About Rox FM

Rox FM

Rox FM is the community radio station of Roxby Downs, broadcasting on 105.5 FM to the far north of South Australia. With the slogan "The Outback Sounds good," it has been the mining town's own voice since it began broadcasting in 2003 — 24 hours a day, seven days a week, run by volunteers. A registered charity since 2012, governed by a volunteer board and supported by a dozen volunteers, it holds a longstanding partnership with the Roxby Downs Council, delivers emergency communications for the district, and in 2024/25 secured a $188,861 Community Broadcasting Foundation grant to upgrade its transmission chain. It is, as its own membership page puts it, "Roxby Downs' only local media."

Overview

105.5 Rox FM is a community radio station owned and operated by the community of Roxby Downs. It broadcasts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year — a mix of music across genres, local news, community events and information — with the overriding ethos of achieving successful communication and marketing for community groups while striving to be a successful organisation itself. The station supports and encourages involvement in other community groups through interviews that give wider knowledge and understanding of those organisations — empowering the local community by giving a positive and encouraging voice through which to promote events, connecting Roxby residents and local groups to the wider community and to each other. Contactable at PO Box 642, Roxby Downs SA 5725, phone (08) 8671 2545, email manager@roxfm.com.au, it streams live via roxfm.com.au — the station's digital front door.

History

Rox FM's origins stretch back further than its broadcast history. The incorporated entity — 105.5 RoxFM Incorporated (ABN 92 916 591 599) — was established in December 1997 and legally incorporated on 1 January 1998; one charity record traces the station's development to 1987. The town needed a voice: Roxby Downs, built to serve the Olympic Dam mine — one of the world's great copper-uranium-gold deposits — was in the 1980s the most controversial town in Australia, the target of anti-nuclear protests and demonstrations in 1983–84. A community radio station for a town like that was both a practical necessity and a statement of civic identity. The mine made the town; the town needed to be more than the mine — and a community station, owned by the residents rather than the company, was how Roxby Downs talked to itself about everything the rosters didn't cover.

The station began broadcasting on 11 January 2003 under a temporary licence (the station's own site dates the start to 2002), and was granted its permanent community broadcasting licence in 2003. In 2012 two milestones arrived together: RoxFM achieved registered-charity status with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (3 December 2012), and streaming through the RoxFM website began — expanding the broadcast range beyond the transmitter to the world. The membership page notes the station "has been in Roxby Downs since 2003" and wants to be around for many more years.

The council partnership has been central to the station's survival. The Municipal Council of Roxby Downs provides an annual operating grant — $10,000 for 2025/26 — plus in-kind office accommodation, in a longstanding partnership that recognises the station as civic infrastructure. The December 2025 council papers record the station's 2024/25 achievements: a $188,861 CBF grant (in partnership with Council) to upgrade the broadcast transmission chain, commencing a 12-month program from July 2025; strengthened sponsorship arrangements with 13 active sponsors; and upgraded commercial packages with increased engagement from local and external businesses. The station operates to a 2025–2028 Strategic Plan aligned with broader community-broadcasting sector priorities: accessible local media, community participation, local engagement and training opportunities.

The station's survival story has drawn national attention: it featured as episode 4 of "Broadcast Radio Australia," the Channel 44 documentary series supported by the Community Broadcasting Foundation — "the only surviving media outlet in Roxby Downs, a community largely populated by employees of the nearby mine."

Programming

Rox FM broadcasts a broad spectrum of music genres and shows appealing to a diverse audience — the music catering to the town's demographic, which skews young: Roxby Downs has a transient population of around 4,500 with a large percentage of young people, drawn by the mine. The station's mission is to enrich the local community through music, news and cultural programming; its objectives include community involvement, opportunities for local talent, and a platform for community groups' messages. Interviews with community organisations give wider knowledge and understanding of the town's groups; local news, events and emergency updates keep the community informed and safe. Volunteer presenters get hands-on training, host their own shows and take part in local events — the station as both broadcaster and training ground.

Coverage and Audience

Rox FM transmits on 105.5 FM across Roxby Downs, Andamooka and the surrounding areas of the far north. Its audience is the mining town in all its transience: the mine employees and their families, the young workers, the contractors, the long-term residents, the businesses and the council — a community where people come and go with the rosters and the contracts, and where the local station is one of the few constants. The emergency communications role is critical: in the far north, when the heat, the dust or the distance turns dangerous, the community station is part of the safety net. Remote South Australia has few redundancies — the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the highway, and the local radio station are the threads that hold isolated communities to the outside world. Rox FM's 24/7 presence means there is always a local voice on the air when the town needs one, whether for a bushfire warning, a road closure or a community emergency. As the town's only local media, Rox FM's audience is effectively the whole of Roxby Downs — the station belongs to everyone because there is no one else on the local dial.

Ownership

Rox FM is operated by 105.5 RoxFM Incorporated, a registered charity (ABN 92 916 591 599, ACNC-registered since 3 December 2012), governed by a volunteer board and supported by 12 volunteers. The station holds a community broadcasting licence from the Australian Communications and Media Authority. It works with state and federal peak bodies to build strong community broadcasting, and its activities engage Roxby Downs people from 15 to 75 years — community development, education, socio-cultural programs, technical broadcasting and local arts opportunities for all backgrounds and ages. The council partnership — annual operating grant plus in-kind accommodation — underpins the finances alongside sponsorships, memberships and CBF grants.

Digital Presence

Rox FM maintains an official website at roxfm.com.au — the row's listed website — with live streaming ("streaming live here 27/7"), station information, membership hub and program details. Streaming since 2012, the station reaches the Roxby diaspora — the former residents scattered by the mining rosters — as well as the town itself. Its Facebook presence (facebook.com/105.5RoxFM) promotes programs and events. For a station that began broadcasting in 2003 as the controversial mining town's own voice — "The Outback Sounds good" — the digital present is the latest chapter in a survival story the national sector has noticed: Roxby Downs' only local media, still volunteer-run, still on air 24/7, still connecting the far north to itself, and now rebuilding its transmission chain for the decades ahead.