That must be a record for the highest number of different frequencies used by the one station!
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I’m sure 95.3 was used as well- might have been early 2000s?
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Radio 50 Plus from Gosford (and KISS Lithgow) were both also using 95.3 around that time too.
Couldn’t get 50 Plus but Kiss 95.3 was strong here. 2CR Chinese Radio also tested on 95.3 from time to time in the late 90s/early 2000s. 2CR was much stronger than Show Radio and almost totally took over the frequency from Kiss 95.3.
Out FM, a LGBTIQA station, used 94.5 quite often in the late 90s/early 2000s. 96.9 had the most aspirants with Wild FM, Radio Dex, Free FM among others. Koori Radio also tested during this time on various frequencies but I can’t recall ever tuning in, same with fBi (I may have heard fBi once, I think). I’m not sure if Muslim Community Radio (2MFM) ever tested before getting their licence; I certainly can’t recall any broadcasts.
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Is Move 107.9 also strong where you are? I would think so if Kiss was.
As far as I can recall:
2000 & Prior - 96.9 (not sure about 90.9 or 94.5 but definitely possible)
2001 - 2004 - 95.3
2005 - 2008 - 100.5
2009 - now - 107.9
Show radio was actually on air in 2004 the day 95.3 was auctioned to DMG
And yes the irony of Show Radio ending up on 107.9 meant it again clashed with 2ICE as it did in the Kiss 95.3 days.
Up until about 5 years ago the who Show Radio operandi was in the Martin and Angus stand outside the main arena of the show.
Nowadays it’s treated as an OB with only the talk breaks live from one of the main arena media boxes. Codeced back to aftrs HQ for panelling and playout then codeced back to the transmitter at the showground. The irony of that is aftrs is at the old Easter show site at Moore Park.
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That definitely wasn’t lost on me!
Yes it’s strong, but probably not as strong as the old 95.3 was. 95.3 was fairly good stereo on a cheap Sanyo boombox; you’d struggle to receive 107.9 on it I think, not least because of the poor selectivity. That Sanyo radio is long gone though. The lower frequency would have also helped with coverage.
I think 95.3 broadcast with a little more power towards Sydney than the current 107.9, not sure.
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The Show Radio website seems to be reset every year (and unfortunately I don’t think the 2014 version is accessible via archive.org), but I distinctively remember a photo gallery being online to celebrate 20 Years of Show Radio with 90.9, 96.9 and 100.5 among the frequencies in some of the old pics. Hopefully something similar will come online if AFTRS plans to celebrate 25 years of Show Radio this year or next.
Didn’t know about 95.3 being used for Show Radio before DMG won the licence to transmit their-then new commercial radio station on the frequency, but it’d definitely make sense if it was.
Since 2CR still do temporary broadcasts on 91.6FM for Chinese New Year to this day and (I think) have a narrowcast licence somewhere around 152mHz, I wonder if they ever made bids for a permanent licence in Sydney on the wider broadcast band?
Not sure about the overall programming but Free FM’s promo spots & IDs (judging by the clips that are on YouTube) sounded fairly professionally presented for the time.
I believe they did. I have read the licence inquiries into the Sydney wide community licence allocations in ~2000 but I’m not sure if they’re available online.
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An interesting post about Geraldton commercial FM stations in the 90s, which were the first in WA outside of Perth.
From what I read, Triple G & 98FM were competing with each other for much of the 90s.
In around 1997, both stations came under the same ownership according to this document: http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/CLCCommsUpd/1998/4.pdf
This following document dated from 1994 is worth a read, particularly detailing about commercial FM radio in Geraldton: https://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1622&context=theses_hons
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Very interesting! I’ve often wondered how not 1, but 2 FM licences where issued in Geraldton, almost simultaneously. Thanks for digging these documents up.
With hindsight, we can say the Broadcasting Tribunal at the time got this wrong. Staggering the time between the 2 stations launching may have allowed them time to find there target audience better. Or issuing the licences to the same owner, to share resources, costs and not to compete with each other. Of course, such media ownership reforms where some years away.
On air they sounded very smooth. ‘After hours’ programs where a mess! Adult contemporary music during the day would change to a top 40 countdown on relay from Perth, at night. Complete with static fade outs (obviously feed taken straight off the air from Perth) and fill music and the end of local ad breaks that would run over the program when it returned. The modern day automated radio station technology eventually replaced this program arrangement.
2 commercial FM stations feels right for today’s market, not 20+ years ago. I guess SevenWest media as the current owners now has the funds that a local owner would never have had to put into the station. AFL box tickets for advertising businesses is 1 perk I have heard!
Interesting comments from ECU regarding Bunbury commercial FM. Same situation now as written about 20 years ago! Plus the FM band in Bunbury has been cleared 5 years ago. Can we assume the ACMA is protecting the broadcaster and local content to stop a repeat of Geraldton radio in the 90s???
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Oh my, that’s bad… Relying on an off air FM signal from 400 kms away is NOT a good idea
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You wonder why they bothered? It was evident even then that the official call-sign did not have to be used on-air.
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Perhaps they didn’t want to be associated with 4IP, and they probably didn’t envisage having the issues that they did.
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I meant to ask, did 6GE become 6GGG or did it become 98FM? I’m guessing it was 6GGG.
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It did
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Here’s an interesting Facebook post by 7AD, a Sunday schedule for both 7AD and 7BU from 1966
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As noted in the ABC topic “Today we marked 60 years of the ABC broadcasting in the Illawarra.”
I have the station that is now 2RN 1431 starting March 1959. So this is probably the anniversary being referred to?
Yes. It was known as 2WN before it moved to the FM band in 1991 as 97.3 ABC Illawarra, now ABC Illawarra.
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An previously on 1580 kHz
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