The regional town of Armidale (Nganyaywana country) sits in the northern tablelands of New South Wales. The community is a mix of urban and rural, with academics and students at the University of New England and a large agricultural community.
Local community radio station, 2ARM FM broadcasts each day from 9am to 9pm to inform, educate and entertain their listeners with local stories by local people. As a result of the global pandemic, three of the region’s community newspapers closed temporarily, leaving an information gap that the station readily filled.
In recent years, 2ARM FM has faced sponsorship challenges due to the ongoing drought and the 2019/20 bushfires. This situation was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in the lowest level of station sponsorship in seven years. As part of the CBF’s COVID-19 Crisis grants, the station received over $14.9K. This support helped them continue broadcasting remotely during the pandemic keeping people connected and informed, especially about COVID-19. The grant also helped them amplify local news, stories and events such as their recent “Meet the Candidates” segments for the local council elections. This commitment to serving their community has led to a 20 percent increase in memberships.
“We really had to sit down and thinkabout how we were going to keep ourselves viable, especially after the fires. The CBF COVID-19 grant made us certain enough to say we could do it. We knew we could get through the pandemic and the next two years.” – Peter Crick, 2ARM FM
Photo: Mike Kean and Pete Crick at the “Meet the Candidates” outside broadcast for the local Council elections.
About our grants
We run two Content and Development & Operations grant rounds each year, usually in January and July.
Quick Response Grants are also available outside our grant rounds for community media organisations that are experiencing emergencies.
Grant round dates
Check our Key dates page for the next grant round.
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