First Nations Media News :: CONVERGE Sydney is next week :: Member News

With the inaugural First Nations Media Award presentations just around the corner (next Friday night!) we’re very pleased to share the shortlisted nominations with you.
We received over 85 nominations from all over the sector, all of which were judged by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with significant industry experience. They had a tough job choosing due to the high quality of the nominations. There is so much great work going on in our sector!
We can’t wait to find out who will receive each of the awards on Friday 23rd November at CONVERGE Sydney.

Next Wednesday night (21st November) we’ll be gathering on the rooftop of Gadigal Information Services - Home of Koori Radio for the CONVERGE Sydney welcome event. As event co-hosts, the Koori Radio team have a fantastic lineup of entertainment to introduce delegates to some of the amazing talent Sydney has to offer. We’re looking forward to performances by Kerry Johnson and the local Wiradjuri Dance Group, Honey Piri, MC Sonboy and the fabulous Felicia Foxx. Delegates are invited to head to 27 Cope St, Redfern anytime from 4:30pm to take a tour of the Koori Radio studios and then head up to the rooftop from 5pm for a welcome to country and the start of the CONVERGE conference. See you there!

#ourmediamatters #convergesyd18

HAVE YOU GOT YOUR CONTENT UPLOADED FOR THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF indigiTUBE NEXT WEEK?
Get your music, radio show or video up on #indigiTUBE before Friday 23 November. IT’S FOR YOU! indigiTUBE is for you mob. A place to share what you create and produce, so get your own channel and show us (and the whole nation) your stuff!

People are asking ‘can I upload music without video?’ YES, YOU CAN! This is what is so awesome about indigiTUBE, it is for both audio and video content, plus 20 live radio stations across the country. Let’s build an awesome national presence together, a centralised place for all our media content; radio, music, video, news, language, culture, sports, history and archives.

If you’re not sure how to get your content up, check out our WEBINAR recording which takes you through the steps to register for an account and get uploading!

With AGMs and license renewals well underway, some organisations are taking the opportunity to update their policy documents. So we thought it might be timely to remind you of the policy templates on our website which are available for any First Nations media organisation to use and make your own. The templates can be adjusted in any way that suits your organisation. They are intended to be a starting point or framework to help prompt best practice provision of information within policy documents. There are templates for asset management, Board of Directors policies, communications management, compliance and legal management, cultural management, financial management, Human Resources, information technology management, membership and risk management. You’re welcome!

Sponsorship Language Reminder
The ACMA has recently written to a number of community broadcasting license holders around Australia in response to complaints about the way some stations are seeking sponsorship opportunities and the emphasis within our license-types on locally relevant content. While the ACMA is not investigating those complaints further at this stage, some organisations have been asked to correct some issues.

First Nations Media Australia reminds radio stations of our restriction, as community radio licensees, from using terminology that refers to "advertising" opportunities in printed materials, on websites, on business cards or anywhere else. All promotional references should be referred to as sponsorship rather than advertising, in compliance with legislation.

First Nations broadcasters are also reminded of Section 4 of the license application form, "to what extent does the service provide material of local significance?" With an increased focus on localism from government and from audiences, it is important to keep a close eye on how we're serving local communities with information of local significance, including music, talk, sponsorship and pre-recorded content.

"In the Torres Strait we have lot of different families living on different islands and our media helps them stay connected with each other and with what’s going on in the rest of the world. We make programs that talk about climate change, politics, health, any issue that’s effecting people really. And it’s good because people are interested, they like to hear it and they get involved by calling up or talking with us when we’re out in communities. It’s something everyone can be part of and learn from."

- Jennifer Enosa, 4MW - Torres Strait Islander Media Association

Dr Donna Odegaard reaches new milestones
Many people in the First Nations media sector will be familiar with Dr Donna Odegaard's achievements as a founder, owner and Chairperson of Aboriginal Broadcasting Australia, the license-holder for Larrakia Radio and Aboriginal TV Ch4 in and around Darwin. She has worked in this space as an Indigenous leader and business woman for over 40 years.
More recently, Donna has been appointed a senior Indigenous leader on the Ministerial Indigenous Reference Group for Developing Northern Australia with Prime Minister & Cabinet. This year, she was awarded the Sir John Storey Lifetime Leadership Award, adding to the Order of Australia medal she received in 2016 for significant service to Indigenous cultural heritage in roles relating to broadcast media and reconciliation. We congratulate Donna on her most recent accolades, continuing a long career of achievement in our sector.

Conference themes explored prisoner radio and news production. At a session focused on the Prisoner Radio Network, Kutcha Edwards spoke thoughtfully about the Beyond The Bars program at 3CR and its impact and Brad Spring shared 6DBY Lakkardi Radio's story about their West Kimberley Regional Prison program.

Congratulations to CBAA Award winners!
Several first nations media organisations were shortlisted for CBAA Awards this year and many of them picked up the category award. Congratulations to all of the nominees shortlisted for these awards, demonstrating once again the excellent work in our sector! And congratulations to these organisations for picking up trophies for:

Best Radio Program Music - 3KND for Top 100 Indigenous Songs of All Time
Best Station Production - Radio MAMA for Jason's Diabetes Story
Excellence in Indigenous Engagement - Wangki Radio
Best New Radio Program - Noongar Radio for Rainbow KINection
Best Special Event Broadcast - Noongar Radio for JB Tribute
Excellence in Technical Innovation - Gerry Pyne from QRAM
Excellence in Indigenous Broadcasting - Ngaarda Media for Marion Cheedy's Juluwarlu Gems

RadComms
Daniel Featherstone and Claire Stuchbery attended ACMA’s RadComms conference in Sydney on 30-31 October. The event was themed 'Delivering the Future’ and focused largely on the recently revised Five-Year Spectrum Outlook 2018-2022. The five-year outlook includes a detailed work plan for the ACMA's spectrum priorities, which include the introduction of 5G, increasing space for the Internet of Things, an upcoming spectrum auction for 3.6GHz and new satellite spectrum (28GHz). There is no plan for phasing out FM broadcasting, but DAB+ is expanding into some of the larger regional centres over the next few years. The ACMA is focused on increasing transparency and engagement with stakeholders around spectrum allocation.

We heard about the introduction of 8k broadcasting in preparation for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 and other technical innovations in immersive television/virtual reality broadcasting coming down the line. Spectrum use for autonomous technology was discussed along with voice controlled devices - including radio. While much of the conference focused on emerging technology, delegates were reminded of the importance of terrestrial broadcasting, particular for audience reach. However the FM band is increasingly congested, so the ACMA is focused on balancing the demands on spectrum use between these new innovations, corporate interests and public access requirements.

One session of interest for a remote broadcasting perspective was a discussion of upcoming Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites to be launch by Oneweb and SpaceX over the next three years. While this would reduce latency issues for satellite communications and increase digital inclusion, there may be some questions around affordability.

More information about conference speakers, powerpoint slides and session recordings can be found on the ACMA website.

Be part of reshaping the future of business
The Futures Forum event will be held in five regional locations across the country, from each event will be a three-day intensive forum. Taking you on a journey of bringing cultural principles from the past into the future and establishing long-term innovative ideas around connecting culture, business, technology and futures in meaningful and sustainable ways. The Futures Forum is specifically for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 18-30 years who have experience in either: running and operating a business, knowledge of the commercial sector or experience in developing sustainable business models around community-led projects.
March – July 2019.

WE ARE HIRING!

First Nations Media Australia is looking for two people to join our team in Alice Springs.
Both roles are full time, Indigenous identified positions.

We are seeking an Industry Development & Member Services Officer to help support our members and identify and implement industry development and capacity building initiatives. The role will implement the recommendations of the Employment & Skills Development Strategy and will oversee advisory groups to help share knowledge within our sector. Key responsibilities include coordination of a webinar series, developing income generation opportunities, expanding the range of services supporting our members and workforce development tasks. Candidates should have strong business acumen, excellent communications skills, demonstrated project management skills, good working knowledge of governance and the ability to work both independently and as part of a team. See the full position description here.

We are also looking for an Events & Fundraising Officer to focus on event coordination, prepare funding submissions for First Nations Media Australia projects, and provide fundraising advice to our sector. This role will require excellent organisation and time management skills, a working knowledge of the First Nations media industry, the ability to coordinate staff and contractors and demonstrated knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and the issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. See the full position description for the Events & Fundraising Officer role here.

Talk with us at CONVERGE Sydney
Want to know more about these positions? Know somebody who might be interested? At CONVERGE Sydney we'll have a stall in the trade hall area for anyone with questions or ideas about careers with First Nations Media Australia to come and have a chat.

The Community Broadcasting Foundation is looking for volunteers to asses grant applications a couple of times per year. If you're looking to give back to community media or gain insight into the grants process, this might be something to consider. Volunteer Grant Assessors at the Community Broadcasting Foundation independently consider, score and provide advice on grant applications.

Assessment work is done remotely and provides good experience for writing grant applications for other funding bodies too.

For more information, head to the CBF website or have a chat with Georgie at the CBF office
03 8341 5900.