Income for the not-for-profit 99.9 Voice FM has collapsed due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Ron Egeberg, who is the chair of the radio station's board, says the broadcaster "is not in dire straits" - but needs to be up front with the local community about its financial challenges.

"If we feel we face some difficulty, we need to be transparent," he told The Courier.

"We have not been able to attract any sponsorship due to COVID. That is the lifeblood of what we do to be able to survive."

He said that urgent plans to update old equipment and revitalise its programming schedule will require more cash than is currently coming through.

"Our commitment is to celebrate an eclectic mix of the community, and to give a voice to these sections of the community.

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"We have had to put in some timelines into managing these circumstances. A stable financial base is essential for us going forward."

Replacing the broadcasting equipment, some of which is 25 years old, will cost more than $75,000, the board believes. They say it would help the station avoid some of the broadcast interruptions that have previously affected it.

Board members also say they need funding for digital equipment and plans to revitalise its programming schedule.

They are giving themselves until November 30 to attract new sponsorship.

The radio station, which used to be known as 3BBB, has been broadcasting since the 1980s.

According to background notes Mr Egeberg supplied to The Courier, community radio reaches at least a fifth of most demographics during a typical week.

There are, however, no specific figures currently available on the listener-ship for Voice FM.

The radio station is not a competitor to commercial broadcasters, Mr Egeberg said, adding that the radio station had more time to dig deeper into issues for the wider community.

As well as broadcasting a spoken version of The Courier every day, the station also has programs for the region's Filipino, German, Greek, Japanese, Mandarin, Thai and Dutch communities.

The station had been forced to broadcast automatically due to COVID-19 restrictions, but is now making a "slow" return to live broadcasting.

It relocated its studios to the community hub at Barkly Square in Barkly Street last year.

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