True but exactly the same can be said for people who currently have crap reception of the AM frequencies in inner city and CBD locations. I know in some instances fringe reception might be marginally better on AM but it’s very marginal IMO, and let’s face it we’re talking about Australia’s major cities not the back of Burke.
For example I headed up to Maryborough from Brisbane yesterday and took particular notice of when 612 4QR started to get scratchy and annoying to listen to and it was well before Classic FM dropped out (past Nambour). By that stage I’m WELL into ABC Local Sunshine Coast territory anyway. The overlap with Gold Coast is even more seamless in terms of Classic FM and ABC Local Gold Coast which is already on FM.
The commercial FM stations are adequately covering our major metro areas are they not?
I understand the argument in some remote areas against FM, but not at all in metro areas.
So people in regional areas that already have ABC Local on FM (and there are many) are more vulnerable in emergencies? Unlike Victoria, in places like Queensland these are also hundreds of km from Brisbane with no hope at all of receiving any ABC on AM.
Some cars like Tesla’s don’t even have an AM radio and it might be surprising how many houses don’t these days either.
Teslas are really city cars and aren’t really designed for rural travel as they don’t have a great range.
Anyhow, for those that only have Local on AM or FM (and not both), which is the majority of us, streaming will be the backup option, preferably via a fully charged mobile device if blackouts are also an issue.
(1) The emergency broadcaster role is still very real.
(2) Any radio/TV station can be an emergency broadcaster, you must to sign up and provide a minimum level of service. Sky is an official emergency broadcaster in several states. This doesn’t change or dismiss the ABC’s obligations in this area. As far as I’m aware there has never been a tender for provision of emergency broadcasts.
(3) In rural areas AM provides the wide coverage that’s needed for remote populations.
(4) I don’t think the RN and NewsRadio networks can be isolated on a region by region basis… state by state is not local enough.
I disagree about electric cars though. There are charging stations up the entire East Coast now from Cairns to Melbourne - plenty of Telsa’s out there trust me
The Age columnist Caroline Wilson will deliver this year’s Andrew Olle Media Lecture at The Westin Hotel in Sydney this Thursday night (November 1). It will be broadcast nationally on Nightlife on Thursday 1 November on ABC Radio from 11pm AEDT. The lecture will also be available on ABC NEWS channel, ABC and iview, with times to be announced.
with FM you can get a low powered service to air relatively quickly if you have the gear and a geni to power it from the roof top of the local studio.
Sky for emergencies, what a joke, the station is littered with tech foul ups almost every hour. They’ve been on air since 1996 and still can’t get it right. Cutting corners will do that.
Agree. Noise floor of QR is on the rise south from Loganholme/Beenleigh.
Again correct, national stations are 9dB stronger than commercial if all run to their ERP spec. Commercial/Community RA1: 12kW. ABC FMs from Mt Coot-tha: 96kW. OD spec for both.
Commercial coverage overspills well up and down the coasts.
Move metro and Newcastle ABC to FM. There’s plenty of remaining wide coverage AM signals for ABC local radio.
FM Illawarra gets into Sydney. 549 will in more remote locations.
2NR, 4QS, 4QB are fine on the fringes to Brisbane.
3WV is designed to back up Melbourne.
5CK is fine in Adelaide.
Plenty of AM powerhouses in WA for coverage.
Remember this is all for if the unthinkable happens and both AM and FM metro sites are out.
You won’t need reception often + if you need these signals, it’s likely the power is out and coverage should be better with reduced EMF.
There are many places in Queensland with no radio reception at all, especially since the NT SW switch off.
They should have one for their emergency kit that EMQ suggests, but many houses won’t.
It may be ok for you, but for emergency planning purposes, this is considered insufficient, battery powered AM receiver is what’s needed. Much less power hungry and doesn’t rely on the mobile network to provide signal.
Sylvia of Gladstone was interviewed last Tues on Steve Austin’s ABC Bris drive show (you can still listen back) about driving around Australia in a Tesla. She made it without her hubby who’d died of Parkinson’s and was accompanied by her girlfriends on different stages, she was able to charge in remote NW WA.
While I’m not here to defend Sky… they are an official emergency broadcaster in Victoria and tech issues aside they have demonstrated a capacity to get information to air quickly as part of a bulletin or on the ticker… often quicker than ABC 24.
In fact after the Black Saturday fires in Victoria Sky was widely praised in the communities affected because they were the only source of information available. Terrestrial radio and TV had been knocked out by the fires.
There’s a lot to criticise about Sky legitimately but how about tempering that with acknowledgement where it’s due?
My only concern with Sky as an emergency broadcaster is their reach. Wouldn’t want to see Sky favoured being fed information over other outlets regardless of official status. AFAIK ABC TV is not an official broadcaster.
No one is favoured as information is diseminated to everyone simultaneously.
The object of emergency service status is to secure a commitment from the broadcaster to undertake a minimum level of coverage and then to let the public know that the outlet can be trusted to pass on information in a timely manner.
As for Sky on WIN, you would hope they’d switch to live rolling coverage in the case of an emergency or at least coverage emergency warnings etc on the ticker.
In the case of Sydney they can move the am transmittors to Gosford area and convert them to FM in Sydney. Sydney would have dab and FM. Gosford just have a low power crappy repeater so having high power am transmitter for at least radio national and 702 will make sense there and provide adequate coverage in Sydney too.
Could consider having the ABC FM transmission from Wentworth Falls. 702/576/630 from the central coast should cover the Sydney coastline well.
But with budgets etc I doubt this would happen. . Nice to talk hypothetically about the topic.
Lindy Burns has announced that she won’t return to ABC Radio Melbourne and will return to Newcastle and take up a new position with ABC Training.
She will present a special Melbourne Cup broadcast on November 6 with guest correspondent Matt Preston reporting from the Birdcage and will then sign off with a series of outdoor broadcasts in regional Victoria in the first week of December.
