Governing for innovation

The 1992 Broadcasting Services Act simplified an unwieldy existing legislative framework and reformed the broadcasting regulator, renamed the Australian Broadcasting Authority. In accordance with the Labor government's desire for a co-ordinated expansion and diversification of services it directed the new authority to initiate an integrated nationwide spectrum review and planning process. This process was designed to identify capacity and demand for new services and to inform the subsequent release of new licences in each of Australia's commercial, community and national broadcasting sectors. In this seminar Chris K Wilson will argue that the new Act and spectrum review did more than just reveal demand: it inspired the formation of hundreds of new broadcasting organisations (particularly in the community radio sector), encouraged experimentation in broadcasting content, communication infrastructure configuration and media convergence, and clearly impacted the cultural landscape beyond broadcasting. This incredibly dynamic period of broadcasting-led cultural innovation has received little scholarly attention and has largely been passed over by Australia's collecting and exhibiting institutions. Following the presentation, Chris will open up discussion of new pathways for examining this period.