Don’t forget B-Rock in Bathurst (not 2BS, as it’s got large doses of Sydney talkback). 1079 Lithgow is pretty much local all the time, too.
[quote=“dxnerd, post:666, topic:263, full:true”]
Don’t forget B-Rock in Bathurst (not 2BS, as it’s got large doses of Sydney talkback).[/quote]
Thanks. I knew B-Rock is a very local independently-owned station with very minimal amount of networked programming such as Fitzy & Wippa, The Nightshift with Luke Bona (from Triple M), My Generation and The Sporting Probe with Roy & HG.
As for 2BS having large doses of Sydney talkback, it’s the same for 2LT. Both stations are almost virtually repeater services of 2GB.
During the day, yes, but takes a lot of network programming from SCA’s Hit Network at other times. By comparison, Power FM in Nowra is more local than Move FM.
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Plus you have Zinc 96.1 and 3NE
That’s not totally correct, WaveFM was still number one, with i98 left behind after they both switched to FM.
It wasn’t until they swapped formats much later after conversion (a few years later I think, but pretty much on the same day), that i98 took over as the number 1 station.
i98 was #1 by 0.2 for the first ratings survey of 1993 before Wave FM took back the top spot with a 6.5% lead later that year. Despite that, Wave was still #1 in breakfast which was presented by Steve Parsons, an Illawarra radio icon who had dominated the breakfast slot for 2 decades on 2WL/Wave.
In 1995, i98 took the #1 spot, and also beat Parsons in the breakfast slot for the first time. That’s when Wave’s ratings slump began, which later involved moving Parsons to the morning slot, as well as the ownership change of the station from ACE Radio (who now owns stations in Regional VIC) to Grant Broadcasters. Wave did have a brief spell at #1 for two consecutive surveys in late 2002/early 2003, when i98 had a slump in the ratings.
Prior to 1994, i98 had a “Classic Hits” format, whilst Wave had a more modern AC format. As you pointed out, they practically swapped formats at around that time, which prompted the former to rise in the ratings. Today, we have both i98 & Wave practically having the same music format to the detriment of local listeners from providing a real choice of music formats, particularly to those who can’t get the Sydney stations well.
I guess one could say that i98 is the 2WL of 2017, much like how @nickatnights say that Hot Tomato is the 4GG of 2017 in response to last week’s release of the Gold Coast radio ratings, which saw Hot Tomato dominating over the local SCA stations, Gold & Sea. 
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I was down at Killcare Heights on the Central Coast today and noted that the Sydney temporary Islamic stations on 91.6 and also 107.9 are back on air - probably because Ramadan started yesterday.
I don’t recall both stations being on air together this time last year - do any of our Sydney observers recall?
I’m pretty sure these temporary “Voice of Islam” broadcasts for Ramadan have been happening on Sydney FM radio for years now, but the use of two frequencies is probably a recent thing.
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They have used two frequencies at Ramadan for a number of years (iirc). At least it’s not DX season.
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Of the alternative music stations in Melbourne, PBS FM is my favourite. “The home of little heard music” pretty much sums them up well. Probably reflecting the musical characteristics and biases of our two major cities, there is more “intelligent” rock music and soul/jazz played down here; fBi mostly plays whiny indie rock and electronic music which I don’t enjoy much. 2SER is better- Sideways Through Sound is a standout- but as you say they air a lot of spoken word programming.
SYN and fBi may both have “youth” orientated licences but their sound is quite different. fBi has a broader “youth, arts, music and culture” ambit; SYN seems to function mostly as a training ground for budding announcers whilst covering youth issues. The closest equivalent in NSW would actually be TUNE! FM at the University of New England, Armidale.
As for 3CR and its anarchic/far left content, let’s just say it would never fly in Sydney, much like Alan Jones and other far-right cronies have never worked in the cultural capital. I did see a 3CR sticker on a hippie van in Coogee, though 
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I think this is one of the reasons why music radio in Melbourne is better than in Sydney, despite the fact that they now lack an easy listening AM station since the demise of 3MP & Magic. Another reason is the presence of Classic Rock Radio, Aussie & KOOOL, the last two of which is only available on DAB+ & doesn’t even stream online.
And yes, I did listen to a bit of the above stations when I was in Melbourne back in March whilst passing through on the way to/from Tassie.
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The One Love Manchester concert is set to be simulcast on BBC World Service tonight. Not sure if there will be alternative programming going out to the Oceania region, but if not then it will be interesting that stations that use it as an overnight service such as the print-handicapped stations will be getting to broadcast the concert. ABC NewsRadio would be included in that if they switch back from their News24 simulcast.
Would assume not - I’m led to believe that it’s a BBC Studios-directed event
Sydney can receive at least 3 stations that would fit your criteria for a “real music variety” type station that covers the 80s, 90s to now. Those stations include Star 104.5 (Gosford), C91.3 (Campbelltown) & 96.5 Wave FM (Wollongong). In Melbourne, the closest station with that type of format would be Bay 93.9 from Geelong.
I agree. It’s one of the reasons why we don’t have a real ‘classic hits’ station like 4KQ, nor a real AC station that also plays some current hits like 97.3FM or Hot Tomato in Australia’s two largest cities.
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Sydney has choice. Melbourne used to have K-rock in Geelong but now they are pretty much all hits now. Only other regional stations we can pick up are SCA regionals
That is true. Brisbane is also extremely lucky with ‘overspill’ stations River 94.9, Breeze FM and Rebel FM.
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Never-mind - it appears the World Service broadcast mentioned is actually only for Shortwave relays across some countries, not the satellite service relays.
I’d agree that there’s nothing much separating Melbourne and Sydney on the commercial side (they’re both equally bad). However, Melbourne’s major community radio stations- 3PBS and 3RRR- are streets ahead of 2SER and fBi in Sydney in terms of musical diversity. I could listen to 3PBS most of the time whilst driving around; I can’t do the same with 2SER (too heavy on the talk), and fBi is too youth/dance orientated for this old fogey.
An example: 3PBS played a long-winded (10 minute!) jam from the pioneering afro-funkster Fela Kuti last Wednesday at breakfast time, something that would never happen on Sydney radio. 3RRR also had the guts to play obscure 80s tunes on one drive shift. Both 3RRR and 3PBS are true “freeform” stations where the DJ has total autonomy; I think the same is true of 4ZZZ Brisbane, but not fBi.
A final note- Aussie and Koooool Digital are spectacular DAB+ only stations, besting the Sydney only Caralis offerings (without annoying dropouts, too).
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Aside from the obvious local content differences, Sydney’s “Easy Classics” 2CH 1170, and Melbourne’s Classic Rock (I think that’s the name of the station?) on 1377 are basically the only commercial music radio stations that separate the two cities these days.
The ACMA have finally updated the Licensed Broadcasting Transmitter Listings, this is the first update in over a year…
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I notice 94.1 on the Gold Coast still doesn’t appear in this list - is it still a TCBL?