The Australian Communications and Media Authority has found that the licensee of temporary community broadcasting service, Armidale Community Radio Cooperative Ltd, breached a condition of its licence by failing to encourage members of the community it serves to participate in the operation of the service and in the selection of programs.

Armidale Community Radio Cooperative Ltd holds a temporary community broadcasting licence to provide a radio service to Armidale in northern NSW.

ACMA’s investigation found that the licensee provided only limited opportunities for members of the community to participate in the operations of the service; particularly in the area of decision-making. While the licensee was able to demonstrate that it had actively encouraged community members to participate as presenters, it was unable to provide evidence to demonstrate compliance with the licence condition to encourage community participation in the selection of programs.

The licensee has given ACMA examples of remedial action it has taken and advised it is "looking forward to…greater community participation".

As the temporary community broadcasting licence expires on 3 October 2008, ACMA has asked the licensee to provide a compliance report by the 15 October 2008, for the period 1 July to 30 September 2008.

ACMA’s investigation followed a complaint received on 20 February 2008 that Armidale Community Radio Cooperative Ltd was not encouraging community participation in the operations and programming of the service. The complainant also alleged that the service was failing to represent its community interest in line with its licence conditions. However, ACMA’s investigation found that the licensee was meeting the requirements of this licence condition