THE RESOURCEFUL TERRITORY FM

We are über impressed with Territory FM’s ingenious use of our AoIP technology—starting with adding our SS-8 OLED control modules to L Series IP audio consoles for customizing logic, routing, and workflows. That sort of thing is commonly done with our programmable LXE consoles used in bigger studio installs. But adding a programmable module to a fixed-control console… what a resourceful (and cost effective) way to add custom scripting and expandability to the studio!

It’s this kind of resourcefulness that feeds the big ambitions and smaller budgets of community stations like Territory FM, which moved to new studios on the main campus of Charles Darwin University in Northern Australia earlier this year. Territory FM immediately took to our ScreenBuilder tools to have a studio touchscreen created that brings in weather and news feeds from the university’s IoT club, for example. And while it replaced hardware with software where possible, it’s also taking full advantage of the hardware it added. Instead of buying a separate I/O Blade for WheatNet IP audio routing in some cases, Territory FM installed an M4IP-USB mic processor that pulls double duty as an I/O Blade (complete with logic control and utility mixers) and as a four-channel routable mic processor for several mics in the studios.

These are just a few examples of how community stations keep it simple, but not so simple that it limits them. They don’t hesitate to tap the broadcast community for expertise when needed, either. In Territory FM’s case, they brought in our friends and system experts at Agile Broadcast to design the studios and develop the scripting for touchscreens and AoIP in general.

It’s worth noting that all of this has paid off for Territory FM in a way that is uniquely important to radio. This college radio station increased listenership to 64,000 people in the first half of 2025, according to the McNair Community Listener Survey. That’s a sizable audience increase not seen since 2021 and largely attributed to, you guessed it, community and local programming.

Territory FM calls its eclectic format Darwin’s Hottest Hits, and it’s not lost on us that it takes a certain kind of studio to grab and keep the attention of an entire community of college-aged listeners. It helped that Territory FM moved from the CDU Casuarina campus, where it originated from in 1981, to new city premises in Danala in the Education and Community Precinct, where students can walk past and engage with the on-air action. The 40-year-old station is now closer to students and events on one end, and on the other, widely accessible through DAB+ and FM, of course, but also all the usual and important streaming music apps.  

Still, to really pull all that together, Territory FM presenters (which number about 25 student volunteers) need to stay on top of things. They cover local events and sponsorships from three interchangeable studios, all networked together through WheatNet IP audio with deep integration into RCS Zetta automation. The music rotation is selected by the community (there’s that word again), and there’s plenty of youthful experimentation—one student recently brought her Italian heritage and taste in music to her radio show—as well as listener feedback built into the automation. (There is a D category in the scheduling called ‘unflogged,’ which are songs that might not be in constant rotation but consistently get listener response.)

Territory FM is just one of many resourceful community stations we know of out there. Let us know of other resourceful community stations you’d like us to cover by sending us an email to wehearyou@wheatstone.com.