Acommunity group in Millicent is looking to crowd funding in a bid to clear its $20,000 debt to a private company.

Millicent community radio station 5THE-FM is seeking public financial support by making donations via a GoFundMe page.

Board chairman David Walshaw said the community took back the radio station in November after the former board and management lost the broadcasting licence through poor governance and financial mismanagement.

“When we took back the station, it had no members, it had lost its sponsors and presenters, had accrued significant debt and much of the financial records, corporate history and station equipment is still currently unaccounted for,” Mr Walshaw said.

“Since the loss of the broadcast licence, we have only been able to stream our content through the internet, and this medium has kept our online presenters’ skills honed for when we can commence regular broadcasting again.

“We have applied to the Australian Communications and Media Authority for a temporary broadcast licence and a component of that licence has now been approved.

“We are just waiting for the final allocation which will allow us back on air.

“Unfortunately, we have been left with a debt of $20,000 to Broadcast Australia who own the transmitter site at Mount Burr which we need to pay before we can get back on air.

“We are desperate to crowd fund for this amount via GoFundMe so that we can retire the debt and get our radio station back up and running once again serving all cohorts of our community, not just those that have the digital literacy to stream.”