Youth, radio and Australian popular music policy

Authors

  • Chris K. Wilson Swinburne University of Technology

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/prbt.v14i2.100

Keywords:

policy, popular music, radio, top 40, youth

Abstract

Following its extensive Australian Music on Radio Inquiry conducted between 1982 and 1988, the Australian broadcasting regulator concluded that commercial radio had a responsibility to support the development of Australian music but its own systems for ensuring they fulfilled that responsibility were insufficient. While, as an objective of broadcasting policy the support for Australian music intersected with the federal government’s interest in aiding the development of the local music industry, the government’s concurrent interest in deregulating the broadcasting sector impeded the ability of regulator to address its regulatory deficiencies. In this article I explore how the objective to encourage radio to support the development of the Australian music industry generated a key rationale for the development of non-commercial youth radio services that translated into establishment of the ABC Triple J youth radio network in the 1990s and a set of independent youth community radio stations in the early 2000s.

Author Biography

  • Chris K. Wilson, Swinburne University of Technology

    Chris K. Wilson is currently completing a PhD examining the history of Australian youth radio. This research is conducted through the Institute for Social Research, Swinburne University of Technology. It forms part of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation project Youthworx: Youth Media and Social Enterprise.

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Published

2014-01-30

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Wilson, C. (2014). Youth, radio and Australian popular music policy. Perfect Beat, 14(2), 100-119. https://doi.org/10.1558/prbt.v14i2.100