Timeline of Australian radio

This page provides a timeline of the main events that charted the course of Australian radio.

1900s

1900-1909

• 1905:
  • Wireless Telegraphy Act (1905) placed broadcasting in the control of the Australian Government. This has remained in place ever since.
  • Italian Guglielmo Marconi’s company builds Australia's first two-way wireless telegraphy station at Queenscliff, Victoria.

1910-1919

• 1913: Marconi and its main competitor Telefunken amalgamated to form Amalgamated Wireless Australasia Limited. (AWA).
• 1919: The first radio "broadcast" in Australia was organised by George Fisk of AWA on 19th August 1919. He arranged for the National Anthem to be broadcast from one building to another at the end of a lecture he'd given on the new medium to the Royal Society of NSW.

1920-1929

• 1923:
  • Following intensive lobbying for the introduction of radio broadcasting, the Government, in May 1923, calls a conference of the main players in the radio manufacturing industry. This led to the sealed set regulations where stations could be licensed to broadcast and then sell sets to 'listeners-in'. The receiving device would be set to receive only that station.
  • 2FC in Sydney is the first radio station to be licensed on 1 July, 1923 but its opponent 2SB (later to be called 2BL) was first to go to air officially starting on 23 November that year.
• 1924:
  • 3AR and 3LO went to air on 26 January and 13 October 1924 in Melbourne.
  • The Government introduces a two-tiered licence system in July 1924. In the first half of 1924, only 1400 people took out sealed set licences. It was quite easy to avoid the licence fee by building your own set or modifying one you'd bought to receive more than one station. The radio industry successfully lobbied the Government to introduce a two-tiered system, the 'A' licences to be financed by listeners' licence fees imposed and collected by the Government, and 'B' class licences to be offered to anyone else who wanted to have a go. The B stations would have to generate their own revenue through advertising. A class stations could also advertise but few did. This system was an amalgam of the British system where the non-commercial BBC had a government-imposed monopoly and the USA where the free market was the driving force. The 'A' class stations were the original sealed set stations plus one in each other capital city - 2BL, 2FC, 3AR, 3LO, 7ZL, 5CL, 6WF. By years end, 40,000 licences have been issued.
  • The first 'B' class station on air was 2BE in November 1924.
  • South Australia’s first radio station 5CL (A class) went to air on 20 November.
• 1925:
  • The oldest surviving 'B' class (commercial) station is 2UE, which went on air on Australia Day 1925.
  • 3UZ Melbourne begins broadcasting
  • South Australia’s first commercial radio station 5DN goes to air 24 February.
  • Number of licences issued reaches 80,000.
• 1926: The British Government nationalises radio by buying out the British Broadcasting Company and forming the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Australian Government held a Royal Commission into Wireless but didn't immediately follow the British lead. It did encourage the 'A' class stations to amalgamate in order to maximise efficiencies and maintain standards.
• 1927:
  • AWA conducts a series of transmissions to Britain. These regular broadcasts were heralded by a kookaburra's laugh - a practice that's still used by Radio Australia today.
  • 3DB Melbourne commences broadcasting
• 1929:
  • 2BE closes due to financial collapse.
  • The Government nationalises the transmission facilities and contracts the provision of programming to the Australian Broadcasting Company, a consortium of entertainment interests.

1930-1939

• 1932:
  • The Australian Broadcasting Company is nationalised by the Australian Broadcasting Commission Act (1932). This finalised the two-tier system with the national broadcaster, the newly created Australian Broadcasting Commission, having 12 stations, and the commercial sector, with 43 stations. The ABC was funded by listeners’ licence fees until the 1970’s, when Federal Government appropriation became the primary source of funding. Initial plans to permit advertising on the ABC were dropped from the final bill presented to the parliament.
  • On 29th June 1932, 2WG in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales goes on the air on a purpose built 2000 watt transmitter.
  • At 8.00pm on 1 July 1932, the Prime Minister Joseph Lyons inaugurates the ABC. It then controlled twelve stations – 2FC and 2BL in Sydney, 3AR and 3LO in Melbourne, 4QG in Brisbane, 5CL in Adelaide, 6WF in Perth, 7ZL in Hobart and the relay stations 2NC in Newcastle, New South Wales, 2CO at Corowa, New South Wales, 4RK in Rockhampton, Queensland and 5CK at Crystal Brook, South Australia.
• 1935: The Sydney studios of the ABC installs a disc recorder, enabling the recording of programs to occur for the first time.
• 1936: In March, the Bass Strait Cable links Tasmania to mainland Australia and permits the ABC to relay national broadcasts to Hobart for the first time.
• 1939: Radio Australia was formally incorporated as part of the ABC.

1940-1949

• 1948:
  • Experimental FM broadcasts commence
  • The regulatory body, the Australian Broadcasting Control Board, is created

1950-1959

• 1957: A Government inquiry into FM radio heralds little interest
• 1958: Top 40 format is adopted by Australian commercial radio

1960-1969

• 1961: The Government authorises the use of the international VHF FM band for television.
• 1967: Talkback radio is introduced on 2SM in Sydney and 3AW in Melbourne.
• 1968: 3AK Melbourne expands to 24 hour transmission

1970-1979

• 1972:
  • The Labor government's Media Minister Doug McClelland abolishes radio and TV licence fees, making the ABC funded directly from the federal budget
  • 5UV in Adelaide becomes the first public radio station on air in Australia
• 1974:
  • The McLean Inquiry into FM rejects the Broacasting Control Board's views on FM radio and recommends that the VHF FM band be opened to FM radio stations, that a community radio sector be established, and that the ABC have an FM network
  • 2MBS Sydney commences broadcasting as the first full-time FM station in Australia, playing classical music 24 hours a day.
• 1975:
  • 2JJ (Double Jay) commences transmission on the AM band in Sydney. Double Jay is the first non-commercial 24-hour rock station in Australia
  • 3MBS-FM Melbourne commences broadcasting classical music 24 hours a day
  • Multi-cultural radio is launched with the formation of 2EA Sydney and 3EA Melbourne
  • Public access station 3ZZ is established in Melbourne
  • Twelve Australian community radio stations are licenced as an interim move by the federal media minister, Dr Moss Cass. Because the licences may have been technically illegal under the Act, they are dubbed Cass's "Dirty Dozen"
• 1976:
  • 3MP begins broadcasting, the first new commercial radio licence in Melbourne since 1935
• 1978:
  • AM radio station frequencies are changed to comply with the standard 9kHz spacing
  • 2WS Sydney begins broadcasting

1980-1989

• 1980:
  • The first commercial FM radio stations are launched: 3EON and 3FOX in Melbourne, 2MMM and 2DAY Sydney, 4MMM Brisbane, 5SSA Adelaide, 96FM Perth
• 1982:
  • 7RPH in Hobart becomes the first Radio for the Print Handicapped broadcast service. Other stations soon follow in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide and Perth.
• 1984:
  • Stereo AM radio transmission is launched
• 1986:
  • 2UE Sydney and 3AK Melbourne launch the experimental CBC Radio Network, a networked talk-back format
• 1988:
  • Commercial FM radio is launched in Canberra
• 1989:
  • Commercial FM radio launches on the Gold Coast
  • Sydney's Triple J begins expansion to other capital cities

1990-1999

• 1990:
  • 3KZ Melbourne converts from AM to FM. Other stations to convert include 3TT Melbourne, 4BK Brisbane, 6PM and 6PR Perth, 5KA and 5DN Adelaide.
  • Commercial FM commences in Hobart
  • 3AK becomes Australia's first Italian-language commercial radio station
• 1991:
  • Melbourne radio station 3XY signs off after 56 years of broadcasting
• 1992:
  • 8DN Darwin has its licence revoked for breaching the ownership conditions of the Broadcasting Act
• 1994:
  • 2UW and 2WS Sydney convert to FM
  • ABC Newsradio is launched

2000s

2000-2008

• 2002: The Australian Broadcasting Corporation commences a digital radio service called DiG in November.
• 2004: 3AK Melbourne becomes an all-sports format as SEN
• 2006: Melbourne radio stations 3AW and 3EE swap frequencies on the AM band

References

• History of ABC Radio
• Australasian radio: A Chronology of the first 60 years (2004)
• Langdon, Jeff (1995) The History of Radio in Australia: Excerpts from a Lecture given by Dr Jeff Langdon in 1995

External links

• The Home of the Old Time Radio Shows Group (Australia)