The switch has been made!
I listened in from about 10 past… Was well done and well explained, on location from the Murray St Mall.
The Triffids “Wide Open Road” is the first song on FM. Being a WA band.
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I saw this somewhere too. They should just run a 1W transmitter from the studio building that covers a city block to comply with the legislation.
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Yes, a great choice. I would have been happy with Steely Dan as well, though I’m guessing that would be a tad problematic as that was 96 FM’s first song. But that would only bother those with elephantine memories, or radio nerds such as us!
I will play both tracks on The Conga Line this week.
I listened from about 0630 WST; the build up was quite good with a silly theme song to usher in FM as well as interviews with past presenters.
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Congratulations Perth, much as I love AM and it’s sad to see a historic frequency go, the change makes sense especially in a metro setting
Do we think anything like this is coming for other cities? I’d like to see 3KND go FM. They are struggling to find an audience on AM and really deserve it
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I can’t see how the likes of 2BL and 3LO can convert to FM, unless ABCFM is sacrificed. This might be a possibility if 6WF’s ratings really take off after the switch.
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That’s what I’m thinking. If the switch in Perth results in higher ratings then they will look to convert ABC in the other metros (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and also Canberra). If that means sacrificing Classic FM I reckon that is on the table. Of course, the government could also ask ACMA to try to find an additional FM frequency in those cities by shuffling some sub-metro community stations for example.
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Don’t think there would be any room on the FM spectrum In Melbourne for this to happen.
Is there audio of the switch over? I was otherwise occupied when it happened.
Or ABC Local Radio takeover the SBS FM frequencies. They’d have even fewer listeners than Classic.
And I’d love to see ABC Local Radio on 106.1 here in Newcastle, I’m quietly envious of Wollongong getting a Local Radio that has music in proper FM stereo.
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Yeah I agree, ABC local radio on 97.7 FM… 702 for Newsradio .. 630 am for SBS 2 radio.
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Maybe a Frequency Swap in Canberra, 666 becomes NewsRadio while 103.9 becomes ABC Canberra.
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Then the News Radio frequencies can become the emergency broadcasting frequencies as well in the major cities.
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Shouldn’t that be a bit of a no-brainer?
I mean, I can’t imagine anyone under an emergency circumstance would tune into ABCNR for the rest of the day’s news.
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That would make sense.
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Damn I wish I had one of my older AM/FM radios with a signal strength meter. On my fussy Panasonic hifi ABC Perth on 102.5 doesn’t lock when scanning and I can hear hissing as I move around (was OK this morning). So on the day of launch something goes wrong? No problems with 103.3 and 104.1. Maybe I am dreaming.
Lucky DAB works better for me (which is what I have optimised my set up for especially Mandurah DAB+, and with a shared antenna I do have weaker FM reception).
UPDATE1: Either my Panasonic hifi is having a fit or something is wrong with the Bickley site. Now 102.5 is back (no hissing) and scanning, but 103.3 doesn’t scan and I can hear hissing when I listen to it as I move around. Funny thing is 101.7 for Capital Community which never scanned is now hissing too.
UPDATE2: Yet again the reason why I hated AM/FM … antenna placement relative to environment. I suspect where I have my antenna positioned creates ghosting from Bickley. Most evident with 101.7 which moved and with greater Tx power and yet it sounds slightly more distorted. Back to DAB I go then … Lucky I don’t have a tin roof.
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The switch over occurred around the 2:15 hr mark on the above audio link.
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ABC managing director Hugh Marks joined presenter Mark Gibson to officially make the switch. (ABC News: Mya Kordic)
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Yes, I was thinking a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ or a frequency swap with SBSFM might be the other option.
An interesting observation is that the requirement to broadcast parliament on MW does not seem to extend to the territory capitals. Darwin never had 8PB, whilst 2PB Canberra hasn’t been on MW since about 2005-06. Needless to say, there’s no micro power MW outlet at Jervis Bay, nor on any of the external islands.
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afaik it only applied to state capital cities, not territories or regional areas.
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