More than 16 million people tune into community radio each week, leaving the Australian music scene the big winner, raking in almost $153 million a year from community listening.
When asked to think about something nostalgic what would it be? Two dollar paddle pops? ABC3 early in the morning? Or maybe it’s listening to the radio on your way to school with your parents?
You might have been listening to community radio in the backseat, such as the Illawarra’s VoxFM or the Kiama Community Radio.
According to the evidence more people are tuning in to community listening – including younger generations.
The form of broadcasting is free, accessible and something that aims to provide community connection. By the end of 2025, over 16 million Australians had continued to show that all forms of radio, despite pressures from streaming services, were alive and thriving.
Griffith University Professor Susan Forde believes community radio is here to stay.
“There’s about 450 community radio stations across Australia which is more than the commercial radio sector which has only about 250 commercial radio stations,” Prof Forde said.
“The community radio sector is actually the largest radio sector in Australia.”
To be able to call into the station, personally connect with the host, seems to be something local communities are searching for.
Last year, the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) released their biannual waves of radio analytics for the country through station engagement surveys. The survey showed that among community radio nationally, there were two waves.
In the second half of 2025, an average of 781,000 Australians per week listened exclusively to community radio, that’s almost 3 per cent of the country. This shows that community radio is still current and relevant, Prof Forde said.
Prof Forde said this is due to the constant connection between audience and radio. With connection being the key.
“Community radio has a specific licence to serve the needs of the community,” Prof Forde said.
“I can ring up that station and immediately be on the end of the phone to the broadcaster who’s on air, that’s exciting. That level of accessibility really is the nature of community broadcasting.”
The statistics in wave two has show that an average of 5.39 million people are still tuning into their local community radio weekly.
Kiama Community Radio founder, Gabriela Cabral said that modern perception of radio is that it’s the dying genre of music broadcasting; however, it’s more about providing news to a specific region rather than its music.
“Our objective as a radio service has always been to inform the local community about what’s happening hyper locally,” Ms Cabral said.
Kiama Community Radio was founded in 2020 and prides itself on its tight connection with the community, broadcasting stories and promoting events happening specifically within Kiama.
“We felt that the regional traditional radio stations were not local enough, they’re more generalised information than what we as a small community needed to know,” Ms Cabral said
The survey shows that 36 per cent of listeners tune in for the connection to the hosts, a local voice or personality.
These aspects overall create a more social and local interactive experience.
VoxFM presenter and board member Kevin Baron comes into his community station on Saturday nights, music organised, on-air light shines and the speaker blasts,”Goooood evening Illawarra!”.
Mr Baron said the community engagement is what drives him to come in every night for the program.
“With community radio, you can relate to it,” he said.
“They can be involved in many other ways than just in the car.”
Source: VoxFM
Mr Baron also said that the younger demographic is what the radio sector must focus on to keep it alive.
“The older generations, as much as we love them, they’re not gonna be here forever, so we need to attract younger people who are gonna be around a little longer,” Mr Baron said.
The research shows that this rise in the younger demographic is evident, with an average of 943,000 listeners aged 15-24 in wave two engaging with community radio across Australia in 2025.
The passing down of the torch from hearing Mum and Dad playing the community radio is evident with this data.
Community radio serves as a platform to promote smaller Australian bands looking for a way into the limelight.
Last month, Prof Forde co-wrote “Community Radio and Australian Music: Building The Music-Media Ecosystem” for the Victorian Music Development Office.
Prof Forde found that community radio stations significantly contribute to local Australian music, generating an estimated amount of $153.1 million annually for Australian music.
This includes high intensity stations which broadcast high quantities of music-specific content, contributing around $105 million in promotion, gigs and other assets to Australian music.
It was found that community radio music broadcasted an estimated amount of 390,960 hours of Australian music annually, which revealed to be double the volume of the entire commercial radio sector.
Mr Baron said that Illawarra’s VoxFM interviews artists from reality shows such as Australian Idol and The Voice.
“We do a lot of independent music interviews,” he said.
“We try to drag these Australian artists who can’t make it onto commercial radio, we try and get their music played here on community radio.”
Source: VoxFM
Monash University Associate Professor Shane Homan, said on the university’s website, that community radio generally supports local artists.
“As digital streaming platforms dominate and local music struggles for visibility, these stations act as the ultimate champions for grassroots talent,” he said.
“They are the essential link connecting local artists with passionate audiences who are eager to discover new music and actually show up to support it.”
With platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, music and news broadcasting seems to be shifting towards streaming.
Research however suggests this isn’t the case, with community radio playing a vital role in the promotion of Australian music.
It seems that the nostalgic feeling of asking mum and dad what is playing on the car radio, a staple moment on an afternoon school pickup, hasn’t faded.
So tune in next time to see how community radio connects to local residents and supports local artistis.
