5THE FM radio station turns to GoFundMe to help clear massive debt as hunt for missing grant money continues

A community radio station has turned to GoFundMe to help clear its massive debt as the forensic hunt for its missing grant funding continues.

A community radio station has turned to GoFundMe to help clear its massive debt as the forensic hunt for its missing grant funding continues.

A South-East radio station that was forced to live streaming their content is hoping to make an on-air comeback after they were booted off over unpaid debts.

Millicent’s 5THE FM radio station lost its licence over the unpaid debts, despite receiving roughly $60,000 in grants from the Community Broadcasting Foundation.

Records showed the money was received. However, a forensic audit, that is still underway, has not been able to identify where the money had been spent.

The station has turned to GoFundMe to help clear its nearly $30,000 debt.

Millicent’s 5THE FM radio station, now under new governance, was booted of the airways after an application by the previous board was refused by the country’s media regulator. Picture: iStock

“The community took back the radio station in November last year after the former board and management lost the broadcasting license through poor governance and financial mismanagement,” station chair David Walshaw wrote.

“When we took back the station, it had no members, it had lost its sponsors and presenters (and) had accrued significant debt.

“Much of the financial records, corporate history and station equipment is still currently unaccounted for.

“We are desperate to crowdfund so that we can retire the debt and get our radio station back up and running once again serving all cohorts of our community, not just those that have the digital literacy to stream.”

The indebted station came under new governance in November 2022 but was unable to contact or locate the previous board members.

Retired senior public servant and Wattle Range councillor David Walshaw – who was appointed chairman – said they’ve put locating the previous board and station managers in the “rearview mirror” and might have to “forego” tracking them down.

“There are other opportunities once we get up and running again that we might be able to pursue, but at this stage, our focus is on getting back on the air,” he said.

Millicent’s 5THE FM is hoping a GoFundMe campaign can assist in clearing its near $30,000 debt. iStock

Mr Walshaw said an application for a temporary broadcast licence to the Australian Communications and Media Authority had been partially approved.

The station currently has roughly $30,000 in unpaid bill with the largest debt of approximately $20,000 owed to Broadcast Australia, which owns the transmitter site located in Mount Burr.

Mr Walshaw said there were concerns future grants may not be made available, because of the previous “financial mismanagement”.

“We hope that with the new board in place and a new structure — we can actually let them know that we are not the station that we used to be and that we should be judged on our own merits,” he said.

If the station can raise enough money via GoFundMe Mr Walshaw hopes Broadcast Australia will allow the station to enter a payment plan.

Mr Walshaw said they could have walked away and let Broadcast Australia try and recover the debt from the former board and station managers.

“We haven’t, we’ve dug our heels in and tried to raise this money ourselves,” he said.

The station’s GoFundMe, which was created on Thursday, has raised just over $500 thus far.