Programming[edit]
The program features live interviews and stories that are compiled by the ABC's rural reporters who are based at each regional station. National Rural News, a national five-minute rural news bulletin is broadcast on The Country Hour at 12:06pm. General national news headlines are broadcast at 12:30pm followed by a weather update. Market reports are delivered by designated correspondents just prior to the conclusion of the program at 1:00pm.
There are currently seven separate local editions of The Country Hour that are broadcast to each Australian state and territory, with the exception of the Australian Capital Territory. While the program is not aired on metropolitan ABC stations, but is streamed on their corresponding stations on the ABC Radio app.
Due to The Country Hour being aired at noon on regional ABC stations, the national current affairs program The World Today is aired on a one-hour delay in regional areas, whereas it is broadcast at midday on ABC stations in the capital cities.
Awards[edit]
In 1988, Tasmanian Country Hour presenter Tom Murrell won a Pater bicentennial media award, sponsored by the Australian Academy of Broadcast Arts and Sciences for Best Rural Radio Program for a 10-minute feature documenting the increase in Japanese tourism and how Tasmanian farmers could benefit from the boom.[11]