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Tasmanians lose local TV and radio as broadcasters go dark
Community members across Hobart say the slow erosion of locally produced television and radio content has left them feeling cut off from their own city.
How we reported this
Residents from Glenorchy to the Eastern Shore are watching their screens and noticing something missing. Local faces. Local voices. The kind of presenter who knows the difference between a Rokeby postcode and a Rosny one, who can mispronounce Huonville the right way. Across Hobart in mid-2026, that's becoming harder to find.
Southern Cross Austereo's Hobart studios on Liverpool Street have been operating with a skeleton local team since a round of national redundancies in late 2025 consolidated production duties into mainland hubs. WIN Television, which shares broadcast infrastructure in the city, has similarly pulled back the hours devoted to locally originated news bulletins. For the people who grew up watching those bulletins, and who still rely on them for hyperlocal emergency information, council decisions, and the sort of community sport coverage that national desks ignore entirely, the shift feels abrupt and personal.
"You'd hear your suburb mentioned. You'd hear about the Channel Highway or the Brooker Avenue interchange and know it was actually for you," one Moonah resident told The Daily Tasmania this week. She's been listening to community radio on 92.1 FM Edge Radio, a University of Tasmania-affiliated station that broadcasts from the Sandy Bay campus, to fill the gap. "At least they still know where they are."
What the numbers tell us
Edge Radio and 7RPH, the reading and information service broadcasting at 1296 AM, have both reported listener growth in the first half of 2026 that their volunteer coordinators describe as unusual for the winter period. Nationally, Commercial Radio Australia data released in May showed total AM/FM listening in capital cities fell 4 percent year-on-year, but community stations in regional and semi-regional markets bucked that trend, posting a collective 6 percent rise. Tasmania's figures haven't been broken out separately, but both Edge and 7RPH staff say anecdotal demand is up.
The ABC remains the dominant local broadcaster in Tasmania, with ABC Hobart on 936 AM still producing original weekday programming out of its studios on Macquarie Street. But even loyal ABC listeners in suburbs like New Town and West Hobart have flagged concerns that drive-time slots increasingly feature national content cross-fed from Sydney rather than local presenters responding to local callers. The ABC declined to comment on staffing arrangements ahead of a scheduled internal review due in August.
Meanwhile, Tasmanian community television, never a large industry here, has essentially ceased. The last regular locally produced community TV timeslot on Channel 31's former Hobart frequency wound down in 2024, leaving a gap that streaming hasn't filled for older and lower-income audiences who don't pay the $22.99 monthly fee for services like Binge or the $18 Stan tier.
Filling the silence
Some community organisations are trying to step in. The Clarence City Council has been trialling a short-form video bulletin posted to its website and social channels twice weekly since March, covering local planning decisions and events around Rosny Park and Howrah. It's rudimentary, filmed on a council-issue camera in a carpeted meeting room, but residents who've watched it say they appreciate something targeted to their patch.
Closer to the CBD, the Salamanca Arts Centre has been hosting an informal audio documentary project through its community programming arm, giving local residents, including retirees from Battery Point and young families from South Hobart, access to basic recording equipment and a publishing platform. Twelve episodes have gone out since February.
None of it replaces the reach of a licensed broadcaster pumping signal across kunanyi/Mount Wellington and into the Derwent Valley. Industry observers say the Liberal state government, which has been preoccupied with the AFL stadium cost blowout at Macquarie Point and the ongoing Marinus Link negotiations, has shown limited appetite to lobby Canberra for stronger local content obligations on commercial licensees.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority is scheduled to release a local content compliance report for regional broadcasters in September. Tasmanian community groups, including the Friends of Community Broadcasting, say they intend to make formal submissions before the July 25 deadline. Anyone wanting to contribute can lodge comment directly through ACMA's online portal.