ABC Rural was a department of the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

that produced news, business, and entertainment programs targeted at audiences in regional

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. The department employed 70 staff and reporters around the country. In 2015, the Rural department was rolled into the ABC's Regional division as part of a restructure of the organisation. The Rural department continues to operate as part of the ABC's Regional and Local division, with Rural Reporters stationed in most of the regional offices and Country Hour executive producers and presenters in each capital city. The ABC Rural website (http://www.abc.net.au/rural) also continues to operate as a portal to all of the corporation's farming, agriculture and mining news.

History

The history of the Rural department can be traced back to 1945, when moves were made to formalise the provision of specialist rural news and information on ABC Radio. Although the ABC had provided specialist information to regional audiences (such as markets and rainfall figures), the head of the new department, John Douglass, established a new program titled The Country Hour, first broadcast on December 3, 1945. Dick Snedden was the original host, known to viewers in

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for his reporting of the Sydney Show. Announcers were later appointed in other capital cities, to provide state-level news and information (all the while contributing to the national portion of the program). The Country Hour was later presented separately for each state. In 1951, regional 'extension officers' were appointed to some areas undertake interviews and cover local stories. Following the 1956 introduction of television to more densely populated areas, a number of television programs were launched - ''To Market To Market'', '' A Big Country'', ''Countrywide'' and ''Landline'' all debuted in subsequent years. The titles of extension officers were changed in the 1980s to 'rural reporters', and their supervisors 'executive producers'. Their roles however, remained almost identical. In 1990,

Executive Producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

of the Rural Department in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, Tom Murrell, appointed and trained the ABC's first indigenous rural reporter, Frank Walsh, who was brought up in

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in the Murchison region of Western Australia. An 'online gateway' was launched as part of the ABC's website in 1999 at http://www.abc.net.au/rural, offering news, and streaming audio and video.

Programming

Radio

* '' The Country Hour'' -

ABC Local Radio ABC Local Radio is a network of publicly owned radio stations in Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ABC Local Radio stations broadcast across the continent using terrestrial transmitters and satellites. Its programm ...

* '' Bush Telegraph'' -

Radio National ABC Radio National, more commonly known as Radio National or simply RN, is an Australian nationwide public service radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. ...

Radio Australia ABC Radio Australia, also known as Radio Australia, is the international broadcasting and online service operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Australia's public broadcaster. Most programming is in English, with some in Tok ...

* ''Country Breakfast'' -

* ''Rural Reporter'' -

* ''Resources Beat'' -

ABC NewsRadio ABC NewsRadio, since 2017 broadcast under the ABC News brand and for a short time known as ABC News on Radio, is a 24-hour news radio service broadcast by the Australian public broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). ABC ...

* ''Mining and Resources'' * '' Heywire''-

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, ABC TV

Television

* ''

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'' - ABC TV

References

External links