I think Rhema has their own site… both the Google Earth placemarks and the Excel database lists the Rhema Site as
Gencom Site Acacia Road SOMERSBY
Which is about 1.5 kms south of the Mt Penang sites.
Rhema looks to be on their own there, as least as far as FM radio is concerned.
Ah, unless they’re moving up to Penang and the ACMA lookup has already updated it?
Would be interesting to see if they are working with Coast FM for both to move to the Mt Elliott site that RF has in mind…
That could make it cheaper for both Coast and Rhema to move, if they can agree on sharing some facilities?
Yes, I do know more about the Rhema TX move.
Can give general info, some of what I know is in commercial confidence atm.
The existing Rhema TX site, is at the Gosford Quarries site on Acacia Rd (near cnr of Debenham Rd South) Somesby.
Gosford Quarries are pulling down the site to use the land. They have to vacate the site by the end of June 2016.
They approached Nova Entertainment to use the Star104.5 site & were given a no.
They will be joining our transmission company, & co-locating with the other 3 Central Coast community stations at the SEA FM TX Site (on Debenham Road North, Somesby).
Our combiner & antenna array have to be replaced to accommodate them.
The transmitter work should take approx. 4-5 hours & will likely be performed overnight, all community stations will be off air during the works, & SEAFM will probably be on reduced power while the riggers are on the tower. No date set yet for the works.
I’m involved because it affects us, but I won’t be doing any of the works to the combiner or tower work, but will probably be up there when it’s done.
Rheema have to pay all costs associated with the TX site upgrades.
To reduce costs in the future, we’re looking at things that may have to be done in the future for us to change frequencies or other options, & get them done now at the current Somesby site.
I’m pushing for the replacement antenna array to be better specified, than both what we have now & what’s planned, to help get a better signal out, & help overcome some of our interference issues, all community stations will benefit from a better antenna of course. But whether they agree to the extra associated costs is another matter.
A full TX move to Mt Elliot is out for us atm. A frequency change, power increase or translator are still options being looked at. A main TX move is a very large expense to build a new site, & given we’re also discussing moving studios after our current lease expires in 2 years, is another large outlay, we have to find funds for.
You have to wonder about community radio sometimes.
This afternoon on one station they played “Missing You”, the John Waite song from 1984, and then states that he is “playing songs from the 60s and 70s”.
And then on another station a female announcer states that she “is going to play a video now”.
@Radiohead if one of those was on CoastFM, message me, the PD’s trying to rein in the presenters, & stamp out stuff like that, especially during the daytime 6am to 6pm shifts.
That said though, community radio is not professional, most are only there for fun & some presenters might only do a 2 hour shift once a fortnight, so they’re never going to be polished presentation.
Newcastle & the Central Coast (& some Metro areas) really don’t know how lucky they are to have community stations like 2NURFM & CoastFM.
It wasn’t Coast FM, it was on a couple of the suburban Sydney ones.
Community radio is always a bit of a mixed bag really. At it’s best, the content can be just as good if not better than major commercial stations despite community radio having little/no budget. At it’s worst, sometimes it seems that the presenters have been given little training and their programs are just there so the station doesn’t have to fill time with programing from the satellite.
Of course, I generally have to agree with that analysis! 
It all depends on the management too, if it’s an old boys/girls club the station tends to sound pretty average. I know there’s a licence condition which addresses community participation, but the onus is on people to complain to the ACMA and most can’t be bothered/ don’t know about the regulation.
I’d go one step further and argue that community radio, when done properly, is the most authentic and enjoyable radio around.
Yes, community radio when done well, is a very good listen.
According to the following station’s program guide on its website, SWR 99.9 in Blacktown, which is one of the better sub-metro community radio stations in Sydney, has the “Awesome 80s” on Saturdays from 4 to 8pm, replacing “Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 - The 80s”.
I would agree with you on that. 
This is especially true in regional areas, where a lot of its programming, as well as its music logs (particularly in the case of SCA), come from a central hub instead of being done locally. Not to mention that quite a fair number of commercial AM stations in NSW, VIC & QLD take a lot of networked talkback from 2GB or 3AW.
Tributes flow for Brisbane radio presenter Tiga Bayles
Online tributes are flowing for Brisbane radio personality Tiga Bayles who passed away early this morning after a long battle with cancer at the age of 62.
Bayles was a long time radio presenter at 98.9 FM for a program called Let’s Talk which focuses on issues relevant to First Nations people.
From the CBAA: "The Federal Budget has failed to maintain funding for metropolitan community digital radio services in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.
The loss of $1.4 million per annum puts all community digital radio services at risk."
89.9 Light FM in Melbourne began their own news service on Monday, mainly stories from Macquarie radio. They previously aired news updates direct from 3AW.
Nice to hear ex Nine News Brisbane presenter Mike London on the airwaves as weekday afternoon newsreader. Although he could work on the pronunciation of some Melbourne suburbs e.g. Mitcham, he is otherwise a great presenter IMO.
How did he pronounce it? I find this very interesting since the Light FM studios are on Mitcham Rd in Mitcham!
Hmm…interesting. The last I remember hearing from Mike London was him reading UCB News (I think that’s what it was called) on the Vision Radio Network while flicking around the AM stations maybe a year or two ago.
It’s now Vision National News https://vision.org.au/radio/shows/hourly-news/
I wasn’t sure how he pronounced it, but it had sounded like Mitch ham or something at the end.
Just found out that the Vision National News supplies bulletins for the Melbourne market, running parallel with the National News service, coming out of Brisbane.
For anyone in the Sydney, Central Coast, or Newcastle area that might be interested.
Next Tuesday 31st May (don’t know why management chose a Tuesday?), CoastFM 96.3 is holding an open day, and will be opening up the doors and exhibiting our state of the art upgraded studio’s to the public.
Bring along your family and friends.
Meet some of the CoastFM presenters
See our Studio A in action - live to air.
Try out your skill as a DJ and record and listen back to your voice in our second studio - Studio B.
Date: Tuesday 31st May
Time: 10.00am till 2.00pm
Place: CoastFM 96.3 Studios, 139 Faunce Street Gosford cnr Watt St. About 2 minute walk from Gosford train station.
For more information contact CoastFM on Ph: 4322 0072 during office hours (Mon - Fri, 9am - 1pm).
This just in: Labor to make an announcement on this at the studios of FBi, Sydney, at 4pm AEST (via CBAA)