New SBS Radio Schedule has launched

The new SBS Radio Schedule has launched as of 29th April 2013

SBS has launched its new Radio Schedule. The new Radio Schedule brings the languages broadcast on SBS’s analogue radio service into line with today’s Australia.

The last major review of the SBS Radio Schedule was more than 18 years ago in 1994, and during that time Australia’s demographics have changed significantly.

SBS is now providing an additional radio channel on digital TV and digital radio (SBS 3) where audiences can listen to language programs that have been moved from the AM/FM analogue schedule to the new digital schedule. This new service allows for more Australians to listen to SBS Radio language programs. As part of the launch of the new digital SBS Radio Schedule, SBS is promoting the new service extensively and has a program in place to provide a limited number of new digital radios as required to SBS listeners in consultation with key stakeholder and community groups.

Below you will find details about the new SBS Radio Schedule including how languages were selected and the new broadcast times.

Find your language on the new SBS Radio Schedule.

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Why did SBS need to review its radio services?

The last major review of the SBS Radio Schedule was more than 18 years ago in 1994 (with minor changes made in 2003) and during that time Australia’s demographics have changed significantly. More

Since then, the relative size of some languages spoken has changed and new languages are being spoken in Australia as a result of new migration patterns and refugee and asylum seeker intake.

The new SBS Radio Schedule ensures that SBS continues to deliver on its obligations as set out in the SBS Charter.

Our Process

Finalise Selection Criteria to determine languages on the new SBS Radio Schedule
Selection of languages on the new SBS Radio Schedule using the final Selection Criteria
Allocate broadcast hours and distribute those hours on the new SBS Radio Schedule

1. Finalise Selection Criteria

During April 2012, SBS conducted 'SBS Radio Consultation 2012', a public consultation process to seek feedback on the proposed Selection Criteria which SBS would use to determine languages on a new analogue SBS Radio Schedule. More

SBS Radio Consultation 2012 received almost 1,200 responses and the final Selection Criteria was announced on 13 June 2012.

Final Selection Criteria – SBS Analogue (AM/FM) Radio

Large Languages Criteria^*: population greater than 20,000
High Needs Languages Criteria^*:
1. Threshold requirement - population must be greater than 1,000
2. English language proficiency (weight = 40%)
3. Recentness of arrival (weight = 30%)
4. Ageing (weight = 15%)
5. Household resources and unemployment (weight = 15%)

SBS may also include a sizeable ethnic community if its needs are significant but not adequately captured in the Large Language or High Needs Selection Criteria. Factors which SBS may take into account include:

Discrimination/Vilification: where a group is subject to frequent discrimination or vilification in Australia based on race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin.
Immediate need: a significant increase in the population of a language group through Australia’s Humanitarian Program.

^* SBS will use ABS 2011 Census data for languages spoken in Australia.

SBS Radio Consultation 2012

A public consultation was conducted between 2-30 April 2012 to seek feedback on the proposed Selection Criteria which SBS would use to determine languages on a new analogue SBS Radio Schedule.

SBS received 1,193 responses. Feedback from SBS Radio listeners made up 73% of all responses and community representatives 21%.

Feedback was received from 83 language groups.

After careful consideration of all feedback received SBS made four changes to the proposed Selection Criteria and the final Selection Criteria was endorsed by the SBS Board and announced on 13 June 2012.

2. Selection of Languages

The total number of language programs on the new SBS Radio Schedule has increased from 68 to 74 language programs. More

The new SBS Radio Schedule includes six new languages, more programming for language groups which have grown significantly during the past 18 years and a new digital-only schedule for 21 languages.

For the first time SBS is delivering news and information in Malayalam, Dinka, Hmong, Pashto, Swahili and Tigrinya. The program hours for many of SBS’s existing language programs such as Mandarin, Cantonese, Hindi and Punjabi have increase substantially to cater for the growing number of people speaking those languages in Australia today.

SBS continues to be the most multilingual radio broadcaster in the world.

SBS applied data from the 2011 Census to the final Selection Criteria to determine languages on the new analogue SBS Radio Schedule. The relevant Census data was released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in several stages. The final data was released on 30 October 2012.

Languages currently on the SBS Radio AM/FM analogue schedule that did not qualify under the final language Selection Criteria (and the number of speakers of that language is over 1000) have been moved from the analogue schedule to a new digital radio schedule. SBS is continuing to produce content for these languages and is distributing it via digital radio, digital TV, online and mobile Apps.

By the end of 2013 every household in Australia will have access to Digital TV when the current Analogue TV service is switched off. At that time via Digital TV, every household in Australia will have access to all SBS Radio language programs via:

SBS 1 – AM Radio
SBS 2 – FM Radio
SBS 3 – Digital Radio (new)

SBS 3 – Digital Radio (new)

From 29 April 2013, SBS is now providing an additional radio channel on digital TV (SBS 3) where audiences can listen to language programs that have been moved from the current AM/FM analogue schedule to the new digital schedule. This new service makes it easier for audiences to transition to digital platforms and allow for more Australians to listen to SBS Radio language programs.

As part of the launch of the new digital SBS Radio Schedule, SBS is promoting the new service extensively and has a program in place to provide a limited number of new digital radios as required to SBS listeners in consultation with key stakeholder and community groups.

The new SBS Radio Schedule includes:

Living Black Radio (Aboriginal)	Greek	Persian-Farsi
African (English)	Gujarati	Polish
Albanian	Hebrew/Yiddish	Portuguese
Amharic	Hindi	Punjabi
Arabic	Hmong	Romanian
Armenian	Hungarian	Russian
Assyrian	Indonesian	Samoan
Bangla	Italian	Serbian
Bosnian	Japanese	Sinhalese
Bulgarian	Kannada	Slovak
Burmese	Khmer	Slovenian
Cantonese	Korean	Somali
Cook Island Maori	Kurdish	Spanish
Croatian	Laotian	Swahili
Czech	Latvian	Swedish
Danish	Lithuanian	Tamil
Dari	Macedonian	Thai
Dinka	Malay	Tigrinya
Dutch	Malayalam	Tongan
Estonian	Maltese	Turkish
Fijian	Mandarin	Ukrainian
Filipino	Maori	Urdu
Finnish	Nepali	Vietnamese
French	Norwegian	World News Australia (English)
German	Pashto

3. Allocate broadcast hours and distribute those hours

Once the language list was determined SBS considered some 'programming principles' to place programs on the new SBS Radio Schedule. These principles included: More

Ease of navigation for audiences, where possible regular days and times across the week have been used to make it easier for audiences to remember when to listen.
Maintain AM/FM frequencies where possible to minimise audience disruption
Grouping languages together where it’s likely audiences speak multiple languages and may like to keep listening

The language list and programming principles were then applied to the available airtime, and each language program was allocated a proportionate amount of weekly airtime in relation to the size of its community in Australia and the other languages on the Schedule.

On the new analogue (AM/FM) SBS Radio Schedule, the minimum number of broadcast hours for any language program is two hours per week, and the maximum number of broadcast hours for any language program is 14 hours per week.

For the first time on SBS, language programs on our AM and FM analogue schedules are broadcasting a minimum of two hours per week. This means we can offer more Australian and international news and information to our audiences.

On the new digital SBS Radio Schedule, each language program is receiving one broadcast hour per week.

What are the next steps for SBS?

Now the new SBS Radio Schedule has launched, SBS is promoting the changes extensively through SBS radio, online, TV and social media, as well as through key stakeholders, community groups and external media throughout Australia.

The promotions include the new broadcast days and times for all language programs on the Schedule, details about the launch of SBS 3 – the new digital radio channel available via TV, and information about SBS’s digital radio giveaways.

Can I comment on the new SBS Radio Schedule?

The new SBS Radio Schedule has now launched. If you have any questions or would like to make a comment about the new SBS Radio Schedule please click here

Glossary:

Analogue radio: is the main way radio is delivered in Australia using AM and FM frequencies.

Digital radio: is newer technology to deliver radio services and was launched in Australia in 2009. To receive digital radio services, listeners must have access to a digital radio (DAB+). All SBS Radio services are currently broadcast on analogue, digital and online. The AM and FM services can also be heard on digital television.