Random Radio

One last update (hopefully!) . 99.7 AO radio is back on the air, and they’ve finally fixed the audio issues. You can actually hear the commentary and sfx on a mono radio! Only took four days for them to acknowledge the problem and fix it.

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Stumbled upon a new station broadcasting on 89.3 MHz from the Sydney Harbour Bridge at 10W called “Australia Day FM”.

Sounds like they used AI to make a test transmission song: :sweat_smile:

89.3 doesn’t seem like the best frequency though? With 2GLF not too far away.

Is this even advertised anywhere? I can’t find any reference to it online.

Edit: There’s a whole bunch of test transmission songs actually. I’ll post a longer video soon.

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Here’s the longer cut of the test transmission loop:

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After hearing that loop, came up with a new name for it, AI Slop FM, All AI Slop All the Time. No Humans involved other than the guy imputing the prompts, interfering with some Radio Station from Liverpool in which a better frequency for the loop would be 107.9 as Lithgow is a little bit far from the Bridge.

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Truly amazing how you can call your station Australia Day, and yet not even prompt the AI to give you Australian accents, which I know can be done.

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89.5 or 90.7 would be better choices as well.

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Here’s the ACMA database entry. It’s licensed to Destination NSW for 16.4W EIRP.

There’s another one next month on Shark Island:

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I have the theory of Australia Day Radio that it will be used as some sort of PA system for the Australia Day events in Sydney, maybe with some Music in between events.

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what the actual f***. That is just sad

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Most probably. These sorts of things are common. Usually the comms contractor (PA People, Riedel, etc.) applies for the license from ACMA. Interesting that Destination NSW holds the license for this one.

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That’s an interesting scenario. :slight_smile:

In fact, if the above were to happen, then ARN would have to sell off a lot of their regional stations due to the “No. of Voices” rule. That would also include CADA 96.1, as the Katoomba RA1 licence area only has 4 voices at present (ARN, Seven, Nine, Ten). The same goes for River 94.9 in Ipswich.

After all of the potential divesting, the only regional stations that ARN would own would be in Wollongong, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Gympie, Bundaberg (1 only), Mackay (1 only), Townsville, Cairns, Ballarat, Bendigo, Spencer Gulf and Port Lincoln.

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Would ARN have to sell Nowra too if a potential buyout / merger with Nine took place?

Yes.

CADA could be sold to ACE? :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

That would be good for improving variety of music in the Wollongong / Nowra market if that was to happen.

If CADA and C91.3 were to go to market that would be a good two station pickup for someone like Grant or Capital Radio.

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I wonder if they could run it with the same call ID and have it as a western sydney station ie 91.3 / 96.1. They could still be based in the Campbelltown but provide local weather and news for Blue Mountains and Penrith areas. They might need to change the name rather than C FM. I think The Edge would work. I would like them to skew an older demographic or a more rock format but the current format is fine (C91.3 not CADA). Thoughts?

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Yes ACMA would allow it but I don’t think from a listener perspective it would be very good. It would be Wave fm and Power fm all over again with both stations booming into each others markets with identical playlists and programming.

Let’s say hypothetically both stations are forced to sell under a ARN and Nine merge, a Capital Radio buyout could see C91.3 become Forever Classic probably a gap in the market with Gold 101.7 skewing younger. 96.1 would have a name changed and take the same format and logs as Eagle / Snow Fm.
It would be C91.3 and 96.1 sponsored by Lucy Lodge!!!

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I like this idea so long as they provide a more local feel for listeners at Penrith and the mountains. We need a “Billy Bob” feel to the weather reports on 96.1.

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Totally agree

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I don’t know if this is the right thread, someone will put me right I guess…

Anyone had a go at this radio?

It goes down to SportsEars frequencies, but apart from that, any good for Australian conditions?