FAQs
Community Access Media is at its purest when individuals or groups classified by section 36(c) of the Broadcasting Act criteria are given the means to produce and broadcast content about their issues to their communities.
Under the Act, the aim is: “to ensure that a range of broadcasts is available to provide for the interests of women, youth, children, persons with disabilities, minorities in the community including ethnic minorities, and to encourage a range of broadcasts that reflects the diverse religious and ethical beliefs of New Zealanders”.
There are 12 community access stations operating from Auckland to Invercargill.
- seeking income from non-advertising sources such as airtime charges, sponsorship, endowments, and grants, for example. Each station is a not-for-profit organisation;
- providing what other stations do not or cannot provide;
- having a focus on getting the community involved in producing content and to reflect that community in its programming;
- having multiple target audiences i.e. each programme is made to reach a different audience;
- having a small paid staff;
- having voices on air that reflect the nature of the community and the programmes broadcast. They will differ, sometimes quite radically.
- being diverse in programming, human resources, and language;
- having stations that are open and inclusive to all people into its workspace;
- providing training and education on the skills of broadcasting for all interested people;
- broadcasting a wide range of ideas, opinions, and beliefs; and
- being a community resource.
- It’s not a commercial station using commercial radio formats and other commercial programming elements, for example a breakfast show or drive time.
- It’s not a for-profit organisation.
- News or current affairs is not a part of stations’ core business.
- It doesn’t place a priority on radio commercials in their traditional formats as a source of revenue.
- It’s not a place where ‘down time’ is filled by volunteers coming in and playing at being DJs spinning their own tunes.
- It doesn’t have a single target audience.
The nature of the Community Access Media audience is easy to define. Documenting the rate of target audience ‘capture’ is not so easy.
Community Access Media audiences are structurally different from virtually all other media. Most radio stations fit the total station format to the preferred target audience. A station defines its audience by the people who listen to it cumulatively. The station’s sound overall, not any one of its individual programmes or segments, determines its audience.
Access media audiences are dictated by the voices that are broadcast. A society that values democracy needs to give a platform for minority interests to be expressed. Content-makers include key community members, which means messaging can reach audiences that aren’t otherwise represented in mainstream or commercial media.
The nature of our operations is very different from commercial stations. As community stations and NFPs, we are selective in what we advertise, and because our priority is serving our various communities, any external content that gets aired needs to benefit those communities.
CAMA can help tailor your messages to speak directly and authentically to our target audiences – in their language. Prices include the cost of broadcasting advertisements and production. Note, translation services may be additional. Please be in touch for more information.
Community Access Media in New Zealand is partly funded thanks to NZ On Air.
The year the Broadcasting Act was introduced, a Ministerial Directive was issued requiring NZ On Air to undertake specific funding commitments, including the funding of Community Access Media. The directive says that it’s part of the government’s general policy that Community Access Media services should be available for a broad range of non-profit community groups.
Thanks to the legislation and directive, access media in Aotearoa enjoys a level of state funding and support that would be the envy of other Community Access Media in most other jurisdictions.
Check out this information pack that details the sector’s programming between Feb/March 2024.
Check out this information pack that details the sector’s programming between Feb/March 2024.
