Unfortunately, not correct:
https://www.4eb.org.au/the-story-of-4eb/
5kW out of Long Pocket never happened either. @gordo92 and I ran that to ground last time this misnomer was mentioned. It’s simply not the site, not feasible.
Having someone running the show at a community station, and also operating narrowcast stations (presumably with a view to making a few dollars out of those) AND using the same name and branding for both ventures is a dangerous game to be playing.
ACMA don’t view community radio stations being operated as “part of a profit-making enterprise” too kindly (regardless of the scale - or lack thereof - of the profit).
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You do realise if the corners of the square peg are smaller than the circumference of the hole - it does fit! Just sayin 
No the frequency allocation pecking order was political, just like everything ABA does. This WAS one thing good about having two separate departments back then. ABA dealt with “broadcasting matters” but the license to transmit radio waves came from ACA. If you dealt with ACA for a link license or a comms license it was a staight forward Yes or No. With “the why?” being base in technical facts!
I’ve seen it too many times. PD’s want to be louder than the next guy. This puts everyone on a race they can’t win. You’d think over the years, this would stop. Dance can sound quite reasonable on AM if you keep your head in how you set it up.
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I warned the current president about this…
You need to know the time line of events here. If you do, it will make sense and all will be above board.
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100% what I’m saying, also welcome to the forum 
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“4EB Moves to FM
4EB FM 98.1 was previously known as Radio 4EB 1053am and then changed to 4EB FM 98.1 on the Fine Music Band. Broadcasting from AM to FM On 1 December 2001 at 12.01 am, 4EB 98.1 commenced broadcasting in the FM band. After many years of planning, 4EB’s move to the FM band was well within sight. The ABA (Australian Broadcasting Authority) released their final LAP (Licence Area Plan) for Brisbane which recommended a change in frequency for 4EB from 1053kHZ AM to 98.1Mhz FM.“
This was when the 2 final community FM frequencies were allocated, and Switch was given the AM license. They started broadcasting on 1197 in the second half of 2002.
I think you are misunderstood re. Switch. I was at the general meeting at the end of 2008 when a new GM was elected and I was part of the team there, during which the power was increased to 5kW , not 1kW, at the end of 2008 and into 2009. The difference was noticeable, the sound quality on AM was brilliant. However, the costs were high and it wasn’t sustainable, so in 2009, it was reduced to it’s original power.
Of course it was political, the ABA chose not to award KissFM, Wild or Switch, a community FM license in the 3 biggest markets.
Like I said earlier, I can understand where CRA was coming from, as Nova had paid a fortune for their licenses, and having a direct competitor that didn’t have to pay a dollar for a license, was an untenable situation.
I’ve NEVER heard of FM being called that before!
Should that mean AM is for Awful Music Band? 
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Interestingly the power has now been changed to 500w for both Day and Night now, was 1000w Day, 500w Night when i was there a few years ago.
Maybe new conditions by ACMA at their last renewal?
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No, if I recall correctly the increased daytime power was only granted temporarily as a trial at some point.
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Anyone know why was this necessary/recommended? Particularly if FM frequencies were so scarce?
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I don’t remember that been applied for during my time there.
Anyway doesn’t matter as that is now in the past 
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I know they got into trouble with ACMA at some point in the 2010s, however, I’m not sure if the power was a part of it, as the original license conditions back in 2001, allowed them a maximum ERP of 5kW.
When I was at Switch, they were broadcasting from St Lucia and they had a tiny studio in the city, around the corner from the Victory.
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Politics. At the time CRA was dead against community dance on FM (especially Nova), so I’m sure this was why the remaining FM stations went to 4EB and family. Ditto in Melbourne with SYN and Joy getting 90.7 and 94.9 frequencies.
I also remember reading that the management of Wild, tried to infiltrate FBi, after it was the successful applicant in Sydney and started broadcasting in 2003.
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I also believe they were meant to have a 2 tower directional setup to, but to my knowledge it has always been 1 tower. Maybe that is why they had the power reduced
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The nominal site in the Brisbane LAP for consultation was the ex 4BK site at Fleming Rd Tingalpa.
4RPH use that site, owned by BAI.
When BYR was awarded the licence, 4EB had converted to FM, so BYR opted for the cheaper Long Pocket site.
The Fleming Rd DA array is vastly different to the 1197 requirement as the history was for 1296 to cover Brisbane from the eastern suburbs ie. thrust of signal NW, W, SW from site.
That would result in too much signal towards Adelaide on 1197. So not much gained from the site and at a far higher cost.
Remember when 4BH was temporarily co located at Long Pocket, they couldn’t get close to 5kW. Was a 2.5kW TX for BH from memory. That’s a subsequent restriction of antenna electrical height for 882 and 1197 isn’t perfect itself for the Long Pocket site.
Let’s look at today and the audio quality of AM 1197 and digital are all distorted. The lyrics are not easily discernible. Far cry from days of @gordo92 and @MrX’s contributions.
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Yeah how that poor Transmitter stays on air amazes me
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Can we stop talking about winding up power with no understanding of the costs involved, radiation hazards and inefficencies of the mast one has… PLEASE? The costs involved to simply “wind it up” with the numbers mentioned here, would pay the average car rego in QLD for nearly 20 years. Nothing to do with AM is cheap or small.
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This is an open forum, discussion is what we do….
Most people here are aware of the costs of AM transmissions…
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No, I’ll keep talking about it, if I feel like it. No one has a monopoly on broadcasting knowledge on here, we all contribute to the discussion.
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