FM Spectrum Replan - General Discussion

[Brianc68]

@lovemusic

@TelevisionAU

if Perth goes down that option of migrating commercial AMs to FM, how long then before the commercial AMs in every other city demand to do the same. Stations like Magic and 3MP would love to go to FM I’m sure. It could be argued that both suffer from poor reception in parts of Melbourne.

I could see Adelaide doing an AM-FM conversion for 5AA and Cruise but the 3 eastern capital cities would require all suburban FM community stations to change frequencies for it to proceed.

Agree. I think Brisbane might be more likely than Sydney and Melbourne too. They might do it as a cleanup of the band from Noosa down to Lismore. I know the greater Sydney area has issues too but SEQ is a mess and probably has more significant overlap issues. I don’t think they’d find room to convert all AMs though. Perhaps 1 for the ABC and 1 commercial, potentially with an auction. I also wouldn’t rule out them doing something with River 94.9. It could even be asked to move to a 0.4 spacing to free up another frequency for Brisbane.

I think for Perth it might be option 1 although I wouldn’t rule out ABC only getting 1. That might set the scene for what happens in Adelaide and possibly Brisbane.