101.5 Great Lakes FM are playing great music, but need someone like @RFBurns to fix up their audio processing, sounds a bit too bright and hollow.
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Great Lakes FM is usually my choice along the highway between Taree and Hexham bridge. Has fantastic reach.
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Itâs been the de facto commercial station around there for years. In the 90s it was really the only thing listenable on FM between Bulahdelah and Taree. Max FM didnât exist and Rox FM only faded in north of Taree (on the crappy car radios in use at the time). I remember listening to Lawsie on Great Lakes.
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It WAS the only thing between Bulahdelah and Taree full stop (unless you are counting the 2RE Forster FM translator, which went to air in 1989 I think).
Yes, they got into trouble with the ABA around 89-90 for operating as a de facto commercial station with a contemporary playlist and sound and was then branded as âFM101.5â. They had a licence condition imposed on them and that was when they rebranded to âGreat Lakes FMâ as it still is today.
Re ROX FM, I had always been able to get it down to at least Nabiac, but then my Ford Telstar had a great Pioneer car radio that held onto weak signals really well, as long as the adjacent frequencies were clear or weak.
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That would have been the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal if it was 89/90âŚthey were a lot more rigorous with that sort of thing. This was still the era when licence renewal was subject to comprehensive inquiry.
2RE would have been receivable on 1557, but I didnât want to listen to AM radio as a little kid.
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1557 2RE had a poor signal to the south in particular, also being only 2kw didnât help.
I think night fading would have been an issue into Forster.
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And the 2UE bulletins and theme. They were unashamedly filling the hole the commercial radio was not.
Indeed, hence the long running 100.3 translator for the Great Lakes Shire. Daytime, the signal wasnât great back then with far lower noise floor and unlistenable at night. 1557 largely a clear channel, so must be a poor TX site?
I am amazed the station managed a FM translator back in 1989. Who was the 2RE owner then?0
Also remember that most of the Great Lakes Shire had high gain band II antennae for NBN-3 which also received NEW FM, 2NUR and the ABC FMs. Very fortuitous reception.
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It was owned by the Higginbotham Familyâs Carillon Network.
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FM 103 in Goulburn (now Ram FM) also got in trouble with the ABA for sounding like a de facto commercial FM radio station in the early 90s, even their sponsorships sounded like commercials! It got mentioned (and played sound bites) on Media Watch. When I listened to it on the way to Sydney back then it was definitely commercial sounding right down to the playlist! It was the only FM station there at the time, Eagle FM and Triple J did not come until later in the decade.
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Thanks @TV-Expert, of course! They acquired the struggling ECN-8 Taree after NBN was blocked on competition grounds. No surprise they went the electronic media double as with 2TM on Goonoo Goonoo Road.
I remain impressed at the licensee forethought for the FM translator and the willingness of the notoriously slow and change resistant ABT to approve this.
Back then, looking at various lists of radio and TV stations, Airlie Beach, Ayers Rock, Roseberry, Snowies and Ulladulla were about the only places with FM translators for AM stations. The Great Lakes Shire 2RE translator doesnât seem to make any publications I have.
Not in the 1990 DOTC book of radio and TV broadcasting stations.
1993 edition has a âSpecification dateâ of 7/92 for Foster 100.3 1kW OD Stereo and 3/92 for Gloucester 100.1 40w DA Mono (why on earth DA for flea power 40w?).
Coords given are -32 9.5, 151 11.
-31 58, 151 56.5.
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It could have be 1990 that the 2RE relays went to air, but I really donât think it was any later than that, so that 1992 date is interesting.
But youâre right, there werenât many FM relays back then, but also not many on AM either (2EC 765 Batemans Bay, 8DN 765 Katherine, 2DU 972 Cobar are the only AM ones I can think of that were on air by the late 80s).
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2KA on 1476 as well
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Before the West was One.
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Looks like Juice 107.3 on the Gold Coast has moved studios.
Their address listed now has them moved from Southport at Marinerâs Cove to Surfers Paradise.
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Yes they have.
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Does anyone know anything about this
Another potential applicant for 89.9FM? Appears to be only online at the moment.
Looks like there are some ex-Hawkesbury Gold presenters on it, including Mike Jefferies.
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Brand confusion with @tx42 's station? Pulse Tassie has a very good online presence, too. Thereâs also Pulse FM in Geelong.
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There was a nice discussion on ABC Coffs and Mid North Coast this morning with a staff member who got her start in radio with local station CHY FM⌠There were constant references to CHY by name, itâs history and how good it was as place to get a start in radio. Youâd never hear a discussion like that anywhere else.
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