Well that may be technically true but I for one am glad to receive Rebel and Breeze wherever possible - because they are simply better stations. Why deprive the poor listener of decent stations when they’re stuck with SCA or Caralis crap.
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I don’t think the commercials have too much to worry about, regarding interference. It’ll be more the commercials interfering with Rebel & Breeze in the fortuitous areas they’re hoping for.
Rebel & Breeze have great programming, but it’s really a budget broadcaster, & a wonder they’re on air at all, with what they’ve got, let alone adding more places.
I saw some recent photo’s of one of the Rebel/Breeze Queensland TX sites the other week, (unfortunately I can’t remember where it was, & can’t find the photos again), & all the audio lines at the TX site are cabled in cheap consumer grade RCA cables, (like anyone would buy from Kmart), then they had RCA to XLR adaptors on the ends, to connect to the professional equipment.
I think their studio at the Gold Coast are pretty high class, so it surprises me the TX sites would be so low grade.
Commercial grade studios & narrowcast/community (at best) grade TX sites.
If I find the photo’s & the site agin, I’ll post them here later.
Not Kmart class cables, although I see why it might look that way. Yes, some of the smaller low power Rebel Media FM sites with low RF density do have domestic audio decoders with unbalanced outputs L/R RCA feeding the transmitters. Operating without issue and within the challenging constraints of delivering radio to small regional towns. I wouldn’t assume it reflects on the site build quality and verified performance.
A number of sites are ACMA licenced to the broadcaster but installed and maintained by councils or mining companies.
At larger competitive Rebel sites owned and operated directly by the broadcaster, audio feed to the transmitters is commonly MPX Analog ,balanced L/R AES or balanced MPX AES.
In practice it has already happened on the SCA broadcasts on 93.1/101.9 FM. As per Rockhampton & Gladstone (HOT CQ) it seems local ads are the only differentiation, perhaps some peak hour morning weather?
To be fair, even REBEL 106.7 Childers in recent years broadcast the Biloela programming. The content was the same as 88.9 FM. As a niche operator, I’m sure REBEL specialize in music rather than have the resources to provide local content. There is nothing like REBEL in that market. If it ever makes it to air, BREEZE 102.5 of course has similar music programming to MIX 103.5 FM.
When Bundaberg (regularly) floods, Grant’s 4BU & HITZ amalgamate & provide the leading commercial coverage for the region.
Probably a good move because existing (and profitable) Caralis station HEAT 96.1 at Wolvi (now Grant’s ZINC with a different height, ERP & radiation pattern IIRC) provided excellent coverage into Hervey Bay. Launching a new Caralis station ‘just up the road’ may have cannibalized the 96.1 audience. Al Doblo et. al. were based at the Noosa Junction studios back then.
If they’re proposing transmitters for an area like Bocoble with a population of around 440, I’m surprised they’re not proposing something for the area just north of Wisemans Ferry, which directly abuts the Sydney licence area. With Lower Macdonald and St Albans, the population is already over 500. They would have a significant amount of overspill into the Sydney and Central Coast markets if they were to set up there.
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@Cigarettes-n-alcohol
Some interesting points there and quite true about the Sea FM stations in Bundaberg and Maryborough being one and the sane. I disagree though about Breeze being like Mix 103.5. The music is very different, and Mix has so much talking and NRL.
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There’s changes at The Rock Station, Radioinfo reports. Rebel FM drive and The Breeze morning announcer Jake Chapman is departing the group, and will be replaced by Dave Holleran from Rebel’s Ash & Dave breakfast show.
Rebel Media is currently advertising for the breakfast slot, as well as for two all-rounders.
On Monday 13th June, Rebel will be playing “24 Hours of High Voltage Rock N Roll” to celebrate their first inaugural “AC/DC Day”, playing nothing but AC/DC on that day.
Source: Radioinfo
I have some good news, Rebel FM The Rock Station is back online streaming, but this is a test stream. It will be available via their website and on the Tune In app sometime in July. But in the meantime, click on this link (it’s a long link address!) and you’ll hear Rebel’s rock!
http://s9.viastreaming.net/flashplayer/popup.php?data=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
According to their Facebook page, The Breeze is also ‘test’ streaming online: Click Here to Listen Online
It’s good that Rebel & Breeze are streaming online again after 2 1/2 years of not being able to do so. That will mean that for the first time since early 2014, every commercial radio station in SEQ (ie. Brisbane, Ipswich, Beaudesert, Gold Coast & Sunshine Coast) will be streaming online. 
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I was just about to ask the Egg Man to set up an unofficial Rebel stream too…
A decent setup on those streams too, complete with updating title and artist info. Now if they could get those licences near Kandos activated, that would be even better.
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As of last Monday (judging by their Facebook page), Rebel FM is now officially streaming again through their website & can also be accessed via TuneIn, which is handy for mobile devices. There’s no word yet on their Facebook page that The Breeze has officially started streaming again.
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The audio level from The Breeze on 92.1 is very low - has been for a few hours. 100.6 is normal though.
It seems that 92.1 is only transmitting the left channel!
Seems that The Breeze has some new on-air IDs with jingles. “More music, less talk, The Breeze” heard this morning.
They are exactly the same ones that BreezE FM in NZ uses
Breeze 92.1 is currently off the air and Rebel 90.5 is a mono carrier. 89.7 TAB is normal.
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They both sounded sickly on Saturday and earlier on Thursday or Friday. At a quick listen, sounded like low signal but there was a very strange sound on both that didn’t vanish in areas of good signal.
Yes, scratchy’s the word.
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Yes I had notice that as well; static or a scratchy sound esp on 92.1.
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Breeze has returned and the 92.1 signal is carrying a stereo program; previously it was just a stereo carrier with a mono program.
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