Type Public Location Melbourne, Australia | Established 2008 | |
Website www.youtube.com/radioffshore | ||
Radio Offshore is an international media watchdog organisation based in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 2008 in the face of a continuous decrease in quality media, Radio Offshore frequently satirises 'patronising media', particularly focusing on televisual material - especially advertising. Radio Offshore has also parodied organisations such as the University of Melbourne, in protest of the demise of the Victorian College of the Arts.
Radio Offshore takes its name from pirate radio stations, often known as offshore radio stations due to their broadcast practice which involves anonymous signal output from a vessel in international waters. In particular, the Radio Offshore name pays tribute to Radio Caroline, which was one of many stations responsible for the broadcast of alternative media to the United Kingdom in the 1960s.
2009
As part of the University of Melbourne’s 2010 Business Plan, the Victorian College of the Arts' Schools of Dance, Drama and Production will be merged into the "School of Performing Arts" while the School of Film and Television has been downgraded to merely "a series of programs" with its future as yet undecided by the University. The School of Music has already been amalgamated with the University's music department as reflected in the College's recent rebranding as the V.C.A.M. while the Schools of Music Theatre and Puppetry (the only school of its kind in Australia) have seen their courses suspended from future student intake.
The University of Melbourne started this process by retrenching many of the V.C.A.’s sessional, technical and administrative staff, all of whom have been integral to the function, curriculum and success of the school for decades. These staffing cuts, in combination with the re-allocation of resources, will dramatically increase the workload of remaining staff and seriously reduce the quality of education at the V.C.A.
Without immediate action the further implementation of the Melbourne Model will see the remaining V.C.A. schools eventually dissolved into a narrower, academically-conventional undergraduate Fine Arts degree. Limited specialisation will exist only for post-graduate students, in much larger numbers and in expensive courses of reduced quality and length.