4DDB

4DDB (pronounced "Four Dee Dee Bee" or simply "Dee Dee Bee") is a community radio station operating in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, transmitting in the FM band at a frequency of 102.7 MHz.

History

4DDB was established in the 1970s by a dedicated band of volunteers and radio broadcasting enthusiasts. As a community radio station, 4DDB is a long- standing member of the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA).

Location

tudio

4DDB has its broadcast and production studios, office and meeting complex located in the Toowoomba CBD.

Transmitter

4DDB's stereo FM transmitter is located atop the engineering faculty building at the University of Southern Queensland in Darling Heights.

Audience

4DDB's signal propagates throughout Toowoomba, the Darling Downs and Lockyer Valley and listeners report acceptable signals from as far afield as Jandowae, Gatton, Warwick and Crows Nest.

Programming

As a "generalist" style community broadcaster, 4DDB seeks simply to connect with its audience within the geographic coverage provided by its transmitter primarily through an easy listening format of music programming. 4DDB also caters for special- interest groups by programming with dedicated German, Dutch, Filipino, African and Christian programs which air on a weekly basis. Likewise, print-handicapped members of the community benefit from daily news, events, articles, current affairs and weather readings sourced from local and state print media. 4DDB supports a high Australian content policy in its programming and encourages local artists and performers to contribute works for broadcast.

4DDB broadcasts programs of many musical genres including country, pop, rock, jazz, oldtime and folk as well as informational content and community announcements. 4DDB follows a traditional radio broadcasting format including early morning, breakfast, news, lunchtime, 'drive', evening and 'graveyard' slots or shifts.

BBC World Service is relayed from midnight to 4am daily whilst BBC News is broadcast during program changes sometimes incorporating the BBC Pips for listener time synchronisation.

Funding

4DDB is supported financially through subscriptions, sponsorship, donations and grant funding.

Licence Breaches

In May 2008, the Australian Communications and Media Authority found that 4DDB was in breach of its licence conditions by failing to appropriately disclose financial support during live interviews with commercial sponsors [cite web | year = May 19 2008 | url = http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/19/2248592.htm | title = 4DDB breaches licence conditions | publisher = Australian Broadcasting Corporation | accessdate = 2008-05-20] . No penalty was issued as this was the first such breach.

In September 2008, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, investigating in response to two written complaints, again found that 4DDB was operating in breach of its licence conditions specified by Schedule 2 to the "Broadcasting Services Act 1992" by i) broadcasting advertisements without acknowledgment of financial support, ii) exceeding the five minutes per hour limit of sponsorship announcements, and iii) operating the service as part of a profit- making enterprise [cite web | year = September 20 2008 | url = http://acma.gov.au/webwr/_assets/main/lib310622/4ddb-report_1993.pdf | title = Radio 4DDB - Investigation Report 1993 | publisher = Australian Communications and Media Authority | accessdate = 2008-09-20] . ACMA did find however, that the service was adequately representing the community interest. The investigation detailed the complex programming, commercial and financial arrangements and agreements that have been in place between the management committee, presenters and other parties. It also mentions verbal agreements and found that, in practice, 4DDB had effectively sold air time to other parties. The investigation concluded that these breaches of licence conditions were of a serious nature and as such ACMA would pursue compliance measures.

References

External links

* [http://4ddb.org.au/ 4DDB FM]
* [http://www.cbaa.org.au/content.php/2.html Community Broadcasting Association of Australia]
* [http://acma.gov.au Australian Communications and Media Authority]

=See also=
* List of Australian radio stations