Statistics (as of October 2003)

NZOA provides a total of $1.592 million across 11 radio stations for which we create:

• 94,690 hours of local radio on air
• Thirty-two thousand hours (31,803) of community content
• Over twenty-five thousand hours (25,530) of which is 36c content
• 73,000 hours of personnel working in training, engineering and technology, community capacity building, promotion, fundraising, administration and radio management.

NZOA funding represents a median contribution of $62 to each hour of 36c content - cf. funding contribution of $2,813 per hour to Radio New Zealand from NZOA funding or $600 an hour for independent radio production Paakiwaha.

Tens of thousands of volunteer hours are contributed by citizens willing to make their own communications in the absence of services addressing their needs.

Funding support for one year of community access radio for a region averages $145,000 - cf. one commercial hour - 48 minutes of TV documentary averages funding support of $135,000

Community access broadcasters pay three ways:

• taxation
• the purchase of airtime
• the volunteer hours they put into programme production

The revenue needed to provide all capital expenditure and between 20% and 46% of operations funding comes from the broadcasters themselves or by station fundraising. The need for potential broadcasters to pay for airtime is the primary restriction on access.