Needed badly.
Who’d get it though if they bothered?
ABC Local, 4BC, 4BH or Switch?
I’m sure ABC Local would like to convert, and there would be a lot of interest from commercial operators to launch another commercial FM service.
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ABC Radio in Perth is moving it’s AM stations to FM from next year
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ABC Perth stations moving to FM in 2026
ABC Radio listeners in Perth can look forward to significantly improved audio quality when ABC Radio Perth, ABC NewsRadio and Radio National make the switch from AM transmission to FM in early 2026.
This follows the outcome of The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) proposal to vary the Perth and Remote Western Australia radio licence area plans.
ABC Managing Director Hugh Marks said the move to FM would deliver a major boost for audiences: “We are excited by this rare opportunity to improve the quality of the ABC’s services to our audiences in Perth.
“We have long been aware of the challenges of AM reception in Perth. With FM, audiences can enjoy richer sound and more reliable broadcasts, ensuring they stay connected to the programs they love.
ABC Director Audio Ben Latimer echoed Mr Marks sentiment: “We are excited by this rare opportunity to fix a long-standing audio quality issue that is unique to the Perth terrain and landscape.
“Perth AM listeners in general, experience some of the worst quality AM audio in the country due to a combination of factors including the city’s sandy soil and signal interference from the electric commuter train network.
“These new FM licenses will deliver better quality audio and are significantly less expensive; providing better value to taxpayers as demand for AM declines in capital cities.
“This change reinforces the ABC’s ongoing commitment to our radio services and our ongoing desire to provide the best quality broadcasts for audiences across the country.”
The ABC has also recently increased the coverage and quality of existing FM stations triple j and ABC Classic by upgrading the FM signal on those frequencies. This upgrade has meant many residents of greater Perth and parts of regional WA can access these stations for the first time while improving the audio quality for existing audiences.
Mr Latimer said ABC AM services would continue in regional and remote WA areas where services were not prone to interference and the AM signal covered greater distances.
“ABC AM services in regional and remote areas of Australia remain integral to how the ABC reaches its audience with local and live programming as well as emergency broadcasts.
Mr Latimer confirmed the move to FM in Perth will not have an impact on the ABC’s commitment to emergency broadcasting or Parliament broadcasting.
“The ABC is in the fortunate position of having existing high-powered AM transmitters in areas adjacent to Perth to provide Emergency Broadcasting to all areas outside the metropolitan area currently covered by the Perth AM signal.
"And in Perth, NewsRadio will continue to broadcast Federal Parliament on AM as long as required.”
The ABC has completed construction work on the FM transmission towers and is now liaising with other broadcasters about changes needed to their FM services, as required by the ACMA.
The ABC will begin the transition to FM services in early 2026, with AM services ceasing shortly after FM broadcasts are fully operational.
Audiences will hear more about this transition in the new year.
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ABC 612 Brisbane breakfast had a discussion and Perth’s transition to FM and the possibility and requirements of the same thing happening in Brisbane.
It covered all the technical points - cost of AM transmissions, fewer listeners to AM, dry soil in Perth, spectrum availability, fewers radios with AM. Main discussion was about moving to 106.1 and ABC FM to be available on DAB. Also mention of making the DAB signal “more robust”, first 2000 people who want ABC FM get a free DAB radio. Comments from listeners read out - all complained that AM reaches further and while a switch to FM was ok for the capital city where they lived would be a problem.
Spencer Howson revealed that it was known internally when the switch would happen in Perth.
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You’d wonder how many of these people complaining actually live in Brisbane? If they can’t receive 106.1 then they are obviously not living in Brisbane.
These listeners who are complaining are probably living in Ipswich, Toowoomba or the Gold Coast, Beaudesert or Sunshine Coast, Noosa, which is why they’d prefer 612 AM over 106.1 FM.
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Absolutely 100%
106.1 FM gets everywhere in the greater Brisbane metropolitan area, and all the way up to the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast. Honestly in the car as I approach Sunshine Coast 106.1 is better than 612. So I really don’t know what they’re talking about. As you say, they must not actually live in Brisbane.
I actually think there are a lot of old-timers who just refuse to change. They refuse to even flick the band to FM. You would have people struggling to get 612 on the Sunshine and Gold Coasts rather than flick to their Local ABC which is already on FM in those places. It’s just a habit they refuse to break, until they are forced to.
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Not to mention the furore over taking ABC Classic off FM. Kim Williams (ABC Chair) would probably not be in favour either.
Surely those in Brisbane’s outskirts or beyond know that there are local ABC stations on the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast etc rather than listening to 612. Either they’ve never bothered looking for them (after all they’re on FM!) or they find the programming less desirable than 612’s.
Perhaps Spencer should have mentioned that those relying on AM can listen to 612 via their TVs as well.
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Cootha FMs get really weak really quickly as you head west. Areas in the Lockyer and Brisbane Valleys that probably have OK AM reception would likely have very poor FM reception. These areas may also not have an alternative ABC frequency. So I get the objection of some.
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I dunno, every time I drive to Toowoomba I get the Brisbane FM’s in the car easily until I get to the range.
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Maybe if SBS instead of ABC Classic became ABC local radio, there would be less of an outcry as the SBS audience would probably be less.
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Yes, I think having two SBS allocations in Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle, Wollongong and Canberra is a bit of a luxury. It may have been necessary 20 years ago but I think you can have just the one analogue service, jettisoning the rest to DAB and online platforms.
Now with streaming everywhere, a lot of groups prefer to stream content directly from their country of origin anyhow.
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The ABC should push DAB as part of the solution to ensure they keep availability - they can offer the full breadth of services via DAB and then tailor their analog offerings to suit the market.
It could also allow them to more easily jetison analog services in times of emergency (allow switching RN/Classic FM frequencies to carrying local radio temporarily)
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Agree. But ABC seem to have been so reluctant to promote DAB from the start. I’ve never understood it.
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I don’t think you could justify it being the FM service you switch off though, but one option I think could work is that they could shift to having multiple lower power services rather than a Sydney/Melbourne wide frequency.
For example if in Melbourne you could reuse the old 97.4 frequency in the Western suburbs, and then fine tune the language balance for the demographics of the region. Provided there would be enough options to get close to the FM wide coverage, you’d I think have a better outcome for listeners as well as freeing up a wide area FM for the ABC.
You’d then be able to use AM/DAB/TV as a fallback service option, while still being on FM for a big chunk of the audience.
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Yes, the ABC should roll out DAB into the Sunshine Coast (with an infill translator at Noosa), Toowoomba and the other major regional markets such as Newcastle, Central Coast, Wollongong, Geelong. They’ve done it for Launceston which is a tiny market by comparison, so surely they have funds to roll it out to other larger regional markets.
I also like the idea of the SBS FM frequencies be allocated to the ABC but this would require government legislation and there would be pushback from the migrant communities. However, is it really a good use of spectrum to have a high-powered foreign language FM station in each capital city, which very few people would actually be listening to , if they can get the same (and more) on DAB and TV and streaming? Allocating it to the ABC for local radio or Double J would probably be a better use of spectrum.
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I thought about it a bit more, and ultimately it would come down to access to art vs. vulnerable people who can’t speak english well. The vulnerable non-english speakers would probably win and ABC Classic would be the most likely to go, unless they moved SBS to AM, in which case it won’t matter as much.
Yes - including the highway to Warwick. Brisbane FMs are poor in that area while AM is ok at least in the car.
On the Breakfast Show this morning Spencer asked listeners who say they have poor Fm reception but good AM to send messages. The only mention I heard suggested was Peachester. Perhaps more tomorrow.
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The way several city ABC stations are running with this discussion makes me think they are definitely going to do something in 2026. There was a similar discussion on ABC Canberra 666 last week. It seems like a bit of an orchestrated discussion from ABC management to gauge reaction/prepare the audience for change.
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If the move to FM in the metros does occur, I wonder if we will see more music mixed in. If there was intelligent talk mixed with intelligent music I’d listen. It would do well in Canberra on 103.9.
ABC Canberra as it stands is too lightweight for me; 2BL at least is a bit harder hitting in its local shifts.
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