Quota Unquota?

Rip It Up, Issue 106, 1 May 1986, Page 6

Quota Unquota?

The argument for a quota of New Zealand music on New Zealand’s radio stations resurfaced last month with the circulation of the quota petition. While the radio stations continue to resist a quota, it seems an opportune time to consider the Australian experience. ' ‘

~ InAustralia, a quota of 20 percent local music was placed on radio stations 12 years ago, at a time when the Australian music industry was small and relatively unsophisticated. Now, it's booming. Local acts are constantly on the airwaves on radio and television, are heavily represented in the upper reaches of the Australian record charts and are among the biggest live drawcards. Is the boom linked to the quota? One person who thinks so is Arnold Frolows, radio programmer of Sydney's 2 Triple-J FM. Owned by the ABC, Triple-J is unlike its BCNZ equivalents however — its format is innovative but accessible, like a mixture between a student station and aZM. Itis also heavily supportive of local music; the quota might say 20 percent, but, says Frolows, Triple-J

plays closer to 30 percent Australian music.

However, despite the demand of the audience for Australian music, Frolows says the quota is still necessary. “It's good that it's there” he says, “because it's not restrictive, it's low enough not to be a problem, and | think that’s why we have this vibrant industry.

“But | wouldn't say that it's no longer an issue. The quota still jolts the programmers along — it's like a bit of awatchdog and it keeps you on your mettle. Us too — you're always trying to make your best programme, so you want quality. ‘Does it fit our profile?, you ask yourself. Because there’s a lot of Australian music we don't play, like country music or MOR stuff. So we check our rotation periodically to

see where we are ... Close to 30 percent?” It's still needed, says Frolows, because as always, the commercial stations tend to follow the overseas charts “quite religiously”. “If you look at the history of the big Australian bands, Midnight Oil and INXS are the best examples, there was a time when nobody was touching them. So if the stations hadn't been bound to play a certain amount, a lot of these bands wouldn't have got a look in until they made the top 30 — which is still the case of course, that's why it’s still very important that there is the requirement”

The healthiness of the Australian

scene now is a result of the quota and the development of independent labels such as Mushroom. “Prior to that, local acts were around, obviously, but there wasn't the massive industry that there is now. Because the majors just had to sit around and release overseas product. Record companies did very little to support developing bands. If they signed anybody, it was usually on spec and the deals were short. The companies may as well have been selling nuts and bolts, they were sitting back selling and distributing.”

“As there was more money being made by the industry, the companies could afford to improve their studios, they could afford to record bands-at outside studios, so the outside studios develop and their quality of equipment and recording standards grew ... all that grew out of the record buying pressure in the 70s to be pro-Australian.” = Frolows says he can understand why the radio stations are resisting the quota. “They feel it's going to obligate them to change the colour of their programming. People are always slow to change, and radio stations are the worst. They'll always say to you, were not in the business of making hits, they're there to play what people want and not what people think they should be hearing. But of course that’s a real Catch 22, because people only hear what they're given, by and large. Because the commercials are there to make money, they're never going to make the slightest change that could disturb their audience because their survival depends on their ratings.” As an ABC-station, Triple-J FM is similar to a Radio New Zealand station belonging to the BCNZ. So Frolows is constantly aware of the special requirement of his station to support local music. “For us, the quota’s not an issue, because we feel very strongly about local music and we've always supported it. Especially us, our basic premise is we're a public broadcasting facility, the money comes from the taxpayer, and we feel that we have to give something back, and part of that is supporting the local music industry.” ;

Chris Bourke