In Melbourne there was 21 aspirants fighting for 3 spots on the Melbourne dial (1503, 90.7, 89.9) and 1 for inner Melbourne (94.9)
89.9 went to Light FM (originally Triple Seven FM)
90.7 SYN
94.9 JOY (originally testing on 90.7)
1503 3KND (IIRC it had been testing on FM but was given an AM licence)
This was the list of aspirants with successful ones in bold:
• 3AC Australian Melbourne Chinese Radio Inc (SL1150694, SL1150695, SL1150722)
• 3CCFM Association Inc (SL1150694, SL1150695, SL1150722, SL1150683)
• Catholic Broadcasting Ltd (SL1150695, SL1150694, SL1150722)
• Christian Community Broadcasting Ltd (SL1150694*, SL1150695*)
• Central Melbourne FM Inc (SL1150683, SL1150694*, SL1150695*, SL1150722*)
• Hitz FM Broadcasters Inc (SL1150695, SL1150694)
• Hot FM Current Chart Radio Inc (SL1150695, SL1150694)
• Joy Melbourne Inc (SL1150694, SL1150695, SL1150683)
• Kiss FM Inc (SL1150695, SL1150694, SL1150683)
• La Trobe Union Radio Inc (SL1150694*, SL1150695*, SL1150694*, SL1150722*)
• Laughtertainment Community Radio Inc (SL1150695, SL1150694, SL1150722)
• Melbourne Gospel Radio Inc (SL1150694, SL1150695, SL1150722)
• Melbourne Pulse Radio Inc (SL1150683)
• New-Gen Radio Inc (SL1150694, SL1150695)
• Nu Country Music Radio Inc (SL1150683, SL1150695, SL1150694)
• Radio 3SA Suburban Radio Inc (SL1150722)
• RPW Consultants Pty Ltd. (SL1150722*)
• Showbiz Radio Inc (SL1150694, SL1150695, SL1150722)
• Student Youth Network Inc (SL1150695, SL1150694, SL1150683, SL1150722)
10
• The South Eastern Indigenous Media Association Inc (SL1150694, SL1150695,
SL1150722)
• The Victorian Muslim Community Information Service Inc (SL1150694, SL1150695,
SL1150722, SL1150683)
• Triple Seven Communications Inc (SL1150695, SL1150694, SL1150722)
(* application later withdrawn)
The full ABA reports is at:
https://www.acma.gov.au/-/media/mediacomms/Publication/pdf/melbourne-city-radio-pdf.pdf?la=en
Hitz FM was certainly one of the first to do a test broadcast (around 1993ish?) and the one with the biggest community support and profile but its popularity was probably its downfall as probably risked too much of becoming a de facto commercial service and had taken listeners away from commercial FM which was probably not to be an objective of the licence.