1970 radio ban

The Australian 1970 Radio Ban lasted from May till mid-October 1970. During this period, a dispute between commercial radio stations and major record labels resulted in major UK and Australian pop songs being refused play time on Australian commercial radio stations. The state-owned ABC did not take part in the dispute.

It was in early 1969, following the enactment of the new Copyright Act 1968, that a group of recording companies decided to scrap a long-standing agreement with Australian commercial radio stations. The companies included major labels such as Festival, Polygram, EMI, RCA, CBS and Warner. The record labels demanded payment of a new levy for pop records played on air. Negotiations broke down in May 1970, resulting in the imposition of a six-month embargo on the supply of free promotional records to radio stations. In retaliation, commercial radio boycotted all new major label releases and refused to include them in weekly chart surveys.

As a result of the ban, many British hits like The Beatles' "The Long and Winding Road" and Mary Hopkin's "Knock, Knock, Who's There?" gained only limited exposure in Australia. Some local groups released cover versions of British hits, the most prominent being "In the Summertime" by the Mixtures, a cover of Mungo Jerry's hit. Another was Liv Maessen's version of "Knock, Knock, Who's There", which earned the singer the first gold record ever awarded to an Australian female artist. For a short period, the ban had the effect of putting more local musicians to air than ever before, and also opened the door to the underground.

The events of the Radio Ban are still poorly documented and its long-term effects are still being debated, but some commentators have suggested that the overall effect of the Ban was negative for Australian performers.

Music charts from the period indicate that in the years immediately following the Ban, there was a significant reduction in the number of Australian acts who scored major chart placings. The "Go-Set" charts for [http://www.poparchives.com.au/gosetcharts/1972/1972.html 1972] , for example, indicate that only two Australia acts (Colleen Hewett and Blackfeather) had national #1 hits in Australia that year, and in [http://www.poparchives.com.au/gosetcharts/1973/1973.html 1973] no Australian act scored a #1 hit.