Things are moving fast, with AI weapons advancements, 100,000 songs uploaded a day to Spotify, short-form content taking over our lives and attention spans, and an almost constant “noise” in our day-to-day lives. If you’re looking for an ethical way to discover and enjoy great music – especially Australian music – let us reintroduce you to… Community radio.
Did streaming kill the radio star?
The first community radio stations in Australia launched in the 70s, starting with 2JJ in Sydney, which we now know as the nationwide station Triple J, and 4ZZZ in Brisbane in 1975. Triple R, PBS (Melbourne), and 2SER (Sydney) all began broadcasting in 1979, and the rest followed. These stations were non-commercial and able to play music not typically heard on commercial radio, as the stations exist to serve the community instead of commercial interests. Which, back then, meant playing some the best Aussie rock music you’ve ever heard.
Community radio launched the careers of many Australian bands including Cold Chisel, The Angels, Australian Crawl and INXS. More recently, Amyl and the Sniffers, Courtney Barnett, and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have community radio to thank for their early success. King Gizz got their start on 97.4 The Pulse in Geelong, and racked up 1.8M monthly listeners on Spotify before deciding to pull their music from the platform in protest over the CEO’s military involvements (more on that in a moment).
It was this early community radio support that helped them cement the initial fanbases and turn that into real capital, earning local festival slots and ultimately propelling them to the world’s biggest international stages, like when Amyl and the Sniffers graced Coachella in 2021 and 2025.
The major DSPs (Digital Streaming Platforms), in theory, give us an opportunity like never before to discover new music, but with approximately 100,000 new songs uploaded every single day to Spotify alone, many listeners are faced with choice paralysis – and end up listening to the same artists they know they already like. So finding new music that sounds different to what you already listen to but you still enjoy, is harder than it seems.
When asked about the difference between community radio support and playlist support from the major DSPs, Sam Cummins, the Music Content Producer on RRR, told Zee Feed: “Community radio listeners are often a lot more engaged with the music being played on the stations they listen to, as opposed to the high level of passive listening that occurs on DSPs. Playlist support through streaming editorial can undoubtedly expose your music to a high number of listeners, but that doesn’t always translate to attracting an engaged listenership that will help build a sustainable following for an artist.”
Furthermore, despite us having almost every Aussie song ever made at our fingertips, only 8% of the top 10,000 streamed artists in 2024, in Australia, were Australian, and while Spotify are making efforts to ‘Turn Up Aus’, we should also take it upon ourselves to support local, and get back to our good ol’ community radio roots.
Community vs corporate owners
As the world turns, we’re slowly realising that the systems we have in place on this planet largely exist to make the rich richer, and due to this, certain communities are entering what I like to call the “ethics boom” – people are starting to give a shit about what they consume, and where their money goes.
Daniel Ek recently invested 600 Million Euro (approx 1 Billion AUD) into an AI weapons company, Helsing, which he is also the chair of, causing people to leave Spotify in droves, with some artists pulling their catalogues from the platform. Private company interest, and ownership of company shares, make people like Ek billionaires, while artists make, on average, 0.006c per stream.
The good thing about community radio, though, is that they’re mostly Not For Profit, which means that no private owners or shareholders can profit from the station’s income. All revenue (from sponsorship, donations, grants, or fundraising) must be reinvested into running the station and fulfilling its community purpose. Stations are typically governed by a board or committee made up of community members, and according to Cummins, are multi-faceted and constantly evolving.
“Triple R reflects an ecosystem of music, culture and the arts in Naarm… that is independent, non-commercial and in opposition to the mainstream. Through its diverse and broad programming, Triple R as a whole encompasses multiple communities, and its presenters and volunteers are in constant dialogue with the communities they represent.”
But why does this matter, and why is it better than the commercial, or streaming, alternative? Well, this model ensures that stations serve the community, not commercial interests. It encourages independence from government and corporate influence, and reinforces the idea that access to media is a public right, not a privilege.
Why is community radio important today?
We live in a world where everything is made to feel so easy – the powerful DPS algorithms serve up what it knows we’ve liked before effortslessly, over and over again. But that doesn’t encourage us to get outside our comfort zone, try something new or seek a perspective that differs from our own.
Community radio highlights diverse voices. It has consistently supported Indigenous communities, ethnic minorities, LGBTQIA+ people, regional populations, and people with disabilities – ensuring their stories, languages, and music are heard. You may not love every song you hear, but you’ll be supporting independent artists and presenters, and the community of which you’re a living, breathing part. Sam Cummins states that the presenters on RRR have the final say on what is played on their shows, so it’s “crucial that there’s a broad spectrum of people represented on [the RRR] radio grid, to ensure that a variety of artists… are supported across the Triple R airwaves.” On the other hand, “the editorial decision making and algorithmic programming of DSPs are in the hands of far fewer people, resulting in inherently biased and limited perspectives,” which Cummins believes will ultimately serve fewer communities.
Returning to community radio for some of your music listening could reveal your new favourite local artist, but it will also help you live presently in the real-world community you are already a part of. And that’s a win-win.
Where to start listening?
There are multiple community radio stations in each state, but to get you started try any of these:
Sydney: fbi Radio 94.5FM
Melbourne: Triple R Radio 102.7FM
Perth: RTR FM 92.1FM
Brisbane: 4ZZZ 102.1FM
Adelaide: Three D Radio 93.7FM
Hobart: Edge Radio 99.3FM
Darwin: Territory FM 104.1FM
Canberra: 2XXFM 98.3FM
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