Community Radio

Yeah…I noted that some hours earlier too.
But at 14:42 programming heard.

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Can someone please remind me where the current 99.7 Bridge FM transmitter site is?
I recall mention that it had moved some 18 months or so ago from ACMA listed:
Water Tower, Sorrento St., Margate QLD

Wherever it is the reception has been sh#t on the southside ever since they moved :frowning:. It used to be fantastic.

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Redcliffe Entertainment Centre

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Thanks so much for that. :slightly_smiling_face:
Interestingly the April 2024 article shows a 2 bay mixed polarisation FM antenna array on the rooftop.
But the May 2024 Google Streetview image shows a 3 bay antenna.

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Here’s some more accurate coverage area maps for 99.7 Bridge FM from both previous site & current site. If power at current site is lower than licenced then coverage will be even less than indicated.

Quite a stark difference in coverage due to heights.

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This has been resolved - according to the livestream feed, broadcasting something about Israel-Gaza war now.

I’d hopeso since i posted that 16 days ago haha. It was resolved two or three days later. That program has been repeated every Sunday night since 2024.

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3KND has got to be one of the most interesting and unusual AM stations in Melbourne

I’ve only started getting into radio and listening to them in the last year or so. I love the idea of a station for the Indigenous community but I get the feeling that something happened between when they got started and now.

Looking up media from earlier on it seems that they once had a consistent roster of hosts. But now I hardly ever hear a presenter. Maybe I’m just listening at the wrong times but it seems to be a playlist 90% of the time.

But
The playlist they do run is excellent. Almost always great music. Not only that but it seems to be themed by genre into blocs at different times of the day. It’s not just “Music Mix” like a lot of other stations when they’re filling time. Some work has gone into curating and theming it and it’s an excellent listen. They also play a lot of R&B and more modern music which sounds kind of surreal and interesting over AM.

AND
The presenters I do hear I really enjoy, like the Midday Rush guy and the lady who does the country music show on Sundays. There’s an easy listening drivetime guy who is very good. One time late at night they were rebroadcasting a show from a Broome station that was very interesting.

Also there was another time when for some reason they were rebroadcasting SBS PopDesi!

I wonder if anyone else has any insight into this station?

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3KND really are a curious case.

Back when the ABA (pre-ACMA) handed out for Melbourne licenses in one day - 2 metro-wide FM, 1 metro-wide AM and 1 inner city FM - they went to what is now Light FM, SYN FM, Joy FM and 3KND.

As much as most of the stink was about the FM licenses, such as SYN FM being the ‘youth station’ deemed fit to be on the air by the ABA as Hitz FM, Kiss FM, City FM, etc would provide too much competition for the commercial station, the AM was a bit of a shock.

A bunch on the stations that did test broadcasts on the FM got whacked by the ABA for one thing or another, so in the ABA’s eye to deem them not fit enough for a license, but 3KND never did a test broadcast! There was never a bit of proof of who was planning to run it, could do so effectively. It got the nose out of joint of a number of stations who had done test broadcasts for years.

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Wikipedia (which links to an archived old version of 3KND’s official site) says there was a test broadcast in 1998?

Vox FM seem to be off air (or at low power). I haven’t been able to pick them up on my Sydney TEF servers for a few days now.

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4ZZZ is turning 50 and wants to hear station stories

Ahead of it 50th birthday later this year, 4ZZZ Brisbane have organised four months of celebrations, putting the call out to volunteers and presenters past and present, plus others who have been involved with the boundary pushing community station, to share stories, memories and pictures.

Plus Birthday Week celebrations in December will include a special dinner.

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3KND also did a test broadcast in 1999 on 90.7FM (Source: The Age, 11 March 1999)

Seems like many community stations are having tx problems lately. A lack of resources and/or volunteers to address the issues might be to blame.

How is 2RSR these days? If weaker than usual, the door is open for 2BRW in tropo.

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I’m honestly surprised by that, as I don’t recall that happening (I was listening to a lot of radio then, wanting to get industry).

Looks like I was wrong.

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i only very vaguely recall at the time that when they got the AM licence that I remember thinking it was a downgrade from their test transmission that was on FM.

Apparently they were presenting their test transmission(s) from the 3CR studios, and 3CR continuing to operate as normal.

Another question…

Community Christian station The Light 89.9 does a simulcast every night at 6pm of the Channel Nine TV news

How is it that a station with a community licence is able to have such a close relationship with Nine Media and even just straight rebroadcast their content?

They can have a close relationship with anybody… its allowed because its News, its not commercially promoting products or services.. although there is an argument

Following on from that..
How is it that Nine dont put their own TV news on their own radio stations but pay mostly christian community stations?

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