Public radio station 2SER is facing an uncertain future following a crowded town hall meeting on 20 April, where community members questioned management over a looming funding crisis.
2SER had recently announced that Macquarie University would slash its $300,000 funding, something the station had known since September 2025. A main talking point of the meeting was addressing the fact that 2SER had not begun contacting other universities, such as the University of Sydney or the University of New South Wales until March 2026.
The meeting was recorded and streamed online to a total of 350 people in person and online. However, the recording of the meeting was not ultimately made available online in its entirety. The meeting was hosted by 2SER managing director Cheryl Northey as well as board co-chairs Chris Dixon and James Bennett of Macquarie University and UTS, respectively.
Former 2SER host Andrew Chuter, who was in attendance at the meeting, described the meeting as “packed, and while respectful, people were very upset about losing 2SER and determined to keep it on air.”
“I started out as a listener around 1988 and grew to love some of the music programs. I took some training and became a volunteer and eventually hosted my own shows, Biorhythms and Dark Energy until the early 2000s.”
“It is very valuable and worth protecting because it provides a voice for the community, and training and experience for student broadcasters.”
On a lack of urgency from the 2SER board, Chuter says: “The senior uni management people didn’t really put forward any new ideas. It was the audience that suggested renewed efforts to ask other unis for funding and for a fundraising drive. At least a fundraising drive could provide enough money to last to the end of the year and give time for the unis to properly consider any requests.”
“I put it down to corporatisation and underfunding of universities in general. They would probably rather shut 2SER down and save money. So putting together a prospectus for other institutions to become funding partners was not given the urgency or priority it needed.”
UTS says it will continue funding 2SER so long as a sustainable model and a new funding partner is found. This comes after major budgetary, staffing, and course cuts at UTS last year.
At the end of the meeting, the Love2SER organisation came forward to promote their fundraiser, which aims to hold over the station for long enough to find new donors as well as running a Change.org petition to lobby UTS to support 2SER unconditionally.
More information on the campaign and petition can be found here.
