Is It Time to Privatise Triple J?
When the ABC’s youth radio station Triple J back in August opened up a listener poll over whether it should to move its annual Hottest 100 music countdown from its traditional date of Australia Day it was easy to predict what would be the end result.
Therefore it should be no surprise that yesterday Triple J yesterday announced that the Hottest 100 would now be on January 27th and on the 4th weekend of January every year after that. The result of the poll was that 60% of their listeners agreed with the change, Triple also consulted with the music industry and indigenous leaders.
Triple J claimed that the new date would be more inclusive, I’m not sure how buying into the claim that our national day celebrates genocide really brings Australians together. This adds to the attacks we have seen on Australia Day this year the most notable has been the decision of multiple Inner Melbourne Councils to cancel their Australia Day celebrations.
Triple J just like the rest of the ABC is funded by the taxpayers. It is also meant to reflect the culture of today’s youth. Given that polling commissioned by the Institute of Public Affairs found that 85% of Australians believe Australia Day is a day of national celebration it is worth asking the question: is Triple J reflecting all of youth culture or only the youth who are listening to the station?
This decision by Triple J regarding Australia Day should provide the catalyst for a discussion about whether Triple J should be privatised? Having a government organisation deciding what is part of youth culture, what musicians are allowed to be successful in this nation is not the hallmark of a free society.
Triple J is also a nationally networked station broadcast centrally from Sydney, while commercial radio stations are subjected to local content requirements. What is popular amongst the youth of inner Sydney is certainly not reflective of the youth of the nation as a whole.
It is argued that Triple J is needed because commercial radio stations and the mainstream music industry overlook many Australian musicians. Maybe this because they are not that talented and popular? Why should the government subside musicians who cannot make living through consumers like most Australians have to?
This is not even touching upon the fact that the musicians Triple J promotes, the DJs it employs and the news it produces all lean to the left. For many years Triple J’s breakfast team was Jay and the Doctor from Frenzal Rhomb who called John Howard a ‘racist c***’ and burned effigies of him during their stage performances. Other known leftists employed by the network over the years are Marieke Hardy and Tom Ballard. Indoctrinating the youth under the guise of promoting culture is most contemptable.
Let the market decide what is Australian youth culture and which of our musicians are talented enough to be propelled to superstardom. Let’s end taxpayers signing a blank cheque to another institution that has been captured by the left deciding what our youth culture is.