Continuing the discussion from Digital Radio:
I wonder how many there actually are?
As far as I know, there’s Hope 103.2 in Sydney, Plenty Valley FM (88.6) and Stereo (97.4) in Melbourne, the Rebels on the Gold Coast and a few narrowcast stations on 88.4 and 100.0
A search of the ACMA database only returns a few:
Sydney 2CBA 103.2 Community
Melbourne Western Suburbs 3WRB 97.4 Community
Plenty Valley 3PVR 88.6 Community
Mount Tamborine 4RBL 99.4 Commercial
Mount Tamborine 4BRZ 100.6 Commercial
Cocos Islands (West Island) 6CKI 96.0 Community
Of course there’s also the narrowcast stations on 87.6, 87.8 and 88.0
Star’s jingle being a rip off of London’s Heart FM “This is Heart” sting.
I recently had lunch in a pub in Moss Vale (Southern Highlands, NSW) and heard the sting in the background. At first I thought they were streaming Heart FM but had a closer listen and realised it was the Central Coast station. I was a bit disappointed they weren’t supporting a local station considering so many travellers pass through and would find value in local information such as traffic reports.
Does it possibly say something about the quality of programing on local commercial radio in the Southern Highlands if a local pub is streaming (well, one would imagine that reception of Star Central Coast would be poor to non existent in Moss Vale due to 2UUU from Nowra also using the 104.5 frequency) a station from elsewhere rather playing a local station?
When I was down in Huskisson back in March, the only local commercial station I found palatable was 2ST and only when they were playing music rather than networked talk/sport! Even though 94.9 Power FM was playing in a few places locally, musically it wasn’t for me and as for the Wollongong stations the less said the better really.
Interesting that a pub in Moss Vale have a Central Coast station on instead of the local or Sydney stations. I know that the Central Coast commercial stations can be heard into many parts of the Southern Highlands quite well, assuming that it’s played via an FM radio as opposed to via internet streaming. I remember 10 years ago, a local bus in the Campbelltown area had 2GO on instead of either C91.3 or the Sydney stations! 
Speaking of which, on the subject of local businesses not supporting a local station, I haven’t come across a business or person (apart from myself & my parents) in the Campbelltown & Macarthur region that have C91.3 on instead of the Sydney stations. Indeed, a lot of the radio-related advertising in the region are for the Sydney stations, with the only outdoor advertising for C91.3 being found on the Hume Motorway as you head out of the region towards Liverpool & Sydney (which I’ve posted a photo of in the “Regional Radio (Non-SCA)” thread).
I think if C91.3 have more of a ‘variety hits’ format (similar to River 94.9 in Ipswich) than they currently do, which musically half the time sounds more like a lot of the Sydney CHR stations that are receivable across pretty much the entire licence area, then I think the station would be more popular than it currently is, particularly in the older demographics. 
Although local programming on 2ST Highlands is limited to the Breakfast and Morning slots (the rest coming from 2ST’s North Nowra studio), it is still my station of choice when I pass through the area. I’d say the choice of station has more to do with the age of the person behind the bar on that day. The music on 2ST probably skewed a little too old for the young lady.
I know of a bowling club on the south coast where the regulars insist on having Smooth FM playing rather than one of the local stations. Events are sometimes hosted by WAVE FM personalities at this club so it’s odd that management has the Sydney station piped through the club instead of the local one on which they advertise.
With Wave FM sounding more like a Top 40 station & therefore less of an adult music station these days, I don’t blame them wanting Smooth on instead. 
This says more about the sorry state of local commercial radio in the Illawarra being one of the less diverse in Australia, music-wise. Even smaller cities & towns have more music format diversity across their local commercial stations than the Illawarra does!
In fact, you could say that comparing Wave FM with i98 is like comparing Seven News with Nine News: they’re pretty much identical with one another.
I would suggest it simply shows how consumers etc are so savvy these days - my local pharmacy has KOST 103.5 Los Angeles playing.
I would also think it gets around those fecking ridiculous licencing issues that APRA or whoever it is bears down on shops/offices with, demanding they pay royalties to play a radio or music.
NewsWeary - you are bang on! To compete against the Sydney stations C91.3 needs to find the weak spot and attack. That weak spot could be:
I loved being on the Central Coast in the last school holidays and listening to Star. It was playing hits form the 80s and 90s that I forgotten. It was like bumping into a long lost friend. Dead set - I was singing out so loud in the car. And I could not care less. I suppose other drivers realised I was a tourist from Sydney who had not experienced radio like this for ages.
Nope - they need to pay the APRA license regardless of where the music is sourced from - though there are a large number of businesses that don’t.
http://apraamcos.com.au/about-us/faqs/music-customers/
Cheers - those idiots piss me off.
An interesting comment was made in the “Macquarie Radio Network” thread:
The reason why Melbourne radio is far superior than Sydney radio, at least in the music radio front, is because of the fact that Melbourne has 1 more commercial music radio station than Sydney does (not counting the ‘fringe’ stations such as The Edge, C91.3, i98, Star etc), which is 3MP. Apparently, Caralis’ ownership of 2SM is letting them fall behind on that front. Their metro-wide community radio stations, such as RRR & PBS, is more superior than FBi & 2SER, whilst they also have a decent AM music station from a nearby regional market, which is 3GG from Warragul, which has a “Forever Classic” format, similar to that of 2GN/2XL. And their DAB-only stations, Aussie & Koool, are fairly unique in any metro market, in which it’s not available outside of Melbourne. To be fair, Sydney does have two dance-based DAB+ stations, Gorilla & Dance Super Digi, which is not offered anywhere else, either on FM or DAB+.
You could also say that if I was in Melbourne or Brisbane, I’d be listening to radio more than in Sydney, even if I don’t have a DAB+ radio. In other words, if I was in Sydney, having a DAB+ radio would be considered to be almost ‘compulsory’, due to the fact that most of the ‘fringe’ commercial FM stations that are receivable in most parts of Sydney are mostly Top 40-skewed (ie. C91.3, The Edge, Wave, i98 & Sea), with very few being adult music-based (Star & 2GO).
Back in 2012, when I was over in Perth, I generally found their local commercial music radio stations to be better than what Sydney offered back then, with or without DAB+ and/or the ‘fringe’ stations. At the time, 96fm was owned by Fairfax, which offered a rock-based format without the sport/talk that is present on Triple M in the eastern states. But now, since ARN took over 96fm last year, it became a Mix 94.5 clone, complete with their positioner of “Your Favourites from the 80s to Now”, as well as having a talk-based drive program. This means that Perth now has only 2 formats across its 4 commercial FM stations, with 2 having a CHR format (hit92.9 & Nova 93.7), whilst the other 2 have a AC format (Mix 94.5 & 96fm). This leaves 6iX, an AM station, as the only commercial music radio station to have a completely different format, in which it has a ‘classic hits’ format. With that in mind, having a DAB+ radio in Perth is now almost a requirement, as the only rock & easy listening stations in that city are found on DAB+ (ie. Classic Rock, MMM Modern Rock, Smooth & My Perth Digital).
With just one ownership change of a single Perth station (96fm), this meant that Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane & even Adelaide now have better commercial music radio stations in general than Perth, even when not including the ‘fringe’ stations. In fact, Canberra is now not far behind Perth in terms of its commercial music radio stations, in which they also have 3 formats (1 x CHR = hit104.7; 1 x AC = Mix 106.3; 1 x Classic Hits = 2CA) across just 3 stations instead of 5! As a bonus, unlike all of the Perth commercial FM stations, at least Mix 106.3 has a music-based drive program if you prefer more music & less talk for the drive home.
Dance Super Digi is no longer broadcasting. Although I suppose that Fun Classic Hits could also be classed as a unique DAB+ only station for Sydney that’s a decent alternative to the usual stations…if only they had better audio quality!
Anyway I’d probably agree that Sydney certainly isn’t one of the best radio markets in Australia for music variety although compared to many regional areas where commercial radio is simply a choice between primarily Top 40-skewed music or either classic hits and/or talkback, we don’t do too badly…
Oh, I wasn’t aware of that. 
That’s true I suppose.
Or in Wollongong’s case, at least for its local commercial stations, it’s a choice between primarily Top 40-skewed music or primarily Top 40-skewed music (ie. i98 & Wave). And if you throw Power FM from Nowra into the mix, that’s another station playing primarily Top 40-skewed music.
3GG doesn’t reliably make it into Melbourne much past Narre Warren, so it’s hardly worth a mention. That equates to about the same as how far the Ballarat stations make it into Melbourne from the North West.
The Geelong stations on the other hand have reasonable coverage through a lot of Melbourne.
You’re not wrong. 
Perhaps the only noticeable difference between the three stations is that 94.9 Power FM has a bit of a “rock” skew; many of the songs it plays can also be found on Triple M. One thing I have noticed in particular about Power FM is that it doesn’t play the most recent top-40 hits. For instance, i98fm and 96.5 Wave FM could play the new Justin Timberlake song (“Can’t Stop The Feeling”, if i’m not mistaken), whereas Power FM would most likely play a song such as “Happy” by Pharrel Williams, which was released three years ago. I have also found this somewhat intriguing and it’s pretty strange, considering that the station is more or less a “top-40 station” like it’s local counterparts. Power FM’s “rock” skew is primarily the reason why I prefer to listen to the station over i98fm and 96.5 Wave FM, at least when 104.9 Triple M is not available. Although admittedly, in recent times I have preferred to listen to i98fm over Power FM & Wave, as Power FM have been playing less 90’s rock music in recent times.
It’s pretty sad really that Wollongong, the third largest city in New South Wales, realistically only has the option to choose from the “top-40” stations or ABC Radio. I know that many of the Sydney FM station can be received in most areas of the Illawarra, but in some parts, the reception is pretty poor and almost inaudible. Based on my observations, the western shore of Lake Illawarra (around Dapto) can not receive the Sydney FM stations too well. Whenever I travel through the area, I always have to change it to a local station instead, as the reception of Triple M is simply too poor to listen to. Even parts of the northern suburbs, such as Fairy Meadow, can sometimes have difficulties in receiving the Sydney FM stations.
Apart from the Sydney FM stations, the only other options would either be 106.9 Vox FM or for something a bit more mainstream, 87.8 Oldies FM. Oldies FM is a pretty good alternative to the “top-40” stations, especially for those who favour a “classic-hits” format. Despite being a narrowcast station, the music played on Oldies FM is pretty well-known too. I have heard a number of songs from The Beatles on the station before. However, in saying all of that, the reception of Oldies FM isn’t exactly favourable. Based on my observations, the northern suburbs of Wollongong can not receive the station at all, especially considering the fact that a yet-identified religious station is transmitting from that part of the Illawarra. Interestingly enough, even the coastal suburbs can struggle to receive the station. One of my parents informed me that they couldn’t even receive the station in Warilla, despite the fact that it is in reasonable distance to Kiama! From my location, I can receive the station reasonably well, although the signal does have a bit of static at times. I can not receive the religious station at all on the 87.8 MHz frequency, even during high tropo levels.
Sorry for the incredibly long post. 
I think it depends on the radio re: Geelong stations in Melbourne. I get Bay FM and K Rock clear on my car radio pretty much anywhere that I drive over Melbourne, but my indoor radios at home barely pick them up. Likewise I can get Warragul, Ballarat and (sometimes) Bendigo stations on FM on the car radio but not at home… but I’ve no reason to want to tune in to them for any prolonged period,
I get an OK signal on 3GG but its programming is hardly compelling enough to make me want to tune in for a signal that gets a bit scratchy.
Are 2xl’s fm relays in the snowy mountains in
full stereo?
I THINK they are…
There are quite a number of them, 96.3 Jindabyne, 92.1 Thredbo, 92.5 Charlotte Pass, 92.5 Bombala, 98.7 Perisher so doing stereo would be viable.
I would also guess that they are.
The Jindabyne transmitter is the most local to the studio, as well as a relay point for the STL to the 918AM transmitter in Cooma.
Thredbo is fed by a digital link, and I believe that Charlotte Pass and Perisher are off air relays from Thredbo. (This is the same for both 2XL and Snow FM).
As for Bombala, I pretty sure someone on the old forum said that it’s not switched on yet, and I think it would be unlikely that it ever will be given the small population of the area and the distance that would be required for an STL to reach.