Researching audiences in Surabaya: an initial engagement with Brian Shoesmith to study the Indonesian television audience (1993-1995)

This paper relates to my introduction to Brian Shoesmith and my involvement in his research project on satellite television and the audience reception of the Australian Television International channel in Surabaya, Indonesia in 1993 and 1995. It also discusses the impact of Brian and his research on the development of the Department of Communication in Airlangga University in Surabaya and to the transformation of television audience studies in the Indonesian context. I will examine Brian’s publications on satellite television in Asia and the account of the Australian Television International channel’s failure in Asia in the early 1990s. Taking my cue from Brian’s writings about the challenge of the Australian Television Int ernational channel in Asia, I will discuss the situation of national audiences in Indonesia and their attitude towards the persistence of imported/foreign programmes, including Australian television programmes. In fact, the consumption of Australian cultural productions in Indonesia continues to be problematic and less widespread compared to the more dominant Western (US) and Asian (Korean) productions.