I remember hearing that one of Southern Cross Media’s regional breakfast shows was simulcast on SC10 in the late 2000s. There should be a video of it out there
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moved from the Prime7 and GWN7 Local News thread:
(1) I would not be surprised if SBS airs infomercials if Morrison is re-elected PM
(2) I can remember the five hour plus religious programming marathons (It Is Written, Kenneth Copeland, Jimmy Swaggart et al) on the TV8 network leading into World of Sport on Sunday mornings.
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The commercial networks would have enough lobbying power in Canberra with their Liberal pals to stop SBS taking more advertising share. They probably resent SBS having the ads that it already has.
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True, but the Fed Govt still pays the majority of SBS’s bills, so the temptation is huge for both SBS and the Fed Govt. The Fed Govt has had legislation twice rejected by the Senate already to increase the averaged hourly advertising limit from 5 minutes in prime time. If the balance of power in the Senate goes more the way of the LNP, expect a LNP Govt to push through many changes in the Senate that affect both SBS and ABC.
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I’d forgotten about the simulcasts of movies on TV and it was definitely due to the better sound quality of FM. Just like the difference between AM and FM radio for music it was exactly the same for the TV broadcasts for speech and the music and was a real way to promote the power of FM radio as well which was still under utilised as well in many areas compared to these days.
I remember the rage simulcasts on JJJ, I think it was both nights from around midnight to 6am - about when rage switched to the Top 50 countdown which they had on and off.
Growing up we had ABC on VHF Channel 3 which was also able to be picked up on the radio so when I was sent to my room for bad behaviour (reasonably often I’ll admit) I could still listen in to the kids shows on TV which used to annoy my sister because she didn’t know how and thought I had a secret TV in there! I think the frequency would have been just around the 91.7MHz range (I remember it was just above JJJ at 90.9) which is exactly the frequency that ABC Radio Northern Tasmania now has after the shutting down of ABNT3 and the move from 711 AM. The difference between AM and FM quality of the ABC is huge too every time when we go to Hobart and have to switch over.
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Yeah I think the audio for VHF Channel 3 was around 91.75MHz, so pretty much smack bang on where 7NT is now on FM. It would have been a bit of a novelty having the audio I imagine prior to the change, you didn’t exactly have a lot of choices (especially commercial ones) on FM in Northern Tassie back then.
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The reason for the simulcasts was because people had their FM radio set up with stereo speaker sound systems as opposed to mainly mono TVs at the time that came with not very good sound systems.
As you have mentioned sound broadcast by TV stations was an identical quality to FM (with a slightly better channel separation) as demonstrated by it being received on an FM radio.
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Even in Melbourne I used to get ABC TV audio on around 100 FM, so I’m guessing it was from Channel 4 in Gippsland.
The delay in ABC exiting VHF Channel 3 in Northern Tasmania had a flow on effect in Melbourne. The FM licence that ended up going to Nova was originally intended to go on 91.5 MHz but because of the Channel 3 signal in Tasmania it ended up getting assigned to 100.3 MHz which was probably a more desirable option as far as Nova was concerned by putting it close to the other commercial FMs on the dial.
Once ABC exited Channel 3 in Launceston that allowed the next new FM station (now Smooth) to go on to 91.5.
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The main sound frequency for channel 3 was 91.75. Channel 4 was 100.75 and channel 5 was 107.75.
Each TV channel also wiped out another frequency with its vision signal - 86.25 (below the FM band) for 3, 95.25 for channel 4 and 102.25 for channel 5. The vision signal was also 10 times stronger - 100kW for main stations.
In SEQ Channel 3 was Darling Downs and SDQ 4 at Southern Downs. When 3 cleared ABC Local started on Gold Coast on 91.7.
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And I think the vision carrier was about 5-7 MHz wide?
The NBN-3 vision carrier could be heard all the way up to 91 MHz on an FM radio.
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No, in my experience, it was just like a blank audio signal with some slight buzzing on the vision frequency. The frequencies between the vision carrier and the sound were vacant.
However, the “reverse” applied that if there was any FM station was in between the two frequencies it would potentially impacted the TV signal.
So in Brisbane for Ch3 there was a vision carrier just below the FM band plus the audio on 91.7. Then for Ch 4 there was a blank vision carrier at 95.25 and audio at 100.75.
In Newcastle, yes there was the buzzing on most frequencies from 88-91 mhz, the intensity of it varied depending on what was being broadcast. I don’t recall any blank/silent audio.
I remember in Newcastle and Wollongong there was a buzzing sound on 90.7MHz which was related to the respective NBN3 and WIN3 transmissions. As to what purpose it served, I can’t remember.
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That’s probably part of the vision carrier that starts on 86.25.
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NTN was a Papua New Guinea station, I think?
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NTN was actually the first local TV station in PNG, it did not last that long knowing the costs of running a TV Station plus competition from EMTV which became a monopoly in the PNG TV market until NBC launched their own TV service in 2008.
An Article from 1988 explaining TV in PNG. PNG TV FIGHTS THE OLD AND NEW FOR TIME
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Back in my home country, TVNZ music show “Radio with Pictures” used to simulcast on student radio in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin and also on 93FM (now More FM) in Hawke’s Bay and 2XS (now More FM) in Palmerston North. By 1983, RWP was simulcast on 2XS and on 89 Stereo FM in Auckland.
In April 1986, the Dire Straits concert (live from Sydney via satellite) was simulcast with TV One (now TVNZ 1) on the following radio stations:
- KCC FM Northland
- 89.8 Kiwi FM Hamilton/Tauranga
- 1XX Whakatane
- 93FM Hawke’s Bay
- 2XS Palmerston North
- 91 ZMFM Wellington
- 3ZM Christchurch
- 4XO Dunedin
- 4XF Southland
During the late 1980s, TVNZ’s classical music and performing arts series, “Opus”, was simulcast in FM stereo on the Concert Programme’s FM network (now RNZ Concert) on various occasions.
In August 1989, the movie “Woodstock” was simulcast on both Network Two (now TVNZ 2) and Auckland’s 89FM.
On @anon36025973’s YouTube channel, there were occasional breakfast FM/TV simulcasts with 91ZM Christchurch (CTV) and Auckland’s Classic Hits 97FM (Sky Movies) during 1991.
In the early 2000s, the British music show “Top of the Pops” was simulcast on both TVNZ and the ZM network, as did the revived version of the locally produced “Ready to Roll” or “RTR Countdown”. When RTR ended in 2003, the New Zealand version of “Top of the Pops” was simulcast on The Edge.
And from 2005 until January 2020, 3 News (and, later, Newshub) at 6pm was simulcast on both TV3 (now Three) and RadioLIVE (now Magic Talk and, from March 2022 onwards, Today FM).
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Short-lived music video show CV used to be simulcast on radio too. I think this show went to air around 1989/1990. It was simulcast on Today AM 1350 (Rotorua), Contact 89FM (Hamilton) and X-Static 89FM (Blenheim). Though, I really can’t see the benefit in simulcasting on an AM station. The TV probably sounded better!
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