Triple J Spared Brunt Of ABC Budget Cuts

Triple j and its offshoot stations Double J and Triple J Unearthed are presently all safe from the ABC’s implementation of government-imposed funding cuts of $254 million from the public broadcaster over the next five years.

According to tweets from triple j journalist Alice Workman, the youth radio station and its digital offshoots will be spared any cuts to triple j’s “programs or activities” for now, but will face “adjustments to admin support and multi-platform”.

In a photo of a statement posted to Twitter, triple j is described as already working from “a comparatively low budget to produce its radio networks and online content” and as returning “the lowest cost per listener of all ABC Radio networks.”

The statement adds that triple j also reaches a diverse and young audience, separate to that of the rest of the ABC, while Double J serves as a bridge between triple j and ABC local radio and Radio National. “It is crucial that we engage with this audience and then bring them more broadly across ABC radio services.”

It adds however that triple j will absorb some of the ABC’s broader administrative reductions and that some un specified “centrally funded events” will not be able to go ahead in the future. According to the ABC, more than 400 staff could lose their jobs at the national broadcaster when the cuts are implemented, with the Corporation stating its commitment to using back-office and overhead savings to make up the large bulk of the cuts.

Earlier today ABC managing director Mark Scott outlined the details of how the funding cuts will affect the national broadcaster, confirming that five regional radio outposts and one Adelaide TV station will be closed. He also announced that ABC TV news program Lateline will move to ABC News 24 at an earlier time slot and the establishment of a national, rather than state, end-of-week version of of TV news program 7.30.

In his address Scott also announced, as published by Business Insider, the ABC’s focus in moving ahead “will be on priority areas of News, children’s, triple j and iview” as well as “the creation of ABC Digital Network”.

He added that the ABC will focus on “the extension of radio streaming to regional areas and the development of the personalised radio player that enables listeners to draw in content from across the ABC’s array of services and to access it in one location”.

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