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A REMOTE POSSIBILITY - THE BATTLE FOR IMPARJA TELEVISION
by Wendy Bell
When the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) decided to apply for a remote television satellite licence twenty years ago, success seemed a remote possibility. Winning the licence would make Imparja the first Aboriginal-controlled commercial television station, not only in Australia but the world, with a transmission footprint larger than Western Europe.
CAAMA, a very new community organisation, had a battle on its hands to satisfy remote communities, two governments, the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal, the media and to convince the wider public that it had the capacity to set up and run a television station. It was a big leap from community radio and recording the music of Aboriginal artists into the world of media moguls like Kerry Packer.
The challenges continue to the present day, managing social and cultural integrity within one of the toughest commercial environments in Australia, along with the need to meet community expectations regarding language and cultural programming.
This is a struggle against all odds - a story of heroes, densely populated with strong characters, both for and against Imparja's existence and its survival. Wendy bell tells the story with all its twists, reversals and passions.
Published by IAD Press in 2008
www.iad.edu.au/press
about the author:
Dr Wendy Bell
Dr Wendy Bell was born in Sydney and began her teaching career in NSW before travelling to the Northern Territory. Wendy lived and worked in Alice Springs for three years during the mid 1960s. After trying her hand at a number of other jobs she returned to teaching at Anzac Hill High School in Alice Springs, and later married in the Flynn Memorial Church.
After leaving Alice, she spent six years living and working in Papua New Guinea and returned to a lecturing position in business and management at Caulfield Institute of Technology and later Monash University. Since 1984 she has interspersed university lecturing with more than a decade as an adviser on overseas development assistance programs funded by the Australian government.
Wendy returned often to Alice Springs, attracted by her love of the desert and its culture, researching CAAMA’s battle for Imparja from 1986 and also the role of Indigenous managers in Central Australian Aboriginal organisations for the Institute for Aboriginal Development in 1990. She has two children and lives in Victoria.
BOOK LAUNCH DETAILS:
THE BATTLE FOR IMPARJA TV: IAD PRESS LAUNCHES ‘A REMOTE POSSIBILITY’
On Thursday May 22 2008 at 12.30pm Patricia Miller OAM officially launched IAD Press’ latest book publication, ‘A Remote Possibility: The Battle for Imparja TV’ by Dr Wendy Bell.
The book launch on 22 May coincided with the opening of the impressive new Imparja building.
ISBN 978-1-86465-097-6. 368pps. Soft cover. Illustrated. RRP $27.95 .
For IAD Press media inquiries contact Publisher Jill Walsh,
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, 08 8951 1335, or Marketing Officer Lisa Stefanoff,
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, 08 8951 1333.
For all sales inquiries contact Sales Officer Kym Stanton
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, call 08 8951 1334 or visit the IAD Press online store at www.iad.edu.au/press .
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Imparja - the book 
