17 - ‘The Sole Source of Truth’: Harnessing the Power of the Spoken Word through Indigenous Community Radio

Summary

Introduction

Indigenous community radio stations serve a vital function for their communities – primarily in the provision of local news, community connection, and information about public health initiatives and emergency announcements during natural disasters. However, Indigenous community radio also provides crucial services in terms of language maintenance, along with broader content about Indigenous politics, community achievements, Indigenous music and cultural activities. The power of Indigenous radio reaches remote areas, providing often- isolated communities with access to programming in language and serving as a voice that promotes cultures, traditions and belief systems; the sector also has a strong footprint in urban areas, where the majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people now live.

This chapter endeavours to understand the role of Indigenous media – particularly radio stations and their attached digital channels – in the lives of urban and regional Indigenous Australians. We focus the work in this way following an analysis of existing research on Indigenous peoples and media, which uncovers an emphasis primarily on remote communities and media use. The Indigenous Remote Communications Association (2016), for example, conducted a survey to understand the value of Indigenous community radio in remote regions. This research confirmed that remote radio stations are a source of information, entertainment, community connection, and cultural and language maintenance, and that in remote regions, more than 80 per cent of people had tuned in to Indigenous radio in the previous week (see also Indigenous Remote Communications Association, 2017; Social Ventures Australia, 2017; Watson, 2021). What is less understood is urban and regional Indigenous people's media use, and the role of Indigenous radio in their lives. This chapter therefore seeks to fill that gap – an important one, given that the majority of Indigenous people now reside in urban and major regional hubs (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016) – and focuses on findings from our research with Indigenous community media services in urban and major regional centres of Queensland.

The Indigenous broadcasting sector

In Australia, Indigenous broadcasting is a well- established sector: 53 Indigenous media organizations are funded to provide broadcasting (radio and/ or television, now with attached digital channels) services to metropolitan, regional, rural and remote communities.