Acommunity group has accepted independent legal advice and decided to call a special general meeting of Millicent community radio station 5THE-FM.

Community group spokesman David Walshaw said all attempts to engage with the 5THE-FM management and board and their lawyers since June have proven fruitless.

Mr Walshaw said every avenue of communication had been explored by his 60-strong community group but to no avail.

According to Mr Walshaw, the station’s management and board had also refused the offer of a professional mediator in the guise of former Wattle Range Mayor and 5THE-FM board chairman Mark Braes.

Mr Walshaw said the Mount Gambier lawyers engaged by his community group had advised the latest constitution of 5THE-FM adopted in 1996 had provisions for a special general meeting.

“We have collected the requisite number of members’ signatures and given 21 days’ notice,” Mr Walshaw said.

“The special general meeting will be held at 7pm on November 24 at St Alphonsus Hall in Millicent.

“The agenda items are the current governance of 5THE-FM along with the election of a new board of management.

“Members of the public are welcome.

“We feel this special general meeting will break the impasse.

“Change is urgently needed at 5-THE-FM.

“We are fearful the Australian Communication Management Authority could withdraw the 5THE-FM broadcasting licence, the Office of Business and Consumer Affairs could deregister the organisation and the peppercorn lease with the State Government for the office and studios in the former Millicent railway station could be cancelled.”

Mr Walshaw said there had only been a temporary extension of the 5-THE-FM licence by ACMA and it expired at the end of next month.

“We need to act now as there has been only two hours per week of broadcasting coming out of the studios in Railway Terrace for several weeks with all other 5-THE-FM transmissions coming via satellite,” he said.

“The annual general meeting of 5THE-FM had to be held before the end of September but this did not occur.”

Meanwhile, application forms for subscribers to 5THE-FM have been available at a Millicent retailer in recent weeks.

Mr Walshaw said he was puzzled by the presence of the subscriber application forms and the requirement to pay $30.

“The 5THE-FM constitution makes reference to members but there is no mention of subscribers,” he said.

The SE Voice has approached 5THE-FM for comment.