I was driving back from Nowra 2 weekends ago and tuned into 87.8 at Gerringong.I was enjoying the music until i got to Kiama and it started co-channeling with a religious broadcast.By the time i got to Albion park the "seven day adventist " channel had over took Oldies FM.Was hoping to get 87.8 in the northern suburbs of Wollongong and recomend it to my parents who live in the area.
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It’s interesting that you should mention that. I first discovered the “religious broadcast” when I was in Bulli last weekend. The signal was pretty strong as well, if i’m not mistaken. A few days later, I found out from a family relative of mine that the station was also broadcasting in Warilla.
If I were to guess, I would say that the religious station is transmitting from somewhere in the northern suburbs of Wollongong. It probably transmits to the northern side of Lake Illawarra and beyond, but during tropo or suitable conditions, it could potentially be received much further south, which may explain why it was received in Warilla. I don’t think a narrowcast station based in Sydney would be strong enough to completely wipe out Oldies FM, even in good weather conditions.
Just out of curiosity, I tried to receive Oldies FM on 87.8 from my home location about an hour ago. Previously, I was able to receive two bars on my USB TV Tuner, which indicates that the reception is ok, albeit not in excellent quality. However this evening, the signal contained a lot of static and I was only able to receive one bar for the station. In fact, I actually had to pick up and hold the antenna, just to receive a signal. It is very possible that the signal of Oldies FM was being impacted by the signal of the religious station. Although, it’s worth noting that there was no co-channeling at any point.
Listening to i98 a bit this morning, I’ve noticed that they now use “Feel Good Music Variety” as their positioner. No doubt their new Content Director (Tony Aldridge) is behind this. 
As mentioned by @SouthCoastTV in another thread, Wave FM has the “Flashback Lunch” at 12-1pm weekdays, which plays 80s & 90s music.
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They’ve had that for about 2 weeks I’ve noticed (possibly longer). Also the 10 from then is now “The Time Tunnel” which is any 10 songs from a particular year (not a particular month of a year like the 10 from then was).
Caught this mornings which was 1990;
Wilson Phillips - Hold On
Belinda Carlisle - Leave A Light On
I’ve heard “Every Little Step” by Bobby Brown on this morning’s “Time Tunnel”, which hasn’t been played on the commercial stations in many many years.
Also, with WIN now affiliating with Ten, it’s quite strange to hear promos for Ten programming on i98. For example, this morning, I heard an ad for Offspring, which obviously ended with “on WIN”. I’ve also heard a Prime7 promo on the same station as well. With that in mind, I wouldn’t be surprised if promos for Nine programming (via SCA) could now be heard on Wave FM.
On a sidenote, C91.3 still sponsors Nine News for its hourly news, despite WIN no longer being a Nine affiliate (yes, I know it’s in the Sydney TV licence area, where WIN doesn’t own a TV licence, but still…).
Fortunately, most of the Sydney FM stations (such as Triple M, 2DayFM etc), as well as Nowra-based station “94.9 Power FM”, are also available in parts of the Illawarra. That being said, I do agree with you in regards to how poor the music variety is in the region.
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The best solution to solve the lack of variety across the two local commercial radio stations in Wollongong, especially if adding a 3rd local commercial station isn’t an option, is if WIN sells i98 & that Grant (who owns Wave) buys the station. Whilst competition between the two will be eliminated, the variety across the two stations will be improved, as one broadcaster owning two stations allows each of them to target a different audience as opposed to cannibalising each other as it is currently. Have a listen to Grant’s stations in Nowra (2ST & Power), Geelong (Bay & KRock) & Launceston (LAFM & Chilli) online to get a clear idea on the benefits of what Wollongong could potentially have.
Whilst competition on commercial radio is generally a good thing in most other markets, it’s actually the opposite in Wollongong, at least when not taking the overspill of the Sydney stations into consideration.
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An interesting question posted in the “Hourly Music Logs” thread:
It’s because of the fact that neither DMG nor RG Capital have ever owned a commercial radio licence in Wollongong. In fact, when ACE Radio was selling off Wave FM back in 1995, Sea FM Ltd (later RG Capital) was one of the potential buyers of the station. Here’s an SMH article from that time: Link
Also, WIN has owned 2OO, later i98, since 1987.
That said, if either WIN were to sell off i98, or Grant were to sell off Wave FM, then I could definitely see SCA entering the Wollongong radio market. The question is what format one of the stations would take, especially if they only own one station in the market.
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Personally I don’t think either WIN or Grant Broadcasters are likely to sell off their Wollongong radio stations anytime soon, for obvious reasons.
I could see something happening as part of a deal for WIN buying NRN from SCA.
Well they dodged a bullet there:
Outsiders expect other operators such as Bill Carilis, Sea FM, Rural Press or even the expansive Wesgo could be interested in the wavy station.
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If the Wollongong and Nowra licence areas where ever to be merged Grant would then be forced to sell off one of their stations, (wave, Power or 2ST) to comply with the two station limit in each market.
Would i98 be able to purchase a second station considering it is owned by Win Tv?
Or would a new player then have to come in?
Just imagine how good the combined Wollongong / Nowra market would be, it would probably look like this with the following high powered commercials from Knights Hill at 150KW
91.7 2ST - Classic Hits or Smooth format owned by Grant
94.9 Power fm CHR maybe Hit 95 if owned by SCA
96.5- Wave Fm - Hot adult contemporary - Grant
I98- Win mix match to compete with wave and Power / Hit 95 or go Rock format or Nova copy.
This would be much better then the present situation.
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Unlikely given that they areas have such a small overlap area (only 7.25 of the Wollongong Licence area).[quote=“Ant5476, post:23, topic:106”]
Would i98 be able to purchase a second station considering it is owned by Win Tv?
[/quote]Yes. A TV and 2 Radio licences is allowable.[quote=“Ant5476, post:23, topic:106”]
94.9 Power fm CHR maybe Hit 95 if owned by SCA
96.5- Wave Fm - Hot adult contemporary - Grant
[/quote]In this hypothetical, it would be more likely that Grant Broadcasters would sell Wave. As it is already a stand alone station it would be more appealing to potential buyers. Splitting Power and 2ST would require essentially a double up of resources in Nowra which wouldn’t be appealing to Grants or a potential buyer.
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94.9 Power FM posted a tweet just a few minutes ago, mentioning that the two “Young Australians of the Year” winners, Lucas and Nic, visited Wollongong with their mobile laundry van. Now, I understand that Wollongong is only an hour away from Nowra/Bomaderry, but realistically, why should Power FM be reporting on local news stories which are not even apart of their licence area? This is something I would expect to hear from Wave FM and i98fm, the two commercial FM stations in the Wollongong/Illawarra licence area, not from Power FM.
For whatever reason, 94.9 Power FM seems to be under the impression that reports from Wollongong/Illawarra are relevant to their own licence area. It is not uncommon for the station to provide weather forecasts for Wollongong, Shellharbour & Kiama, despite the fact that none of the three cities/towns even fall under the Nowra licence area.
Actually, the Nowra licence area does cover Kiama, according to this map: http://www.acma.gov.au/licplan/defmaps/documents/maps/la_536.pdf
However, 2ST does not get into the Kiama area very well, which is a bit unfortunate. 
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Interesting. To be honest, I always thought that Kiama was apart of the Wollongong/Illawarra licence area.
Just in regards to 2ST, which area (in the Illawarra) do you believe can receive 2ST the strongest? I have been able to receive the station in reasonably good reception in Wollongong before, however that was on the 91.7 MHz frequency and not the 102.9 MHz frequency.
It is. Kiama is in both the Wollongong & Nowra licence areas.
The coastline between Otford & Thirroul (between Sydney & Wollongong for those unfamiliar with the region) would be a very good area within the Illawarra to pick up 2ST quite well on 91.7 MHz from Jervis Bay, due to its good LOS (Line of Sight) towards the south. Further down the coast, the area around between Hill 60 & Port Kembla Beach in Port Kembla would also be a good spot to pick up 2ST, especially in parts where you have good LOS in a southerly direction.
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While Power are doing news stories for Wollongong, Nova 96.9 is giving temperature readings for the Central Coast in their news updates which is outside of their licence area.
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Given that Power FM and 2ST can be received beyond Wollongong well into Sydney, I would assume there’d be a fair number of listeners in the Illawarra and they’re capitalising on that signal overspill like The Edge (licensed to Katoomba) does with Sydney. I remember hearing ads for businesses in Chatswood on a station supposedly licensed for Katoomba.
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94.9 Power FM has a bit of an odd playlist at times. This afternoon, at around 2:30pm, the station played “Self-Esteem” by The Offspring (which personally I really enjoyed). However, immediately after the song finished, the station then played “Be The One” by Dua Lipa (which is a current Top-40 hit) and then about half and hour later, it played “Bring Me To Life” by Evanescence! Considering the fact that 94.9 Power FM is a “contemporary hit radio” station, it does play a considerable amount of rock music on it. I also heard “Better” by Screaming Jets and an INXS song on the station this afternoon as well. Just my two cents worth.
Radio Today reports that WIN News’ sport presenter, Amy Duggan, will join i98’s on-air line up for its new Sunday morning easy listening program, Chilled Sundays, to be aired at 6-10am Sundays. This is apparently an extension of its weeknight Chilled program, which airs from 10pm weeknights (no mention of this on their website, but I’ve heard it being promoted on-air).
It’s strange that i98 is now the station to be having an easy listening program, which in an ideal world, would be better suited for Wave FM. But then again, with Wave now being more or less a Top 40 station, which its programming includes The A-List with Kyle & Jackie O on Friday & Sunday evenings, both i98 & Wave’s identities are not as clear as they used to be. That being said, i98 used to have Love Songs on weeknights back in the mid 90s to early 00s, as well as the Retro Radio Show on Sunday nights, which focused on 70s & 80s music.
On the subject of Wave, I’ve noticed on their website that Clarky, who has been with the station for over 20 years, is no longer part of their on-air line-up. Instead, he’s now doing drive on Power FM down in the Far South Coast (Batemans Bay to Eden).
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