season is almost upon us! Three of the peak bodies for community broadcasting are holding their annual conferences over the next month – the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA), the National Ethnic and Multicultural Broadcasters Council (NEMBC) and the Australian Indigenous Communications Association (AICA).

Opportunities are now available for community radio stations and sector organisations to host a Management Training workshop for people working (paid or unpaid) in the management of community radio stations in your area.

Got bright ideas for training projects? Funds are now available to support creative training projects through a new category: Training Innovation Projects.

Community radio stations holding a temporary community broadcast license (TCBL) are now eligible to apply for CBF grants.

The 2008/09 Federal Budget announcement confirmed the funding outcomes for the community broadcasting sector for the next financial year.

A further $600,000 has been provided from internal DBCDE funds for the National Training Project in 2008/09.

For the benefit of metropolitan stations considering participation in Digital Radio Representative Companies (DRC’s) the CBF has clarified its intended approach to grant funding for digital radio.

Recently the CBF provided funding to the CBAA to further develop the CBOnline website to provide stations with an online facility to host a variety of content including photos, audio, video and other documents such as program guides and station newsletters. The upgrade allows stations to easily control the content on their station profile and is particularly useful for stations that do not have their own website.

One day prior to the Federal election the then Shadow Minister for Communications, Senator Stephen Conroy addressed a plenary session of the 2007 CBAA Conference in Melbourne and gave a commitment to meet with sector representatives to discuss a resolution to the pressing issue of community television access to digital spectrum and other issues of concern to the community broadcasting sector.

A new grant category - CBOnline Development grants - will encourage innovation and new initiatives relating to online technology.

Earlier this week at the Australian Broadcasting Summit in Sydney the Minister for Communications, Senator Helen Coonan announced an official target date for switch on of digital radio services in metropolitan areas - 1 January, 2009. Senator Coonan allowed for the possibility of an earlier official start date if infrastructure is able to be installed earlier.