Nambour RA 1 commercial site is east of Gympie and towards the south of the licence area at Bald Knob east of Maleny. Signal unstable west of Black Mtn on the M1.
Maryborough RA1 commercial site is at Scrub Hill, the low ridge you drive over heading into Hervey Bay. Signal is limited to the south. Insufficient to reach the southern boundaries of the licence area.
Maryborough as with Bundaberg should be at the main TV site, Mt Goonaneman in a similar setup to Moree and Gunnedah FM services at Mt Dowe. Unfortunately, the licence owners when licence boundaries were defined were not future thinking in ensuring a wide area was drawn. That legacy sees quite a lot of the surrounding area deprived of a local commercial station.
Yes, its pretty sad for choice in Gympie. Have the Cameronâs ever thought about putting a repeater in for Hot91 in Gympie or is Hot91 out of the license area for Gympie?
Even though the licence area is named Gympie, the biggest population base would be in Noosa and Coolum - that gives it a 57% overlap with the Nambour RA1.
Gympie is one of many licence areas where the name does not match the modern population growth.
Yes, Gympie is where the commercial station originated from and is still based, but population has grown elsewhere as @TV.Cynic rightly said. The coastal portion has far surpassed Gympie.
To the north, Maryborough RA1 is much the same, population there is actually in decline whilst the coastal city of Hervey Bay booms.
Nambour RA1 also a historical description for the Sunshine Coast. Nambour was the commercial centre of the Sunshine Coast with a sugar mill, council chambers and until this time last year, the main hospital. 4NA was situated in Currie Street before the move to Maroochydore.
Murwillumbah RA1 again was the base for 2MW, since moved to Tweed Heads which is at the centre of growth on the Tweed coast and the licence area which extends to the southern boundary of Surfers.
Gosford RA1, those local to Wyong may suggest more growth has taken place there. Central Coast would be a more suitable descriptor.
Warragul RA1, is that the most useful name for the area? Likely not.
Murray Bridge RA1, whilst still the radio stationâs base, more growth in the Adelaide Hills and south coast.
Yes I wonder if ACMA actually reviews LAPs when population âshiftsâ in these regions? I believe it was once proposed to amalgamate Wide Bay (i.e. Maryborough, Bundaberg, Hervey Bay) similar to Rockhampton/Gladstone. It makes sense as the ABC service is consolidated on Mt Goonanamen.
Although what I think would make more sense now is to merge Maryborough and Gympie. The Gympie licence area is quite disadvantaged given the demographic movement towards Noosa and Sunshine Coast. In the âold daysâ 4GY was a quasi Maryborough alternative station. And I remember when 96.1 first went to air before Sea FM Maryborough launched, 96.1 was on in a lot of shops around Maryborough. I seem to recall they even did some promotion and letter drops in Maryborough.
I also think ACMA need to review the number of FM licences allocated to Brisbane and Perth given their population growth, but itâll never happen. They seem to avoid their responsibility.
Nambour and Gympie ABC services are also odd. Nambour has no Radio National while Gympie has no JJJ but does have two version of Local radio - Coast FM on 95.3 as well as 4GM on 1566 that I read here was the Wide Bay signal. Add to that PNN is broadcast in both areas on the same frequency of 94.5 - why that takes priority to more popular services JJJ and/or RN is beyond me. Perhaps they should have single frequencies for those two as well presumably on 89.5 for JJJ and 96.9 for RN.
I think they beed to replan and restack the Sunshine Coast frequencies. Perhaps find a different site with greater height so they only need one set of ABC services that cover Gympie and the Sunshine Coast properly.
With 2BS set to convert to FM & B-Rock already taking plenty of Triple M content, I wouldnât be surprised if 2BS will eventually become a Hit station, whilst B-Rock would offically become part of the Triple M network & adopt the âGreatest Hits from the 70s to Nowâ format.
Terrible news, although as you say both stations have increased their networked programming in recent years.
I would reckon that 2BS- the heritage station- would become Triple M, following the pattern in other regional markets. It will be interesting to see if B-Rock flips to CHR as Hit 99.3 or maintains a rock-skewed format. Bathurstians have listened to FM105.9/Star FM/Hit 105.9 (Orange) for their teeny bopper hits for decades after all. There will be some discontent in the community if it does flip to Hit CHR, I think.
Yes⌠Hit 105.9 and Triple M Orange booms in Bathurst quite well. They would be mad to flip formats on 99.3. I would keep 99.3 Triple M as a rock station and keep the 2BS name and have the Classic Hit format.
Listeners of Bathurst commercial AM radio service 2BS Gold may soon have to change the dial if a proposal by the station is accepted by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
The proposal would see the station swap its AM frequency to FM, moving from 1503 AM to 95.1 FM.
âFM radio provides improved audio quality for listeners in regional areas and can be more cost-effective to operate than AM radio,â said ACMA Chair, Nerida OâLoughlin
âA number of regional commercial radio stations are seeking to convert their services to FM under an industry-led conversion program. ACMA will facilitate a conversion if we are satisfied that audiences in regional areas do not lose important radio services under the proposal,â Ms OâLoughlin said.
âWe now want to hear from the local Bathurst audience their views on the conversion proposal,â Ms OâLoughlin said
Submissions on the Bathurst proposal are due by 8 June, 2018. More information about AM-FM conversion is available here.
If the ACMA decides to approve the conversion, the timing of the transition would be up to the broadcaster.