On Alive 90.5 Parramatta, they just said that “Jo from WOW FM community radio at Penrith has requested the following song…”.
I’ve never heard anything quite like that before!
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Community radio is one big family…except when there are two or more aspirants fighting for the one frequency! I suspect there is still some animosity in the five towns of the Hawkesbury.
I enjoyed listening to 2EAR Moruya whilst I was down there. You get the odd typical rural presenter who punctuates their broadcast with liberal ‘umms’ but most programmes are a good listen.
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Yes, they obviously don’t see each other as competitors. They have SWR Blacktown in between them so there shouldn’t be any issues with memberships or sponsorships moving from one to the other.
Having said that, if Jo was SWR FM or say a metro station like FBI, would they have mentioned the station on air then… ?
I don’t know if it’s been completed yet, but 2MFM are moving their transmitter site from in the CBD, to the TX Australia, Artarmon site, & getting a power increase too, so it’s probably something to do with that?
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Good to know, quite possibly.to do with that.
It will be interesting to see if reception up this way improves, as its one of the weaker Sydney wide community stations where I am, only 2OOO and 2SER are worse.
Is there any particular reason as to why 2MFM isn’t currently on the Artarmon site?
To my knowledge, all of the Melbourne RA1 FM community stations are all sited on the Mount Dandenong towers alongside the commercial and public FM radio and TV stations, so I wonder why that isn’t the case in Sydney.
NONE of them are at Artarmon.
2LND 93.7 also transmits from the CBD.
2MBS 102.5 is atop the MLC Tower in the CBD.
I think Hope 103.2 has its TX in the CBD also.
CORRECTION: Hope is at Artarmon but it’s the only one.
2OOO 98.5 has its transmitter in North Sydney.
2SER is at Ultimo.
And I think 2FBI is on the ABC stick at Gore Hill
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2MFM’s signal is quite good; it was stronger than the commercial stations at times on the Eurobodalla Coast. I have also received it OK from Sawtell. Hope 103.2 puts in a very good signal towards the South Coast; 2000 FM managed to swamp TAB Moruya at Congo beach (10 km from Moruya).
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I have noticed that some Sydney stations seem to put out a much better signal to the south (than to the north where I am).
2SER is another example… at Wollongong, I have receievd this at 30db at about 50 M ASL and approx 70 km from Tx, but where I am, being 110km from tx but 140 M ASL, it is normally only about 6 db.
2OOO FM would appear to be another one of those.
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Interesting development with Hawkesbury Gold 89.9 in Sydney’s north-west.
Aspirant Hawkesbury region broadcast group Hawkesbury Gold has been plagued by infighting this week, which spilt over into the public arena via its web and social media platforms today.
Quinny and Webby’s breakfast show will no longer be heard on the station. Nor will Graham Webb’s Golden Years program, Alan Quinn’s Saturday Night Gold show, and at least two other shows, Ron’s Oldies and Forgotten 45s.
Read more at: https://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/shine-goes-hawkesbury-gold-aspirant-broadcaster-tarnished-infighting
Is this almost a repeat of what led to Hawkesbury Radio losing its full-time licence? 
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For a station that was positioning itself with 50-70s music, they seem to be introducing 80s music into it now.
The last 2 songs they’ve played were:
Just Another Night - Mick Jagger
Simply Irresistible - Robert Palmer
FYI, 2MFM switched on at Artarmon Yesterday (Thursday), at 4:50pm.
Test your reception, it’s combined on the FM antenna with the commercial stations.
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2MFM are back in stereo.
I’d say they are now broadcasting from Artarmon as @RFBurns suggested, as their reception up here near Newcastle is now probably the 3rd strongest of the Sydney community stations, only bettered by 2MBS 102.5 and Hope 103.2.
The Hawkesbury TCBL on 89.9 will now be shared across 3 aspirant groups, with Windsor-Hawkesbury Community Radio joining in.
The days/hours are as follows:
Windsor-Hawkesbury Community Radio - 12pm Sundays to 12pm Tuesdays
Hawkesbury Gold - 12pm Tuesdays to 12pm Thursdays
Hawkesbury Radio - 12pm Thursdays to 12pm Sundays
Source: Radioinfo
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They were test broadcasting today ID’ing as WHCR 89.9 with announcements encouraging people to become involved (tick for ACMA). Otherwise back to back wide variety of music in the short period I listened. Signal is mono (no pilot) with no processing at all so modulation leaves a bit to be desired. Radcom register shows the TX site as “CAMS Broadcast Site 5 Clyde Ln KURRAJONG HEIGHTS NSW”
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Looks like Joy 94.9 now has Traffic Updates including Disruption updates for Metro Trains.
Looks like these updates are done in-house.
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Yes, I find the WHCR signal to be on par with GOLD, with both being considerably weaker than Hawkesbury Radio (2VTR).
These are not new to JOY, been running for quite a while.
Trains and traffic updates during breakfast (half-hourly 7am-8:30) and drive (4:30-6pm). They are presented by the teams.
Across Western Sydney Gold is the strongest and HWCR the weakest. At the first changeover between hawkesbury and Gold both transmitters were on for about 5 minutes and gold completely wiped out hawker. Will have to upload a recording.
Further abroad though the original hawker seems to get out best. I was up in the mountains when Gold was on the other week and it was unlistenable anywhere west of Penrith.
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Yes, the higher elevation of the 2VTR site gives them a bigger advantage in reception beyond the horizon, despite the lower power - and it’s not that much lower.