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 are still operating 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 changed in 2012 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 2012, 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 growing
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.
In fact, further rationalization of this part of the
radio dial is accelerating in 2012.
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Vision Radio Network promotion for their new Sydney 1611 AM
station
© Vision Radio Network, Radio Heritage Foundation Digital
Collection
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Vision Radio Network has now replaced 2GW Greater West at 1611 AM in
Sydney, and they still have several other frequencies to make live.
Rete Italia is considering replacing its current Italian language
format across all its transmitters with a commercially brokered
series of ethnic and music programs. This approach - if it eventuates
- challenges the existing SBS [Special Broadcasting Service] and
community radio station formats, and provides a national advertising
platform to support the individual program streams.
It's not clear if Rete Italia programs would continue during some of
the timeslots, migrate to digital only, become internet based only,
or simply cease broadcast. The owners of Rete Italia have recently
introduced more English language publications and content related to
Italy to broaden their audience from just the Italian language market.
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The Goanna promotional float at the Tamworth Music Festival
© The Goanna, Radio Heritage Foundation Digital Collection
Collection
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Meanwhile, The Goanna is now only heard in NSW and is currently for
sale by tender as an ongoing business. It's country music audience,
although a popular niche on 1611-1701 AM is increasingly catered for
by FM narrowcast networks, digital radio [including the ABC] and
online only country music broadcasters.
Unlike the USA where the 1610-1700 AM area of the dial has been
populated by mainstream broadcasters - successfully - in Australia
the experiments still continue after two decades to find a viable use
for the frequencies. In the USA, stations are allowed transmitter
powers of up to 10,000 watts on these frequencies where as the limit
is 400 watts in Australia.
This is one battleground where existing Australian commercial
broadcasters have successfully kept competition at bay - the game was
lost when narrowcaster Radio 2 was denied access to the new digital
radio facilities because of their status as merely a narrowcast
network. The politics of that decision remain clouded.
However, in Singapore, digital radio is already being switched off as
listeners move to other platforms to listen to the radio.
For a full listing of current 1611-1701 narrowcast AM radio stations
in Australia, you'll find them now included in our frequently updated
Australian Radio Station Guides:
Material about now silent 1611-1701 narrowcast AM radio stations will
be included in a new feature scheduled for later release.
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