Community noticeboard
Community Noticeboard is a free public service from Hawkesbury Radio. Not-for-profit organisations holding events in our listening area or close to it, are welcome to let us know about forthcoming events, which will be included in our noticeboard announcements several times a day.
All you have to do is let us know at least two weeks in advance, and make sure you give us details of a contact person so we can follow up with one of the organisers.
Now you can contact our Community Noticeboard team on line through our Community Noticeboard page. >>>
STOP PRESS: ACMA's Investigation complete
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA)’s investigation has been completed and has found Hawkesbury Radio NOT in breach of its License. A small group of members who have waged a nasty campaign against the Station and the Board for several months complained to ACMA and claimed Hawkesbury Radio was in breach of its broadcast license. Had these members succeeded then Hawkesbury Radio would potentially have lost its Broadcast license and therefore ceased broadcasting permanently. They were never going to succeed, but they tried very hard to influence ACMA staff.
UPDATE on the Privacy Issue
We have completed our consultation process, where we asked all of our members to state whether they do (or do not) authorise us to release their private details to others as part of our membership register. It took a few weeks to accomplish, because we had to send snail mail to every member and wait for their response, then update and double-check our records.
The Board believes our members’ privacy is critically important, which is why we undertook this exercise in the first place, and it’s proved important in the minds of the members too, because 82% of the members have stated that they wish us to keep their private details private. In fact several members stated that they were horrified and had no idea when they applied to join the station that they were giving us details that could be made public to people they barely knew at any time. Hawkesbury Community Radio Station will respect their privacy and the Privacy Laws of this Nation. Only the details required by law will be made available on the membership register. (Members can change their privacy status at any time by simply advising the office in writing of their choice.)
This has also meant that any pending membership applications have to be resubmitted on the new membership form, with their approval (or otherwise) to release their private details on the membership list. We are writing to people who have submitted membership applications in the last few weeks advising them that they have been held, pending the outcome of this change, and once they are resubmitted on the new form, the Board will consider them as soon as possible.
There has been a lot of coverage in the local press about this issue, and whether or not the Board was denying legitimate access to the membership register. As we have stated repeatedly, we have never denied access to the membership register. We merely wanted the members to first have the option of stating their preferences relating to the release of their private details. We are pleased to advise that now that the privacy issue has been resolved, and members have had a chance to state their wishes, the members who wanted to see the list were advised on Thursday 9 February that they could make a time with the office to see the register.
At the time of writing this, more than a week later on 17 February, no-one has made such an appointment.
