Most sources say he was born in Orbost, and the man himself seems to confirm this here:
He may have also lived in Quambatook.
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Infinite Dial Australia 2020
The Infinite Dial Australia 2020 study released today by Edison Research shows 82% of Australians aged 12 and over listened to radio over the air, online or via catch-up podcasts in the last week, holding steady with last yearâs 83% figure.
Twelve per cent of the population listened to radio online in the last week, up from 10% a year ago.
Commercial Radio Australia chief executive officer Joan Warner said Australian radio was leading the way compared to other countries where the Infinite Dial study was conducted.
âAustralian radio continues to perform strongly, with 82% of people listening weekly. This compares to 65% in the US, 69% in Canada and 62% in Germany,â she said.
Podcast listening continued to grow steadily, with 17% listening to a podcast in the last week, up from 15% in 2019 and 13% in 2018.
Weekly podcast listeners listened to six podcasts per week on average. Smartphones and tablets were the devices used most often to listen to podcasts â with 85% listening this way versus 11% using a computer.
Smart speaker ownership also continued to grow steadily, with 17% of survey respondents owning at least one, up from 13% a year ago. Google Home is the most popular brand.
In the car, 83% of those who had been in a car in the last month had listened to AM, FM or DAB+ radio, 33% had listened to online audio streaming services, 32% had listened to a CD player, 19% had listened to owned digital music and 14% had listened to a podcast.
Edison Research president Larry Rosin said smart speakers present an exciting new pathway for audio consumption.
âThe audio space is extremely dynamic today, creating opportunities and threats for all players,â he said.
The Infinite Dial Australia is a comprehensive study of digital media behaviour and has been running since 2017. It was commissioned by CRA, Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) via their PodcastOne subsidiary, and Triton Digital.
The research was conducted in the first quarter of 2020, prior to the lockdowns from the COVID-19 pandemic, and is a nationally representative telephone survey of 1,014 people aged 12 and older, with data weighted to national 12+ population figures.
Topline findings from the 2020 study:
- 82% of Australians listen to AM/FM/DAB+ radio over-the-air, online or via catch-up podcasts each week, remaining steady on the 83% who listened in 2019
- Radio remains the leading in-car audio entertainment, with 83% of Australians listening to AM/FM/DAB+ radio in the past month, compared to 33% who had listened to online audio streaming services, 32% a CD player, 19% owned digital music and 14% a podcast.
- Podcast listening is growing steadily, with 17% listening to a podcast in the last week, up from 15% in 2019 and 13% in 2018
- Smart speaker ownership continued to grow steadily, with 17% of survey respondents owning at least one device, up from 13% a year ago
- Radio remains highly relevant in Australia and continues to perform strongly, with 82% of Australians listening weekly, compared to 65% in the US, 69% in Canada and 62% in Germany
The study can be downloaded at www.radioalive.com.au.
https://twitter.com/edisonresearch/status/1262906214792474624?s=20
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weâve often discussed how finding FM spectrum is for new services is becoming difficult - so is now the time to look at expanding the FM band down into VHF band I - say 64Mhz?
letâs discuss
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I believe a recent paper from ACMA about the future of radio touched on that - essentially with the need to replace every existing receiver to accommodate it was seen as a significant enough drawback to not entertain the idea.
I agree the FM band is too small, and it would have been ideal if it had gone all the way down to 76MHz from day one (like it does in Japan, although I think they only go up to 90MHz) but wholesale changes to the band would be difficult to implement now.
Still, there is an argument that itâs got about as much legs as getting digital radio off the ground, especially given the availability of freed up spectrum in those lower frequencies
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a lot of the receivers coming out of China these days tune down to 64Mhz but that lower band would be ideal for all those ânicheâ broadcasts such as Horse Racing & Ethnic programming. This would also do away with the need for the âxbandâ (1611 ~ 1701) & the VHF NAS band (roughly 150Mhz)
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I donât think it will happen because of the significant barrier that it imposes upon consumers as mentioned, and consumers are kings. The same argument applies for DRM+ services.
You could make an argument that opening up the band would allow for greater competition and an increase in âwelfareâ for consumersâŚbut as we know the incumbents are vehemently opposed to new entrants.
I believe Brazil has expanded its FM band below 80 MHzâŚnot sure how successful thatâs been.
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I doubt itâll happen for FM, the international standards would have to change, I donât think Australia could go it alone on that.
Besides Band 1 has been reserved by ACMA for DRM+ use, same as all vacated AM/MW Band frequencies are reserved for DRM use.
I disagree with @dxnerd on the use of DRM+ services, if someone stands up to CRA & says NO, to more DAB+, DRM/DRM+ will be the way forward for digital radio in Australia, as thatâs what everyone else wants to use, & what ACMA had already planned for years ago.
As for consumers needing new radios, most chipsets that decode DAB+, from the last couple of years itâs just a firmware update to enable DRM, older DAB+ radios will need to be replaced, but then theyâll have a limited lifespan left before needing replacement anyway, as the long term quality doesnât seem to be there with them, like the old AM/FM radio days when a set could last 20 years or more, (I have a couple of AM/FM radios from the late 1970âs that still work today as well as they did 40+. years ago when new).
Didnât I read in here somewhere a couple of weeks ago that one of the big aftermarket car radio manufacturers have dropped DAB+ from their lineup, other will follow soon behind, the market for DAB+ just isnât there to be worthwhile for manufacturers, CRA keep pushing the dead horse for Australia. Even though the chipsets can do most/all formats, will manufacturers spend the time & money writing software to decode DAB+, long term probably not, theyâll only do HD Radio & DRM/DRM+.
With the population of India alone using DRM, that makes it more appealing to big scale receiver manufacture, than most other countries using DAB+ put together. Goto the DRM web page & look at all the big name companies behind it as members (JVC/Kenwood, Panasonic, Sony, just to name a few), funnily enough CRA are associate members, so theyâve got a foot in each camp, & for them to do that, they must know thereâs something in it & it has a future, otherwise they wouldnât bother with it.
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I donât disagree with the use of DRM- I reckon it is a better technology especially for regional markets- but the history of technology tells us that thereâs a huge first mover/network advantage. You can add pushback from incumbent technologies and interests too. Betamax and AM stereo are the prime examples. I think that hurdle will be next to impossible to overcome; the more likely outcome is the state of arrested development for DAB+ continuing until everyone throws in the towel and promotes streaming as the way forward.
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Which I think we are already seeing certainly in the metro areas.
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You may be right, but those 2 examples were actually the superior to the winner & in the case of Betamax, it was first, VHS copied soon after.
AM Mono won out because of a lack of receivers due to the competing AM Stereo formats, that lasted too long before (mainly) the FCC in USA made Motorolaâs C-QUAM the standard.
VHS won out because Betamax was a superior format & was initially hard to get players as they were only manufactured by Sony & were more expensive to purchase due to the better quality of Betamax, in the end the consumer went the cheaper & easier to get VHS & the professional market (TV, & Video Production) used Betamax.
Then you had the HD DVD/Blue Ray war, Blue Ray came out about 4 months after HD DVD, but Blue Ray won out after Toshiba gave up on HD DVD, pretty much again because of lack of available players & content providers giving up on it, no longer releasing any movies ,etc. on HD DVD.
DAB is old technology, itâs been around since 1995, about when Australia started converting AM to FM & rolling out more FM stations around the country, this is when DAB shouldâve been introduced & we skipped FM rollout altogether, but that shipâs sailed now & missed the chance, as DAB hasnât really gone anywhere over that timeline. Canada, Finland, New Zealand, Hong Kong & Portugal have all abandoned DAB/DAB+, & now if manufacturers are abandoning it, then itâs game over.
DRM still has a chance IMO, but digital radio might be bypassed as a whole, with streaming being the AM/FM replacement?
Talking with another tech last week, we believe streaming as a significant player in the market is still many years away yet, we think there be another round of transmitter replacements in about 10-15 years time, & then theyâll have another 10 or so years life, before terrestrial broadcast of radio & TV is taken over by online formats.
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Yes I agree the DAB/DRM dichotomy is different in many ways to other âformat warsâ but it still ultimately comes down to receiver availability. It may be trivial to convert existing receivers but there has to be an external push- likely consumer demand- to create an incentive to do so. DAB has the clear advantage at the moment in terms of receiver availability; the consumer demand push for digital radio is fairly weak so the incentives arenât there to dabble in DRM.
I agree- and hope- that terrestrial AM/FM will continue indefinitely. It has the advantage of robustness; things can go pear shaped very quickly with Internet or mobile phone infrastructure.
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Add Singapore to that list 
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Is it? I had a quick google and couldnât find anything. Would it just be a firmware update?
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This firmware upgrading of exisiting receivers argument has come up before and letâs be honest the overwhelming majority of the general populous either couldnât be stuffed or lack even the most basic technical prowess to do so especially given the uptake of smart speakers and other internet enabled audio devices for the home.
The car maybe a different argument but.
Overall for DRM I really canât see the sell for another digital radio platform where exisiting receivers may or may not be firmware upgradeable going down well outside the enthusiast/ industry circles.
I know personally I couldnât be bothered and would rather further invest in multiroom audio.
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I agree and I think it would be hard to push manufacturers to create those firmware updates. A lot of DAB devices (such as my clock radio) would be heading for the bin since thereâs no way to update it surely.
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You were my competition. I was Coast FM and Dingo FM over a various set of frequencies, broadcasting from Queenscliff. Still have some tapes around.
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If ACMA did a proper restack in all areas could they transfer most of the AM stations across? Or would they need to expand the spectrum?
I personally think expanding FM makes a lot more sense long term than the complicated and city centric focus of DAB.
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I donât think Iâm qualified to answer that question @TVHead 
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Sorry general question, didnât mean to tag you.
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I think digital is most strongly held back by it all being existing entrants. Their motivations to make DAB+ succeed are almost entirely because it locks out competition - they need it to exist and be successful enough to not lose them money, theyâve probably achieved that.
If you held an open auction for DRM+ frequencies in the major cities, or national licenses, and new entrants could buy in, they would be able to drive receivers.
The combo in the UK of existing entrants on local multiplexes, a national BBC multiplex, and a national commercial multiplex, all with new stations, all in competition - drove take up. The stations exclusively on DAB, or stations like Virgin/Absolute who were national on AM only, had reason to really strongly push receivers.
For the current broadcasters - the numbers are kinda going up by default, new cars have DAB+ here because European DAB does pretty well, and they like the convenience of making as many parts as common as possible.
But, if you had companies that had to make digital work for them, it would be doing better than it is. Regardless of which form digital takes.
Even if a market canât get more AM/FM stations licensed - if the ACMA secretly agree DAB is a bad choice, why not allow DRM to be tried? Sell new commercial frequencies with a ban on being operated in analogue/hybrid mode - and see if the purchasers can create a market for DRM+.
Depends how strongly you do it - if you threw out all the current frequencies - and did stuff like using even numbered stations, and reduced the amount of separation between stations within a market - probably?
If they tried a least effort restack that tried to keep most stations where they are, probably not.
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