From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The ABC or Australian Broadcasting Corporation is the national, government-funded public broadcaster in Australia. It provides radio and television services throughout metropolitan and regional Australia. There is also a chain of ABC Shops selling books, audio and video recordings related to ABC programming. It commenced operation in 1932 as a collection of 12 radio stations operating as the Australian Broadcasting Commission but changed its name to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1983 with the passage of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983 (ABC Act).
The ABC is run by a government-appointed board, but programming and editorial decisions are made at arm's length from the government of the day. The political bias of the ABC's news and current affairs coverage is endlessly debated. Conservatives claim that the ABC tends towards the political left wing; liberals and socialists contend that the opposite is true.
Unlike the BBC, the ABC is funded through a government grant-in-aid. In recent years there has been turmoil on the administrative front, with successive Boards of Directors under pressure from the conservative Howard Government. Despite government funding, the ABC is largely independent.
The ABC broadcasts a wide range of content, to match the broad social makeup of Australia. On ABC Television, this ranges from British comedy programs such as The League of Gentlemen and Absolutely Fabulous to children's programs such as Sesame Street and its own Play School. Bananas in Pyjamas is an ABC production, now seen and enjoyed by children worldwide dubbed into their own language. It produces specialist programs for rural viewers (such as 'Landline'), a large range of high quality current affairs programmes (notably 'The 7:30 Report' and Four Corners), whose number of foreign reporters is unmatched by other Australian networks. It also produces Australian drama and comedy. Recent notables have included the ratings hit Kath and Kim and Grassroots, joining the crypt of Australian TV treasures: Frontline, The Games and Mother and Son.
Its radio networks include: ABC local radio, a succession of stations broadcasting light entertainment, talkback, and some current affairs and most popular with older audiences; Triple J, a national youth radio network; Radio National, a nationwide network devoted to intellectual discussion of politics, science, philosophy, the arts, literature, and the like; ABC Classic FM, another nationwide classical-music station; and ABC NewsRadio, a 24-hour news station that also broadcasts the proceedings of federal Parliament when in session. The ABC also operates Radio Australia, the international shortwave service with transmissions aimed at Asia and the Pacific Islands featuring programmes in various languages in these regions. Radio Australia concentrates on news and current affairs, but it also features historical documentaries, information about Australian lifestyle and culture, and light entertainment.
The ABC's postal address is "Box 9994 in your Capital city" (Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Darwin, Adelaide) in memory of the life-time test average cricket score (99.94, being 6996 in 80 innings) of Sir Donald Bradman, the great Australian cricketer.
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 A Thirty-Year History of Programs Carried on National Radio Networks in the United States, 1926-1956. |
 Radio Drama: A Comprehensive Chronicle of American Network Programs, 1932-1962 |
 Radio Program Openings and Closings, 1931-1972 | ||||
 Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of over 1800 Shows |
 Media Log: A Guide to Film, Television, and Radio Programs Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Division of Pu |
 Great Radio Audience Participation Shows: Seventeen Programs from the 1940s and 1950s |
 Radio Program Ideabook. | ||||
 Greater than the bomb : the first publication in English of a radio program broadcast internationally in 1950 and repeated many times since |
