The Community Radio Network (CRN) in Australia is a

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...

program feed available to subscribing

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting. Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popul ...

stations. It was created and is managed by the

Community Broadcasting Association of Australia The Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) is the peak body and the national representative organisation for community radio and television stations in Australia. The CBAA provide leadership, advocacy and support for members to ...

(CBAA). The CRN does not produce the programs that are broadcast on the feed, but acts as a distributor of material supplied by member stations.

History

After more than a

decade A decade () is a period of ten years. Decades may describe any ten-year period, such as those of a person's life, or refer to specific groupings of calendar years. Usage Any period of ten years is a "decade". For example, the statement that "d ...

of exchanging programs between stations on tape via

mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...

, the CBAA established the Community Radio Satellite, known as ComRadSat in 1993. Four media organisations have co-operated to make the satellite service available to community

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

s all over Australia. These are the CBAA, the Australian Indigenous Communications Association,

Radio Print Handicapped Network RPH Australia is the national peak representative organisation for a unique Australian network of radio reading services designed to meet the daily information needs of people who, for any reason, are unable to access printed material. It is est ...

and the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

. Each organisation transmits their programs via

Optus Singtel Optus Pty Limited (commonly referred to as Optus) is an Australian Telecommunications in Australia, telecommunications company headquartered in Macquarie Park, New South Wales, Australia. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore, Si ...

onto the C1 Satellite via the

uplink In a telecommunications network, a link is a communication channel that connects two or more devices for the purpose of data transmission. The link may be a dedicated physical link or a virtual circuit that uses one or more physical links or shar ...

site at Belrose. On December 2013, CRN, RPH, NIRS and BBC World Service shifted to VAST satellite platform.

Channels

The satellite feed is four distinct channels: * Channel 601 – '' National Indigenous Radio Service'' provided by the AICA (

stereo Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...

) * Channel 632 – ''Radio for the Print Handicapped Australia'' ( Vision Australia Radio Melbourne) provided by RPH Australia ( mono) * Channel 629 – ''BBC World Service'' ( mono) * Channel 630 – ''Community Radio Network'' provided by the CBAA (

)

Channel 630

The Community Radio Network channel has a number of elements to the program feed. * Core Programs – 30 or 60 minute programs produced by member stations. These are usually talk, music based or issue driven. One of the most popular programs is Allegro Non Troppo. * Sustaining Service – CRN is broadcast 24 hours a day so subscriber stations can use the feed at any time, even to fill air time during an emergency or breakdown. CRN plays music when scheduled programs are not broadcast. * News and Current Affairs – ''National Radio News'' is available on a separately charged basis. The hourly bulletins are produced by

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

s and

student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementa ...

s at

Charles Sturt University Charles Sturt University is an Australian multi-campus public university located in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Victoria. Established in 1989, it was named in honour of Captain Charles Napier Sturt, a British explorer ...

. * Festivals – Live coverage of a range of music festivals each year including the

Woodford Folk Festival The Woodford Folk Festival is an annual music and cultural festival held near the semi-rural town of Woodford, north of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is one of the biggest annual cultural events of its type in Australia. Every year ap ...

Tamworth Country Music Festival The Tamworth Country Music Festival is an annual Australian music festival held for 10 days from Friday to Sunday in mid to late January each year, sometimes including Australia Day, in Tamworth, New South Wales. The festival is the second bigg ...

WOMADelaide WOMADelaide is an annual four-day festival of Music, Arts and Dance, which was first held in 1992 in Botanic Park, Adelaide, Botanic Park, Adelaide, South Australia. One of many WOMAD festivals held around the world, it is a four-day event that p ...

and the

Wangaratta Festival of Jazz The Wangaratta Festival of Jazz is an annual Australian festival of jazz and blues, founded in 1990 by the City of Wangaratta with Adrian Jackson as its first director. It is held at various venues in the town of Wangaratta, north east of the ...

. * Paid Programming – Appropriate organisations may buy airtime for special event programs or series.

Funding

The CBAA maintains the satellite service through a combination of station subscription fees, an operating grant from the

Community Broadcasting Foundation The Community Broadcasting Foundation (CBF) is an independent non-profit funding organisation based in Melbourne. The CBF receives funds from the Australian Government to distribute through grant programs to support the maintenance and development o ...

and fundraising such as paid program time. The radio stations can apply for a specific grant from the Community Broadcasting Foundation to purchase and install the satellite receiving equipment.

Digital Delivery Network

Another aspect to the CRN is the DDN. The Digital Delivery Network works alongside the CRN satellite feed through

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" o ...

applications. A radio station can select its preferred programs on the DDN

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wikip ...

and the stations’ DDN-enabled computer will automatically record the selected programs. Three months worth of current music content in a variety of genres is also made available for stations to use.

References

External links

*{{official website, http://www.cbaa.org.au * Community radio organizations Radio stations established in 1993 1993 establishments in Australia