So when did God become the allocator of frequencies?
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Genesis 1:3,
And God said, âLet there be radiofrequency spectrum allocations,â and there was radiofrequency spectrum allocations.
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And He saw that it was goodâŚuntil ACMA got in the way.
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Does that make ACMA Satan?
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Perhaps, but better the devil you know.
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Noted yesterday that 1053 Brisbane was playing the loop advising Vision listeners to switch to 1620 AM or the low-power FM transmitters across town, as well as promoting the new SENTrack. 1620 was its usual mess at sunset when I checked but yes at a stretch it might get out west of the city during the day in the carâŚ
Also, that âNightSkyâ station on 95.3 does OK, got RDS reception in the car out in the western suburbs. Just playing a loop of music at the moment
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Probably should be in the Random Radio thread but a thought from (very) left field. If ACMA ever tried to squeeze in another high powered FM into Brisbane by pushing the boundaries a bit I wonder if 95.3 would be an option. Sure the spacing would be technically down to .4 but the two stations on either side would be 94.9 Ipswich and 95.7 Gold Coast. Thereâs no actual Brisbane station anywhere near 95.3 except 96.5 and 93.3
Just a thoughtâŚ
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Classic FM from Lismore would be the problem, as would ABC Gympie. Even with âNightSkyâ on air I still get Classic FM in my driveway
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Oh yeah I forgot about the ABC on the Sunshine Coast. They just need to move them all .4 
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Agree with above that 95.3 can be clearly heard in Brisbane southern suburbs from Mt Nardi and 95.3 Gympie is strong in the north and bayside suburbs.
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Wonder if they could just work out two or three lower powered FMs for different parts of Brisbane - and sell it as a single license? The annoyance of that to listeners might offset some of the complaints about auctioning another license at all.
And to link it back to narrowband - perhaps thatâs the holy trinity of FM frequencies that our lord and saviour promised Vision.
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I know a lot in here thinks ACMA are the bad guys, but theyâre really not, they donât make the laws/rules, they just enforce them & work with the spectrum under rules theyâre given.
The various Federal Communications Ministers & related bureaucrats over the years, make the laws/rules with CRA stuck hard in their ears, pushing their buttons. These ministers then lean firmly on ACMAâs nuts (so to speak) to make sure CRAâs agenda is undertaken.
Itâs CRA who is the devil & who is crippling/killing radio in Australia, as they are pushing hard on self preservation from no competition & they have done this for years.
What really needs to happen is the ACCC to grow some & take CRA on & also a Senate inquiry or Royal Commission into there restrictive behaviour with what is really publicly owned spectrum.
Really if it wasnât for CRA, we wouldnât have Narrowcast Radio, theyâd be community or commercial licences.
Narrowcast throws people a bone, but restricts them so heavily theyâre no threat to commercial stations, & if they get too close to a commercial format, the CRA stations will complain & have it shut down fast.
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Yeah, I was just running with the theme. The ACMA are just like any bureaucracy and yes undue influence from commercial broadcasting interests is the main issue in media policy.
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Couldnât have said it any better. Itâs the way the game is played at all levels of government, lobby groups on behalf of vested interests lean on politicians to try and achieve a preferred outcome, and these politicians lean on their departments to implement what theyâre hearing. Itâs rubbish, but itâs government in the 21st centuryâŚ
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I believe there is something fundamentally wrong about having a single regulator that controls both spectrum allocations and our media sector - especially when there is a preference towards self-regulation.
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Yes yes yes, this is a BIG PROBLEM in Australia, and suspect itâs as bad in the US. After a while, I was thinking I was the only one thinking this way. So refreshing to hear others are thinking the same.
What can be done to stop them?
RFBurns, admittedly this would be one of my biggest dreams come true, but even if fiction can become reality, the government would appoint CRA sympathetic scum to the board anyway. This is exactly what has happened to the NDIS royal commission, not only was it tied in to the aged-cared commission for having less importance, but the appointees were government buddies from within, one who was known for operating disability services with documented incompetencies.
I guess as with radio and getting a ACCC enquiry going, where would one start? One would guess any other interested individuals could feel out interest from this board and beyond, start a petition (which today has become so cliche, nobody takes notice anymore, but it would be at least a good starting point), and perhaps a core group of people could come out of such to approach ACCC with a set of goals and outcomes needed to be obtained.
But reality is, who and whatever takes on CRA is taking on the might of a monster. I would highly suspect when I attempted to get an FM license of some form five to ten years ago, despite actually meeting up with ministers in their offices, Iâm now looking back suspecting CRA would have been kicking and screaming like a TWO YEAR OLD BABY at the prospect of me ( or anybody else) starting a new station in Sydney; I did have quite a bit of press coverage at the time.
Because our efforts were so sustained and public, in the end, I did get quite a bit of abuse through twitter, facebook, emails, and for a short wile one suspects that they may have been stalked in some form. I would emphasise however much of this was only a slight possibility that it could have been CRA. As gaining spectrum is very competitive, it could have been anyone from anywhere who didnât like what we were doing, despite much support on one of those petition sites.
The goverment, associated communication ministers, and CRA are akin to feral animals in the jungle, running rampent and out of control, noone canât do anything unless a large scale cull is undertaken and some form of order is restored from a publically neutral government which only one can dream as being as realistic as utopia.
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I donât know that self-regulation is the alternative, especially when it comes to management of spectrum which is a public asset. A far more independent ACMA distanced from the will of its political master would be more effective in my view, as it would be able to implement regulation in the best interests of all users, not just a few commercial broadcasters.
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Like others on here, I know Iâve mis-directed my disdain at ACMA, but as one of the posters noted above, ACMA is just at the end of a rather corrupted food chain, and as policy today is largely driven by government who then is control by lobby groups, I donât think their would be a simple answer to this. Even if you had an indipendent ACMA, so okay, they might be somewhat marginally better spectrum allocation, but if the rules are corrupted from the top, thereâs nothing else anyone can do except for a left of field government.
I may make a few enquiries and see what can be done about ACCC looking into CRAs corrupt practices, but my straight up gut feeling is I think Iâd be wasting my time. Earlier tonight, I googled some stuff, where I came across an article noting how even the might of all the record labels in 2010 came off second best to CRA, people have no idea on how untouchable these criminals are.
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I think it was the same in the 20th century, too. We probably would have got mainstream FM radio a lot earlier than we did if it werenât for the AM stations lobbying against it
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oh yes - I have already mentioned on one of the other forums, that the gov wanted to introduce commercial FM way back in 1962 but the big AM broadcasters were dead set against it & thus the gov caved in & shelved it until 1980.
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