Have to admit I haven’t studied the low powered sites in Tassie in detail, but why wouldn’t Northern Tassie use the 0.4MHz offset to Hobart? If Hobart runs on the Sydney spacing (my terminology, describing the 100.9, 101.7 spacings) couldn’t the northern part run on Brisbane spacing (101.3, 102.1 etc) , broadly speaking? Launceston already does, and this avoids clashes with Victorian services
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Apart from Burnie and a few other oddballs (e.g. 104.7 Devonport), northern Tassie does use the Brisbane/Illawarra channels. Lets run through the list:
88.5- 7NT King Island
89.3- 7LA Launceston
90.1- 7EXX Launceston
90.9- 7JJJ Launceston
91.7- 7NT Launceston
92.5- 7PNN Launceston
93.3- 7ABCFM Launceston
94.1- 7ABCRN Launceston
94.9- 7AD/t (proposed) Sheffield
95.7- 7SD (proposed) Scottsdale
96.5- 7LTN/t Tamar Valley***
97.3- 7ABCFM King Island/7NT Weldborough
98.1- 7WAY/t Tamar Valley***/7JJJ King Island
98.9- 7AD Devonport/7ABCRN Weldborough/7ABCRN King Island
99.7- 7RGS Scottsdale/7ABCRR King Island
100.5- 7NT/t Devonport/TCBL King Island
101.3- 7TAB Devonport
102.1- 7PNN Devonport
102.9- UNUSED
103.7- 7LTN Launceston
104.5- UNUSED, but 104.7 used in Devonport
105.3- 7WAY Launceston
106.1- 7DBS Wynyard
106.9- 7RPH Launceston
107.7- 7SEA Devonport
So most of the allocations can’t be used for a new service. I reckon using 94.9 for that 7AD translator is a bit of a waste, though, and perhaps that should have gone to 7BU. You could also move the 7LTN translator from 96.5. Also note the co channelling with King Island services; 100.5 King Island Community Radio must get absolutely hammered by Devonport in summer, and the same will apply to 98.9.
I would also move 7DBS/t Devonport from 104.7 to 104.5.
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Frequencies such as 97.7 and 98.5 may have been a better choice for either the 7AD/7BU conversions. They only have community stations south of Hobart to contend with. Having never to Tassie, would co channel interference be an issue for those community stations?
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97.7 is currently being used by TAB, whilst 98.5 is being reserved for an ABC service, both transmitting out of Round Hill in Burnie.
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Thank you. This is a great list and worthy discussion. ACMA should re plan accordingly.
And the Sydney/Hobart allocations:
88.1- Nil (too close to LPONs)
88.9- 7DBS/t Smithton
89.7- 7ABCRN Lileah
90.5- 7PNN Burnie
91.3- 7ABCRR Lileah
92.1- 7AUS (7XS) Queenstown+ Burnie proposed
92.9- 7JJJ Hobart
93.7- 7BOD St. Helens/7SBS Queenstown (probably not on air)
94.5- 7BU/t Smithton/7RGS Weldborough
95.3- 7TFM George Town/7RGY Geeveston
96.1- 7RPH Devonport/7THE Hobart/7ABCRN St. Helens
96.9- TCBL ‘Meander Valley Radio’ Deloraine
97.7- 7TAB Burnie/7TAS Tasman Peninsula
98.5- Burnie proposed/7RGY/t Kingston/7BOD/t Bicheno
99.3- 7EDG Hobart South
100.1- VACANT
…And I won’t bother going any further. 100.1 would have clearly been the best option for 7BU. It’s a no brainer. There are no Tassie services on 99.9, and only the low powered 7LA relay for Launceston City on 100.3. Terrain blockage in the direction of Burnie from Launceston should ensure that problems are minimised (there is of course the same issue with 100.9 and 101.1).
But it did take a little time to think through. Independent thought is not encouraged in government bureaucracies.
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100.1 was originally reserved for an ABC service in Burnie, but has since been reallocated to 93.7.
But yes, I agree that it would’ve been a better frequency for 7BU rather than 100.9, which has the potential for a co-channel interference with Hit 100.9 from Hobart.
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Fantastic posts Mr Nerd, did my homework for me 
100.1 sounds very sensible, moreso than ACMA’s choice. And this region again highlights how the presence of low-power relays on potential high-power frequencies, combined with a lack of will to reassign these relays, affects overall planning. Sound familiar to anyone anywhere else?
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I also think that the main service of 7AD should be on 94.9, with the Sheffield translator on 98.9. The only possible issue with this would be interference to 3JOY Melbourne, but I think the problems would be minimal in its inner city licence area. There is some mention of a proposed HPON service for Hobart on 94.9 but this has never got to air (and I think it was changed to 104.3 through a subsequent LAP variation).
They really need to sort out the King Island co channels as well. Since 100.5 King Island is only a TCBL they could easily move it (perhaps this will end up on 100.1, ha). You could probably get away with co-channelling King Island services with the Hobartians as it’s just that little bit further.
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and of course, had the ACMA stuck to the AM to FM conversions started in the late 80s, they would not be having these issues now. Plenty of band space back then. It was an idiotic idea to issue supplementary licenses.
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I don’t agree with that.
It meant regionals got complementary services, not competing services.
And access to commercial FM stereo, which was big in the big smoke back then.
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In Shepparton, 3SR got a competitor in SUN FM. The market couldn’t cope and SUN went broke in about 12 months… and that was with 3SR still on AM. Supplementary licences clearly the way to go…
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Personally, I think the idea of supplementary commercial licences for regional markets too small to support competition was quite sound.
As it’s already been pointed out, commercial FM radio was becoming big in metropolitan Australia during the 1980s/1990s. Also with regional TV aggregation happening in the Very Late '80s/Early 1990s, I think a similar momentum (that of people wanting a choice, although broadly I don’t think the general public would’ve cared whether that was in the form of supplementary licences or not) was eventually going to spread to radio - particularly towards the end of the 1990s when we were marching towards the new millennium.
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AM/FM conversions in the late 80/90’s should’ve been the go. Then later explore if more services are needed.
The doubling of ad inventory and on air costs didn’t work for most markets with many glad to sell to DMG and RG. Hence the problems we have today.
Less choice, more viability may have staved off the networking and industry consolidation. Is it what the market would want? Who knows, all spilt milk now.
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Yes I agree with this. I think they should have also been more open to amalgamating adjacent markets.
For example, Maryborough and Bundaberg markets could have been easy amalgamated on FM from Mt Goonanamen. If they’d allowed both 4MB and 4BU to convert to FM and compete across the Wide Bay then you would have had two very viable FM stations. A third FM could have been auctioned later.
The TV station broadcast to Wide Bay from Mt Goonanamen so the market was already used to a TV service that encompassed Maryborough and Bundaberg, so why not radio.
At least they had combined Rockhampton and Gladstone but even then instead of auction 2 additional FMs they should have let 4RO and 4CC convert and then added a 3rd FM. Instead now you have 4RO and 4CC struggling on AM, and Triple M and HIT with their networked formats.
There would be plenty of other adjacent markets they could have feasibly combined. Gympie and Nambour for example.
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supplementary services only served cannibalized the very limited number of listeners to the existing commercial service. Most country towns are really too small to support two or more commercial FM licences. It was just greed on the part of commercial broadcasters. Now the ACMA has to try & accommodate their latest gripe, which is to convert the commercial AM to FM…which I repeat SHOULD have been done from the start. I’d doubt that doubling the services would have double the revenue…
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No, though they wouldn’t have double the costs either, as they would have the same sales staff for both etc.
Does that mean they’ve turned off AM yet? Or are they running an info loop telling people to tune to FM?