Don’t get too excited. I think it was only local on 2DU due to not outside broadcast. Otherwise they are usually networked at that time according to their website.
That’s good to hear, assuming that was in the afternoon?
You did well to pick up all of those stations in Scone too.
Interesting that 2TM chose to play “Classic Hits” … I remember back in the 80s most of their playlist was country music. I thought with any opportunity to run a music shift locally they would have included some country songs.
No morning about 9:30am - midday I was listening.
The new Breaky girl was on, she said she starts on Monday morning & 2TM Breakfast would be live & local, & another woman was on afternoons live & local.
Was 2TM Breakfast networked?
I was in Ballina for most of yesterday and had to put up with Poppy and her weird bunch of regular callers on 2LM and Radio 97. Just awful awful stuff. Nice to see some super radio stations playing music 
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You didn’t have to - Paradise FM 101.9 is a pick community station.
Fills the music gap, is on FM, sounds professional and music scheduling is well organised.
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4WK’s FM translator is now on air in Toowoomba on 95.5. The Chronicle notice mentions that testing starts on the 10th but myself another DXer have both heard it on air today and yesterday.
https://www.thechronicle.com.au/classifieds/ad/2742629/
How long does 1359AM have?
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Receiving it now in stereo (some mixing with TAB from Bundaberg).
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Damn, I just missed this. I checked 95.5 whilst driving through Toowoomba last Tuesday; there was nothing on then.
I believe it went to air on Thursday as that was the first anyone had managed to pick it up. Unlucky indeed @dxnerd
The PooperNetwork are advertising for broadcast technician roles- anyone interested? I heard this on New 104.7 Grafton today. Speaking of said station, their local music mix was pretty good; I heard The Badloves- “Lost” and Icehouse- “Electric Blue” in quick succession today, along with some other less obvious songs like “Who’s Gonna Save Us” by The Living End.
I heard that ad on the same station while in the licence area back in March! Are they having trouble filling those vacancies?
New 104.7?
Is that how it’s branded now?
When I was up that way last month, it still seemed to be “FM1047” (ie. no point in the frequency).
The station has been branded on-air as “New 104.7” since Late 2015, if I’m not mistaken.
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Yet they have the same logo they’ve had for 20 years with no mention of ‘new’ anywhere
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4WK FM 95.5 Toowoomba translator
No surprise for me, the coverage is better than the co-located FM 100.7.
How many of Bill’s translators have you heard miraculously covering a larger than expected area?
I’ve tested reception on two car radios, one cheap, one expensive at a distance of 105 - 110km, bearing of 90 - 100º. There’s terrain more than twice as high as my elevation (50m) about 1km to west in the path but still no problem.
Reception is perfect both outside, mobile and deep in a garage built into the earth with house RFI above and two garage door mechanisms (spurious emitters).
Either Bill is over or SCA’s main focus is to the west for FM 100.7 and they’re not pushing close to spec looking east.
ACMA have mandated AM 1359 to close 28 days after test broadcast of FM 95.5 ends and normal transmission begins. Standard.
It begs the question, ACMA have given 4WK an effective FM conversion to the largest population centre in the licence area. Sea FM Ltd or RG Capital (I can’t remember what the name was at the time) bought FM 100.7 at auction in 1999 for $800 000. Bill has received three out of the four FM sites for free.
Since the horse has bolted now, it would make sense for Bill and Rick (Lenarcic, SCA) to patch up their differences and apply for the same specs for 4AK and 4GR. Surely?
It will make not a jot of difference to the market share as the programming will remain the same, Bill’s tried many a time to reboot 4AK but nothing comes of it.
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How long have they been running a Top 40/Hot AC format for? Odd to be on the AM band
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Since Bill rolled out the FM network format to stations, from the original Lismore hub and then from Sydney/Newcastle.
There have been attempts at a local format during the day and a full, off-network attempt at some stage. Yelland might have been up there as GM or something, I remember some relatively short lived, their logo was a poor imitation of the Today network blue cyclone. They never had a computer for years that would allow local automation, so it was quite an advancement (for them).
It was a female friendly, soft-AC format, I guess similar to Smooth minus the sophistication.
In Bill’s time, since the mid/late 90’s, 4AK has usually had two announcers, resulting in 8 hours of local radio. In recent years, declining performance has seen that reduced to only four hours for the breakfast shift.
Again, the network schedule does not suit Toowoomba/Downs/Granite Belt, drive show programs 5 - 6pm and 6 - 7pm, most will have driven their short commute after 4pm or 5pm. Yes, most employers begin early and shut early in that part of the world.
Local news bulletins
One compliment I can easily pay is a comparison of local news bulletins.
SCA’s has long been produced from the Gold Coast. This continues with that younger, male newsreader based in Broadbeach with the overseas accent.
4WK/AK’s sounded a lot more comprehensive. Sounded like a local 4WK voice. They’re probably all rip/read stories from other local media, however theirs is in more detail.
I would be running the 4AK format on the 95.5 FM band and 4WK Talkback format on 1242 AM. Can they do this?
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Surely the smart thing to do now would be to move 4WK to the 4AK frequency and launch a new “FM” station on the new FM frequency.
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