Independent Senator Xenophon throws support behind digital community radio

Independent Senator for South Australia and former 5UV volunteer Nick Xenophon yesterday spoke to independent current affairs program The Wire regarding the future of community digital radio.

You can listen to the interview in full here. 

For Xenophon, community radio is more important than ever in our current media climate, with stations providing specialty and niche programming, acting as training grounds for media workers of the future and places of community cohesiveness. He said that investing in community radio is money well spent.

"It's basically good value for money. There's a lot of waste we see in government. This is not waste, this is money well spent for the people it impacts on."

Community radio broadcasting versus streaming online is an issue of access for Xenophon.

"[Online] is not the same - you've got to pay access fees, there's buffering issues depending on where you live, it does cost money to access it....[Community radio is] an incredibly open, democratic, accessible for of knowledge, information and entertainment."

Xenophon has thrown his support behind community digital radio ahead of the Federal Budget and July election.

"I want this to be an election issue."

Photo courtesy of The Wire.