Millicent’s 5THE FM radio station booted off-air after ACMA refuse licence renewal

A regional town has been left devastated after the media regulator handed down its decision over the future of a South East radio station. Find out where it all went wrong.

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

A popular South East community radio station has been booted off-air after the country’s media regulator ruled it breached national guidelines and failed to pay a number of outstanding bills.

Millicent’s 5THE FM radio station, came under new governance in late November as it worked to right the sinking ship, with the new chairman unable to contact or even locate the previous board members.

South East residents rallied around the radio station in vain, in a desperate fight to keep it on-air and keep the lights on.

Retired senior public servant and Wattle Range councillor David Walshaw, who was appointed chairman as part of an interim board, said it “didn’t need to come to this” as new members battled with the previous station manager.

Mr Walshaw said he was unable to locate or contact the previous three board members, instead reaching out to the station manager who he claims “refused contact”.

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

Mr Walshaw said those attempts were despite engaging help from a professional independent mediator.

“This could have been de-escalated 10-12 months ago,” he said.

The station will be off-air for the next one to two months, but local listeners can still livestream content through the Community Radio Plus app.

Mr Walshaw said it had been a struggle to sort through the station’s finances, claiming accountants had been unable to locate a large volume of past financial records.

In a statement on Friday, the Australian Communications and Media Authority refused a late licence renewal application by the station’s previous board.

“The ACMA decided that the application did not demonstrate that 5THE FM had the management or financial capacity to continue providing a service which would meet the needs of the community,” an ACMA spokesman said.

It comes after the ACMA found the station in breach of two licencing conditions, as well as the previous licensee not providing financial statements since 2019.

Though the station received roughly $60,000 in grants from the Community Broadcasting Foundation, Mr Walshaw said the new board struggled to keep the station operational with debtors “threaten(ing) to have the power and water cut off”.

“At one stage the phone had been cut off and the post office box had also been cut off,” Mr Walshaw said.

Donations from the Millicent community helped the new board pay off a number of bills in early December, however Mr Walshaw claimed accountants had still been unable to identify where nearly $60,000 in grant funding had gone.

The funding included a $25,000 Covid crisis grant on top of $26,000 for a studio and equipment upgrade, and a combined $9512 for local ethnic programming.

Mr Walshaw said despite records showing the money was received, station accountants had not been able to identify where the money had been spent.

“The authorities who provided us those grants have sent us a letter asking us if we can send some evidence that the grants have been acquitted and we haven’t been able to that,” Mr Walshaw said.

It is understood the new board will apply for a limited community broadcasting licence in early January, as well as spend the next 12 months preparing a case for an exclusive licence for the next five years.

The previous station manager has been contacted for comment.