I’d heard that Grant leased 1341 out but maybe it’s old info?
K-Rock isn’t a s.39 license, never has been.
3GL converted from AM to FM to make an equal market after Bay-FM started, & as a result (& the same for all AM stations that converted to FM during the 90’s), the AM license was surrendered after the FM license took over.
Some of those AM frequencies were put on hold in reserve for future broadcasting use (digital radio such as DRM), others were given to ABC or SBS services that were on subpar coverage frequencies, some were resold as HPON’s & some were resold as commercial licenses to other operators (SRN network has some of those, in Orange, Coffs Harbour & Port Macquarie/Kempsey NSW).
3GL no longer exists as such, it became 3CAT (K-Rock FM), the 1341 frequency was repurposed & sold off as a HPON.
I’m pretty sure after the FM conversion, Hoyts who owned 3GL at the time of conversion before selling later to Grant broadcasters, may have still owned the 1341 transmission site, similar to Hunter Broadcasters/X107-(NXFM) still owning & leasing out the 1341 Newcastle transmission site, but they didn’t own or control the HPON license that broadcast on that frequency, which in the case of Newcastle was the 2KY/Sky Racing Radio, I’m not sure who the Geelong one was at the time?
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my vague understanding is that Grant Broadcasters secured the HPON transmitter licence, which sort of aligns to the above post, and leased the licence to Chinese narrowcaster 3CW, which has now gone silent.
Whether Grant got the HPON as a legacy from Hoyts or managed to get it later, I am not aware.
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I’ve looked into this a bit further & you’re right, 3CW was leased off Grant Broadcasters, but I’m not sure when that lease started?
I also can’t find when Grant Broadcasters got hold of the 1341 HPON license, but maybe it was after this in 2000?
http://kirra.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AUBAUpdateNlr/2000/93.pdf
What was the HPON on 1341 between K-Rock starting & 3CW starting or was there a period of nothing on 1341, 3CW didn’t start when 3GL vacated the frequency back in 1990 did it?
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I think Rete Italia (or some Italian station) was on it before the Chinese station took it over?
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This sounds closer to the mark for the situation in Ballarat than it does for Geelong. 3BA converted to FM but the 3BA AM license still lives on as 3BT, only to be operated as one of the few RSN relays on a commercial license rather than the HPONs, under the absurd exceptions that racing radio formatted stations have to the normal local content requirements.
The ownership rules means Grant/ARN can’t actually own it - but they do as close as they can by their close partners at Capital Radio being the ones that own the license, leasing it to RSN and ensuring no real competitor.
Similar happened in Shepparton, but at least RSN own that license directly.
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Grant Broadcasters also kept ownership of the TX site. I assume that transferred to ARN as it was most likely owned by the Ballarat licensee company.
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This scan of an old newspaper - when each station covered a different game to the other, with each broadcaster having the one commentary team. It was frustrating if your team was being broadcast on a racing station like DB or UZ, as you didn’t get much footy.
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On March 18, 2014, SAFM breakfast hosts Michael, Hayley & Burgo staged a fake off-air incident just to hear the first song off the station’s emergency tape, which turned out to be La Bouche’s “Sweet Dreams”, originally released in 1996. (Source: https://radioinfo.com.au/news/18-year-old-song-safms-emergency-tape/)
Outside of a short (now muted) clip from the station’s Facebook page, I can’t find any video or audio about this incident.
https://www.facebook.com/SAFMadelaide/videos/786997951329167
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ABC Radio Sydney will also bid farewell to its pips to mark the top of the hour. They will be heard for the final time at 7pm.
Rod Quinn then presents a special 2-hour program at 8pm, looking back at the history of the station.
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Wait what?
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Sad news:
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They don’t say why they’re doing this?
I’m listening to the above segment and I’ll let you know if they say why
Here’s why (from 5:50): it’s because they only play on the AM feed, and they’ve been turning them off across the country. The pip generators aren’t made anymore and when they broke they just turned them off. Only four stations still have working pips: RN Sydney, Sydney, Melbourne and RN Melbourne. So they have to turn the generator off soon anyway, so they have decided to turn it off at the 100 years celebrations rather than a random date in the future. So get ready for the other three stations to turn theirs’ off soon.
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Surprising that old failing time pip generators would really have been a primary decision factor.
A $100 Raspberry PI with NTP or GPS time syncing and some simple code could be an accurate time pip generator. Or we could program broadcast Axia AoIP software to produce & mix time pips into the transmitter feed. Easy.
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Does anyone know any commercial stations that still do them?
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Agree, thought they’d just be a software anyway (if not just an auto macro on the control panel).
With the delay in broadcast for in particular digital broadcasting it makes it ineffective anyway. Also you can’t even sync your clocks by calling 1194 but you can use https://1194online.com/
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2CA had one pip at the top of the hour the last time I listened to them.
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4BC has them on their AM broadcast but not DAB
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