Happy 100th birthday, Aunty!
The first iteration of ABC Radio in Brisbane began broadcasting in July 1925. The question is: how will it cope with the challenges of the future?
I’m a week early, but I just couldn’t wait to celebrate. ABC Radio in Brisbane turns 100 on July 25 (or thereabouts) — and there’s merch, so you can feel a part of it!
The station was originally owned by the Queensland Government and it continued to be known as 4QG when it came under the umbrella of the ABC in the early 1930s.
It was already middle aged before there was a switcheroo between 4QG and 4QR (established in 1938), with the latter becoming the local Brisbane station and the former becoming an outpost of Radio National.
There’s more about the history here and here.
In common with its sibling stations across Australia, and the radio industry in general, ABC Brisbane is facing some big challenges as it enters its second century.
Ratings aren’t what they were a decade ago (when the Breakfast show had an audience share in the double digits, often in front of the FM stations that now rule the dial), listener preferences are changing, podcasts are starting to eat radio’s lunch, and there is considerable debate about what the public expects of a government-owned and taxpayer-funded broadcaster.
It has to be true to its charter to serve Australians and provide an alternative to commercial radio and justify its existence by avoid becoming so niche that it has no relevance.
The ABC needs both to be what its rusted-on audience expects it to be, and to innovate to attract new audiences. And by “new” I do not mean “young”.
In common with other traditional media, Aunty has to avoid underservicing older audiences, whose listening options are already limited, in a bid to attract younger people, who are not only well catered for elsewhere but are increasingly uninterested in broadcast radio and TV.
Of course, the ABC as a whole must be on top of the tech and make itself available in new spaces for all sorts of audiences, but ABC Brisbane has a specific mission that, one could argue, it has occasionally strayed from.
Helping to steer the station’s direction is Scott McDonald, who has just been promoted to content director. Congratulations to him.
Mister Brisbane is free to read, but if you appreciate what I’m doing here, and/or
at The Wrinkle and Radio Bert, you can buy me a coffee.
P.S.
Thanks to loyal reader Christine who responded to my post about the Olympics rowing venue, suggesting Lake Awoonga, “if you really want to take it to the regions”. Online sources tell me Lake Awoonga is 30 kilometres south of Gladstone, via Benaraby.
Disclaimer: Brett Debritz has recently been a guest on the Drive and Saturday Breakfast shows on ABC Brisbane.
I've always worked in commercial radio, but I also recognize that Aunty has a legitimate role in the Brisbane marketplace. And as I have friends and former colleagues who work at the ABC, I hope 4QR, as I still like to refer to it, is able to find its niche