It's kind of bizarre that this update is coming on World Autism Awareness Day, right here in April 2024.  One would like to say that it certainly has become a good thing that there is now so much more awareness of the condition, more knowledge and resources to draw on, compared to 50 years ago when I was first diagnosed, and roughly 30 years ago when one knew it was having a major impact on life's daily interactions.

Sadly for us though, all our attempts of having both autistic and disability representation in broadcast radio has fallen on deaf ears, yes, I did mean that pun.  It feels like November 2013 all over again.  Back then we were trying to obtain a terrestrial radio broadcast license for the Sydney area.   Of the last four to five years, we've placed a huge amount of effort in a:) approaching both commercial and community broadcasters for syndicating our material on pre-existing AM, FM, and DAB+ services, and b:) looked into buying up redundant licenses where there is no service.  Incredibly, the attitude has been nothing short of uncompromising and defiant, not an inch, not a hair's width.   

Yes, this is going to be another massive update, we're all here at the fresh mix are at a cross road.   It is both incredibly ironic and sickeningly contradictive that we currently have a government minister, Ms Amanda Rishworth, who is currently promoting her agenda of getting those on the Autistic Spectrum both economically and socially included, but it seems to be more a notoriety thing more then anything else.

The reality is that our engagements with both her and Ms Rowland's have fallen on absolute deaf ears, they have both ignored us to what some have said in our group to a "contemptuous level".   After 32 years of trying to advocate for the need for people with disabilities to have access to the radio broadcast spectrum, our only piece of correspondence was a rather pathetic boiler plate reply from Ms Rowland's office.   This is despite the fact that they are "FOUR" unused frequencies of FM broadcast spectrum that we could be broadcasting on throughout the Sydney and Wollongong areas, allowing people with autism and disabilities to have representation on the radio medium. 

BACKGROUND

Though initially we made proposals to some commercial services, the majority of our efforts were concentrated on community and independent radio broadcasters, considering they are driven with a different culture.  We did consider some low power stations, to at least get a foot in the door, but the two we spoke to; 2SSR FM, and Connect FM noted that they don't have the technology to switch from automated content to a live syndicated stream.   One thought with 2024 technology this would have been a breeze, but obviously this was not the case and as both were only low powered, we decided that pursuing any further involvement was not conducive to our main charter.   Casual discussions with some members noted that the schedules of both stations were pretty full. 

This left us with three viable options of getting The Fresh Mix on to a platform of any real significance, when considering the community broadcasting sector.   2OOO FM in Burwood, FBI Radio in Redfern, and 2RPH in Glebe.

MAKING THE RIGHT APPROACH

Noting that all three of these stations would have been licensed under special provisions, we took three considerations into account before approaching each of them.  The primary proposal was to look into overnight shifts, mostly for the reason of not conflicting with each of the organisation's primary remits, which respectively was bilingual, youth culture, and print handicapped reading.   

The three considerations we took into account; a:) with what was being syndicated on one service, was it being replicated somewhere else?  They are several stations in Sydney that run the BBC World Service overnight, having one less isn't going to be the end of the world.   b:) as all stations have to pay a music royalty fees to APRA (Australian Performing Rights Association), was our content going to effect their arrangements with APRA.   Would our proposed content bump them into a higher royalty quota where they'd have to pay more? and, c:) would our content affect their broadcasting license standing with ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority), as in what were the conditions in which the station was licensed under, and with such in mind, would our content cause a breach in their licensed standing. 

So with all this in mind, we decided on proposing 12 hours of material per week, two overnight shifts of six hours.  The program length would have been long enough for us to establish some kind of presence within the Sydney handicapped community, yet short enough to not impact any of the stations primary remit commitments, we did put our best foot forward in paying all diligence in making sure we considered all the angles, as they say, doing the homework first before diving in.   

THE OUTCOMES

We initially approached 2OOO FM in Burwood, but their phone was completely dead, an email we obtained from a media forum also came back as non respondent, we tried contacting this station several times over a period of about eight months, but no one was able to be reached.   As of this revised 10th April update, we have received contact from 2OOO, dialog is currently in progress, we're keeping our fingers crossed. 

We then approached 2RPH wile liasing with APRA and ACMA, both licensing bodies stated that it would have not impacted 2RPH's license in any way.  As much as 2RPH was technically okay to go ahead with our syndication, we received a rather sharp pointed rebuke, they noted that they did not want to relinquish any of their airtime to any external parties.   We understood that they were primarily a book reading service, but the reality is with the emergence of text to speech software and artificial intelligence, 2RPH's charter is rapidly becoming irrelevant; an opinion coming from someone who is blind.

We then looked into broadcasting onto the CRN, the community Broadcasting Network, but speaking to CBAA (Community Broadcasting Association of Australia), they noted all programmed shows had to be pre-recorded (yawnnnn), then keep in mind that the maximum length we could present a show in was 57 minutes, basically less then one hour, (let's pull another yawn).  One hour of show per week is not much, not really enough time to established some kind of in-depth presence with a target audience, relative for setting down some grass roots for moving issues within the disability community forward.   

Wile visiting the CBAA in Redfern, I decided to walk into FBI radio located next door, to initially float the idea of running The Fresh Mix, again, with the above considerations in mind.    The head honcho did appreciate we did do our homework, I give him credit for at least giving us a little of his time completely and utterly off the cuff.  But sure enough like a kalashnikov, the short sharp rebuke came a week later.  They noted that they wanted to continue their focus on Sydney's youth and arts culture, which to us was no problem.  After all that's what they were licensed to do; they still had 156 hours per week to do that, nothing would have stopped them from doing so, we were not reproposing the entirety of their schedule, definitely not.   

Concurrently with our efforts, another member of our team was canvassing some of the commercial stations, in particularly the unused DAB+ spectrum.   Wile on the whole he did not receive any correspondence, upon a follow up phone call, he was told off by a station manager, let's say they were quite a number of condescending words and profanities from said station manager, rather unprofessional and disgusting.   Though he has told me what station it was, I feel that it may not be appropriate to elaborate.   

Again, like us, he did the homework, and proposed that they could run their ads and promotions within our schedule, we weren't even wanting a cent of their revenue, again, we just wanted to get our idea and representation out there.   It would have been a "win win" for both the commercial network, as they would have made money from our format, plus we as disabled presenters would have been able to get exposure to real radio.  However now, the nominated DAB+ spectrum is either sitting idol, or playing a limited 40 song play-list over and over.     

ISSUES AND REACTIONS FROM OUR MEETINGS:

Unfortunately for us, FBI Radio was our last real viable option for getting any real exposure to Sydney's airwaves.  We as a group collectively were absolutely devastated.  All the stations we approached lost sight that we only wanted two 6 hour shifts out of an entire weeks schedule, they still would've had 156 hours for pursuing their primary focus, (youth culture, book reading, and bilingual content).

Generally when the no compromise stance toward our syndication proposal was discussed during the subsequent meeting between Fresh Mix programmers,, the mood was not good.   This was in aspect of how we considered each stations standing with APRA and ACMA, making sure that our programming material would not create any issues respectively to each licensing body, and the time of day and length of our shows for minimum impact to each of the stations remits, only to be told "NO" on all counts.   

We discussed FBI radio's offer of having them present our struggles within a special show they distribute to the CRN network.  They presented it as an idea for pitching what The Fresh Mix is, and how it could be presented as a show on other community radio stations.   Unfortunately, it was unanimous between us Fresh Mix programmers that this was only at best going to lead to a pre-recorded show on the CRN network with the same constraints as pointed out previously by CBAA staff.  Though we have not yet formally replied to FBI's offer of their special program, the entire mood of the fresh mix team is understandably lacking any motivation and inspiration; we absolutely hate internet streaming, it's like presenting a radio station to one person at a time.   

THE BROADER POLITICAL REBUKE:

In light of the bad luck we've been enduring with being unable to syndicate our material on pre-existing broadcasters, one of our members scoured the spectrum, and had noted that they are three FM frequencies in Sydney, and one in Wollongong available for broadcasting, these slots are just white noise.  We of this moment would be in a position to propose a service that would have been within the constraints of certain transmitter wattages and directional parameters, thus not interfering with other pre-existing services. 

With this in mind, we've had further correspondence with the federal communications minister, Ms Michelle Rowland, and honestly, her attitude stinks.   Despite our best efforts in explaining our position to her and the struggles we've had in accessing the airwaves, her stance was defiant and stubborn as ever.   It being highly probable she's never read a word of our correspondence, her secretary replied back in a typically boiler plate fashion that she "encourages us to continue broadcasting on the internet". 

I mean Wow!, you should have seen the expressions and the reaction at our meeting.   I mean, her as a woman!   Try to tell a bunch a ladies at a scones and cake morning meeting that "they are encouraged to continue looking after their man, to continue cleaning up the house, and looking after the children, how dare they ever have paid work".  Well the letter metaphorically communicated the same sentiment to us, "How dare we ever make it to broad-scale broadcast radio".  On discussing things further on moving forward,  We engaged with our local MP in attempting of getting Ms Rowland's to the table, she was also completely oblivious to our local MPs attempts as well, unbelievable.  Wile our correspondence was extensive in pointing out our background and past attempts of getting a license, the uncompromising, defiant, and ignorant stance continued.  They were no efforts in wanting to talk with us directly, there wasn't even the smallest ounce of any curiosity why we were lobbying so desperately hard. 

Of last week, we received a call from the secretary of our local MPs office, stating that they couldn't assist us any further.   He did hint that they may be still some lines of enquiry going, but going off a pure gut feeling, it's very doubtful.  He echoed the same sentiments regarding the local community radio station, and recommend that we pursue the option of having our program syndicated across australia on the CBAA's CRN network for at least getting ourselves out there.  However as explained above, we would have been constrained by the same limitations.

Remember our local MP is part of one of the two major parties in Australia who receive rather large donations from the corporate radio industry (as noted by the greens democracy for sale website), so it was already a foregone conclusion they had no interest in seriously pursuing our grievances with the broadcast license system.  As of a few days ago, it was revealed on ABC's PM program that selected lobbyists who are sponsored by certain MPs with an orange pass apparently have unvetted access to parliamentarians, pretty much like just walking into the parliamentary chambers in Canberra for their friendly chat.    I can certainly bet the corporate radio lobby has a few of these passes, hence why we have been completely shut out from the entire broadcasting license regulatory discussion.   

THE PRESS RELEASE:

WE finally prepared a press release detailing all our engagements, or lack thereof, and looked into sending it off to one of the newspapers, again, this was something where we needed to do some homework.   We were obviously not going to send it off to the Sydney Morning Herald.  It being owned by Nine Media, owners of two pre-existing radio stations in Sydney, they would not be keen on promoting any other radio media in any other context, for obvious reasons.   With Murdoch also owning two stations in Sydney, sending a press release to any News Limited paper would also run into the same conflicting interests, not to mention his associated political stance.

So we ultimately decided on sending our press released to Australian Community Media, upon researching the owner; Mr Alex Waisliz, it seemed that he had neither any radio broadcast, nor television broadcast interests.  Along side of our press release we sent him a brief letter hoping to explain our situation, and that he may have somewhat of an empathetic view of our experiences, and dedicate somewhat of an impacting campaign that "people with disabilities are not being represented in the radio broadcast sector".   

This resulted in a rather pathetic two paragraph letter to the editor that was relegated to the back of the paper, where the online version was so hidden behind a subscription wall that anyone searching for it through google would not have ever found it.   I only knew about it through an email from family, even then I had to get a free subscription to see my so called "letter to the editor". 

Our group, though small is treated with contempt, and with expressing my sentiments on a media forum a week ago or so, I was humbled to read some privately sent messages from other autistic people who have tried making it in the radio industry.  They also tell of the same arrogant, selfish, and ignorant attitudes that we've experienced ourselves from the industry.   

INTERNET RADIO IS A JOKE!

One of our members promptly stated it so bluntly at our last meeting, "we are sick to death of feeling that we are in work experience for the entire duration of our lives.  We don't exactly measure this by being remunerated financially necessarily or exclusively, but being in an environment where we can be heard, be engaged, and make an impact toward the larger community.   We're sick to death of only having to listeners on a crappy internet stream, or the occasional lone person tuning in on some low powered station". 

It was mentioned further into the meeting that when professional radio announcer Marcus Paul was taken off 2SM, he continued his show on the Starter FM radio stream.  Despite him being a fully abled person, with very good social media contacts and followers, it was soon realised that Mr Paul's program was not viable, neither financially, nor in an audience capacity when broadcasting only on the internet.   This was not a reflection that Mr Paul's show was not any less worthy, or that his integrity was inferior, it is the REAL at the coalface reality that internet radio is crude, backward, unwieldy, and clunky.  It is not as static, free-flowing, and ultimately EASILY DISCOVERABLE as normal terrestrial radio.   

Normal radio is just a touch of the knob away, wile an internet stream has to be found through search engines, directory listings, radio portals, then trying to get your device successfully connected, that's if the data doesn't buffer, and the URL link doesn't time out.   Modern phone apps do improve the situation a little, but you still have to download the app after first knowing that it exists, and then on top of such, is it available for your platform or device.   

Someone on Wikipedia once said "Internet radio is not real radio".  Well after 20 years of doing such, I couldn't agree more, they were right on the money.   Where at the time, I may have been annoyed, I would now describe it as a form of media, but definitely not radio, more honestly to the point it's nothing more then a hobby, just a waste of time if you have a day job.   

THE AUTISTIC JOURNEY IN MODERN POLITICS:

I guess our journey has been a trip through the modern neo-liberal human psyche, a sense of where discretion is only rewarded to the social elite and well connected.  Note the key-words, "Socially well connected", the very thing that those with High Functioning Autism struggle with if not most, through the course of their entire life.   Your destination to any success or recognition is based on ones ability to "follow the herd".   

This is broken down as per the "Neo Liberal" stance is to celebrate the philosophy of a free market, where the structure of society and who can be part of it, is based on the free will of those higher up the social hierarchies sharing their resources with the ones they deem to be worthy of any significance. 

If you are not one of the so called selected, your life is best described as a hollow shell, living in social isolation, pretty much living as an abject hermit.  The Autistic person for a wile repeatedly keeps reaching out, only to be rebuked over and over.  Realising they are continually thrown back into their hermit shell relentlessly, regardless on how hard they try, they ultimately in the end give up from the mental, emotional, and psychological exhaustion.   

The very essence of being on the spectrum is that the condition is invisible, when first meeting people, they don't know that you have it.   All they see is that something is off, they can't describe it themselves, but it triggers that piece of intuition within them that says, "that person is not one of us, time to fob them off".   This aptly describes my experiences, again, people don't know I have it, but you know the chemistry is not there when nothing seems to follow through, or work out.   

There is never that spontaneous comeback of making you feel as an autistic person that you are worthy of any of life's rewarding experiences.   As being on the spectrum giving the illusion of expressing any of life's normal aspirations, goals, or desires to achieve will instantly make you look like someone with a huge sense of entitlement, "how dare you, how dare you ever entertain the thought that you would like to have or achieve X or Y".  I've experienced this both in person and of recent times online, being ruthlessly trolled on one of Australia's radio and broadcasting forums. 

It is constantly reinforced into you as an autistic how different you are as an individual.   When most people get together, they'll lock interests, engaging on common likes, endeavours, ambitions and etc.  Whatever differences they may have are put aside in the aid of pursuing a common relationship where interests and resources are shared.  For us auties, this entire normal social principle is completely turned on to its head, where instead of common experiences bonding us together,  such social gatekeepers will continually reinforce how different we are, crushing any motivation or aspirations we may have to join in or to take part.   

Instead of hiding behind a government website, a wall of authority, the fortress of power that today's corporate world and government has become, it would have been nice if somebody came back to us enthusiastically with the real intensions of asking "Hey, that sounds like a great idea, how can we help?".   

We live in a modern neo liberal society where the corporate lobbyists, barrel porkers, selfish donors, and politicians with an overwhelming sense of entitlement run the system.  My friends and I are way down the pecking order; unless you can donate some huge amount, or bribe someone, particularly as an autistic person, you're resigned to a very non-inspiring, non-motivating, empty life on a crappy centrelink benefit.  The agenda twisters, spin-doctors, and narrative pushers have their nice clean sterilized media, no longer worried that we're to contaminate that finely manicured media ecosystem.   

SPECTRUM RULED UNDER A CAST IRON FIST:

To conclude, the radio licensing system in Australia is operated under a cast iron fist, with a highly funded corporate radio lobby ready to drag anyone through the courts, who they don't like, they would deem as undesirable competition.  Ultimately, capitalism is good, when the game is fare all round.  One would take Australia, as it was operated under the then Gough Whitlam as a form of soft capitalism.  At this stage I know one is digressing way off track, but pretty much this is the point, radio is no longer an accessible medium for all, it's become very political and territorial. 

WHERE TO NOW FOR THE FRESH MIX DOT COM:

The station will continue on the internet as it is now being operated by my friends in Wollongong.  I may still present a show here and there via request, and update the website as needed.  In respect of attempting to access any terrestrial AM or FM broadcaster for syndication, or obtaining any broadcast license, such goals now seem to be deemed completely out of reach.

I'm now committing myself to other life ventures, and I know already the mood regarding the internet stream down south is also waning.  Unless there is a drastic change of attitude, a change of heart of giving us a worthy platform, I'd probably guess things will chuggle along quietly in the background.  We're ultimately going to become just another disposable pure-play music streaming service, which is not just disheartening for me, but disappointing for our small disability team, the fact that nobody higher up has the time for us, nor couldn't care less to a point of utter contempt.  As Elton John so aptly put it in 1983, "We're just too low for zero".