Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Radio Australia celebrates 70 years on air

The ABC's international broadcaster Radio Australia celebrated 70 years on air at an event in Melbourne last night. Speaking at the birthday party, ABC managing director Mark Scott reflected on the role of the service, which broadcasts to Asia and the Pacific. He said Radio Australia suffered a near-death experience a little more than a decade ago, but is now more robust and valued than ever. Mr Scott said the service had transformed over the years in terms of technology and its content."Founded in a time of war, really to push a government line, it then transformed into a truly independent public broadcaster, broadcasting the best of Australia to the region, the best of Australia to the world, and having a profound impact in those countries who have received our services," Mr Scott said. "We used to broadcast in international languages, they were European languages. "Now we broadcast in Asian languages and local languages for our region, most recently Burmese. "Of course, shortwave was our key way of distributing our signal and still is. But now you can pick up Radio Australia, increasingly on FM, certainly online."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/02/2759249.htm?section=australia

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