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Australian AM Radio 1611-1701
Italian, Country, Arabic, Greek and Gold
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3XX broadcast from Melbourne for several years on 1611AM.
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Almost 70 low power stations are now broadcasting in Australia's
expanded AM radio dial almost two decades after the new channels
became available.
Originally populated by ethnic broadcasters and niche formats, the
situation remains little unchanged in 2009 as attempts to bring the
low cost extra frequencies into mainstream media have largely failed
to materialize.
Existing commercial broadcasters saw these licences as a dangerously
cheap back door into digital broadcasting and lobbied strongly to
exclude 1611-1701 AM stations from digital entitlements. Coupled with
poor availability of AM radios able to tune to the new frequencies,
attempts by commercial aspirants like Radio 2 to establish economics
of scale and a nationwide network collapsed.
In 2009, the major players on air are Rete Italia [part of the
Italian Media publishing and media group], Radio 16 The Goanna [a
fledgling country music network co-owned with 2ME an Arabic language
station], Smart Group's Hot Country from Queensland, whilst a small
foothold in the band has been claimed by Queensland based Christian
network Vision FM.
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David Ricquish of the Radio Heritage Foundation outside the studios
of Rete Italia in Sydney
© Jo Del Monaco, Radio Heritage Foundation
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A small cluster of independent stations air a variation on the 'Gold'
music format of 1960's hits popular with babyboomers, two Greek
language stations compete for listeners in Sydney, and a handful of
other stations serve ethnic markets for Chinese, Hindi, Arabic,
Islamic and Lebanese Christian audiences.
A large number of licences held in the 1611-1701 AM band have
remained silent for many years and are unlikely to ever come on air.
The Radio Heritage Foundation has released a detailed list of
Australian stations currently operating in the 1611-1701 AM band
together with analysis of this fascinating and little known
broadcasting landscape.
It's currently available as a downloadable Word document at
www.radioheritage.net and will be updated regularly.
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