ABC Radio and Regional Content
Encyclopedia
ABC Radio and Regional Content is the division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
responsible for radio output and regional content.
on 13 November 1923 under the call sign 2SB. Other stations in Melbourne
, Brisbane
, Adelaide
, Perth
and Hobart
followed. A licensing scheme administered by the Postmaster-General's Department
, was soon established allowing certain stations government funding, albeit with restrictions placed on their advertising content.
In 1924 the licencing system was changed. The Postmaster-General's Department
collected all licence fees and broadcasters were funded as either A-Class or B-Class stations. A-Class stations received government funding and were able to take limited advertising, while B-Class stations received no government funding but could carry more advertising. By 1925 many of the A-Class stations were in financial difficulty.
A 1927 Royal Commission
into wireless broadcasting recommended that radio licence fees be pooled to fund larger A-Class stations. The government established the National Broadcasting Service to take over the 12 A-Class licences as they came up for renewal from 1928. The original legislation permitted advertising, but this was removed from the Act before it came into effect. At the same time, the government created the Australian Broadcasting Company
to supply programs to the new national broadcaster.
Initially the Postmaster-General's Department
, which operated postal and telephone services, was responsible for operating the National Broadcasting Service, although this arrangement did not have universal political support. As a result, the Australian Broadcasting Commission was established on 1 July 1932 to take over the Australian Broadcasting Company and run the National Broadcasting Service.
The ABC was to be based on the BBC
model, funded primarily from listener license fees with some direct government grants.
The Australian Broadcasting Commission's original twelve radio stations were:
These formed the basis for the present-day ABC Local Radio
and Radio National
networks.
The opening-day program included the first ‘Children's Session’ with ‘Bobby Bluegum’, the first sports program, ‘Racing Notes’, with WA Ferry calling the Randwick races, ‘British Wireless News’, received by cable from London, weather, stock exchange and shipping news, the ABC Women's Association session (on ‘commonsense housekeeping’ and needlecraft), a talk on goldfish
and their care, as well as ‘Morning Devotions
’ and music. Conductor Sir Bernard Heinze
was appointed part-time musical adviser to the ABC in 1934, while in 1937, the network was further expanded with the purchase of Brisbane’s 4BC
. Two years later, the Commission began publishing the ABC Weekly - a radio magazine promoting the ABC's local radio, and later television, programs.
Over the next four years the stations were reformed into a cohesive broadcasting organisation through regular program relays, coordinated by a centralised bureaucracy. The Australian broadcast radio spectrum at the time was made up of the ABC and the commercial sector.
During the broadcaster's first decades, programs generally consisted of music, news and current affairs, sport, drama, children's educational supplements and school broadcasts. Because recording technology was still relatively primitive, all ABC programs (including music) were broadcast live until 1935, when the first disc-based recorder was installed at the Commission's Sydney studios. For this purpose, the ABC established broadcasting orchestras in each state
, and in some centres employed choruses and dance bands.
Amongst the other early programs were the stations' famous 'synthetic' cricket broadcasts - when tests were played in England, commentators in the ABC's Sydney studios used cables from London and sound effects to recreate the match in play. In addition, all 38 of Shakespeare
's plays were performed live between 1936 and 1938. Local drama was produced, with a competition for plays and sketches from Australian authors held in 1934. Talks from prominent figures of the time such as King George V
, Pope Pius XI
, British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald
, Adolf Hitler
and H.G. Wells were broadcast.
By 1933 regular program relays were in place between the ABC's stations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth - it was not until 1936 that Hobart
was connected with the mainland, through a cable under the Bass Strait
. News bulletins, however, continued to be read in each state from local newspapers (by agreement with the Newspaper Proprietors Association). It was not until 1934 that the ABC hired its first journalist - the service continued to be expanded, with the appointment of a Federal News Editor in 1936, and in 1939 a Canberra
correspondent to cover national politics.
region. An early challenge to its independence came in June, 1940 when wartime censorship was imposed, meaning that the Department of Information (headed by Sir Keith Murdoch
) took control of the ABC’s 7 p.m. nightly national news bulletin. This lasted until September, when control of the news was returned to the ABC after listeners expressed a preference for independent news presented by the Commission.
On 7 January 1941 the ABC revived the Children's Session as a national program, including the "Argonauts Club
", which was first broadcast in 1933-34 in Melbourne. The Argonauts Club proved hugely popular with young Australians - by 1950 there were over 50,000 members, with 10,000 new members joining each year through the 1950s. The Club encouraged children's contributions of writing, music, poetry and art, and became one of the ABC's most popular programs, running six days a week for 28 years.
Changes made in the post-war moved 'serious' programming such as news, current affairs, and features — early forms of what became known as documentaries
to the Commission's national network, with lighter entertainment programming left for the metropolitan stations. A Light Entertainment department was formed, to produce programs such as ABC Hit Parade, The Wilfrid Thomas Show, Bob Dyer
's Dude Ranch and The Village Glee.
Long-running regional affairs program The Country Hour began in December, 1945. The ABC's coverage of rural affairs was significantly enhanced by the deployment of journalists and 'extension officers' to major country areas. The increasing availability of landline
s and teleprinter
s allowed the organisation to gather and broadcast news and other program material with much greater efficiency than in the previous two decades. By this time, as many as 13 national news bulletins were broadcast daily.
FM network. A classical music network was established a year later on the FM
band, broadcasting from Adelaide. It was initially known as ABC-FM - referring both to its 'fine music' programming and radio frequency.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983 changed the name of the organisation from the "Australian Broadcasting Commission" to the "Australian Broadcasting Corporation" effective 1 July 1983. At the same time, television and radio operations were split into two separate divisions, with an overhaul of management, finance, property and engineering undertaken.
In 1981 ABC Radio began carrying Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander
broadcasts in Alice Springs and later Northern Queensland, while at the same time comedy and social history units were set up, and news and current affairs output expanded.
A new Concert Music department was formed in 1985 to coordinate the corporation's six symphony orchestras, which in turn received a greater level of autonomy in order to better respond to local needs. Open-air free concerts and tours, educational activities, and joint ventures with other music groups were undertaken at the time to expand the Orchestras' audience reach.
ABC Radio was restructured significantly in 1985 - Radio One became the Metropolitan network, while Radio 2 became known as Radio National
(callsigns, however, were not standardised until 1990). New programs such as The World Today, Australia All Over, and The Coodabeen Champions were introduced, while ABC-FM
established an Australian Music Unit in 1989. Radio Australia
began to focus on the Asia-Pacific
region, with coverage targeted at the south west and central Pacific, south-east Asia, and north Asia. Radio Australia also carried more news coverage, with special broadcasts during the 1987 Fijian coups d'état, Tiananmen Square massacre, and the First Gulf War.
A government initiative undertaken in 1987 known as the Second Regional Radio Network established nineteen new studios in regional areas (with an additional sixteen upgraded), as well as approximately 300 additional transmitters. At the same time, Radio National and ABC-FM were expanded into these areas. A year later, the Parliamentary and News Network
was established to carry the ABC's mandatory Parliamentary broadcasts on eight transmitters in each state capital as well as Newcastle
, Canberra
, and Darwin
.
Increasing pressure throughout the 1980s led the ABC to divest its orchestras in 1990. They formed Symphony Australia
, an umbrella organisation that coordinates the now independent state-based orchestras (still owned by the ABC). The Sydney Symphony Orchestra
was the first to be corporatised in 1996 when Sydney Symphony Orchestra Holdings Pty Ltd was formed.
During this period, the ABC set in motion plans to consolidate its properties and buildings in Sydney and Melbourne into single sites in each city. It was not until 1991, however that the corporation's Sydney radio and orchestral operations moved to a new building built by Leighton Holdings
on a single site in the inner-city suburb of Ultimo
. In Melbourne, the ABC Southbank Centre was completed in 1994, and now houses the radio division in Victoria as well as the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
By the early 1990s, all major ABC broadcasting outlets moved to 24 hour-a-day operation, while regional radio coverage in Australia was extended with 80 new transmitters. Live television broadcasts of selected parliamentary sessions started in 1990. ABC NewsRadio
, a continuous news network broadcast on the Parliamentary and News Network
when parliament is not sitting, was launched on 5 October 1996.
Trials for digital radio
began in the 1990s, using the popular Eureka 147 standard. At the same time, the majority of operations were upgraded to fully digitised systems for program playout and storage, as well as a word processing system adapted specifically for the needs of the division's news services.
ABC-FM relaunched in 1994 as ABC Classic FM
, accompanied by major changes to the station's music and programming. In 1995, D-Cart digital technology developed by ABC Radio attracted worldwide interest and was sold to European, North American and Asian markets. The ABC used D-Radio, the first fully digital audio system, for Triple J
.
, with a range of programming across its various networks. All networks celebrated 100 years of radio in 2001 with special broadcasts marking the event and a limited edition CD released, with highlights of the ABC's output since 1932.
ABC NewsRadio began to continue its news programming online while its radio network broadcast parliament in 2002 - amongst the first of the corporation's radio networks to offer live, exclusive, streaming online. The service also expanded into the Gold Coast
- the first new coverage area for the network in five years.
A high incidence of breast cancer in female staff working at the ABC's offices in Brisbane led to the closure of the site, based in Toowong
, on 21 December 2006. Fourteen women were diagnosed with the disease in a period spanning 1994 to 2007. A progress report released in March, 2007, by an independent panel formed to investigate the occurrences found that the rate of occurrence for breast cancer at the offices was 11 times higher than elsewhere.
Since the closure of the site, the ABC's Brisbane television and radio operations were moved to alternate locations around the city. Managing Director Mark Scott
announced in August, 2007 that new studios would be built on the site, following the final release of the Review and Scientific Investigation Panel's report.
Radio Australia
is available on shortwave within the country, however it is targeted at audiences in the Asia-Pacific region. It falls under the International division.
stations - the main metropolitan stations are:
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
responsible for radio output and regional content.
Origins
The first public radio station in Australia opened in SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
on 13 November 1923 under the call sign 2SB. Other stations in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
and Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
followed. A licensing scheme administered by the Postmaster-General's Department
Postmaster-General's Department
The Postmaster-General's Department was created at Federation in 1901 to control all postal services within Australia. Its minister was the Postmaster-General. In mid-1975 it was disaggregated into the Australian Telecommunications Commission and the Australian Postal Commission...
, was soon established allowing certain stations government funding, albeit with restrictions placed on their advertising content.
Postmaster-General's Department
The Postmaster-General's Department was created at Federation in 1901 to control all postal services within Australia. Its minister was the Postmaster-General. In mid-1975 it was disaggregated into the Australian Telecommunications Commission and the Australian Postal Commission...
collected all licence fees and broadcasters were funded as either A-Class or B-Class stations. A-Class stations received government funding and were able to take limited advertising, while B-Class stations received no government funding but could carry more advertising. By 1925 many of the A-Class stations were in financial difficulty.
A 1927 Royal Commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
into wireless broadcasting recommended that radio licence fees be pooled to fund larger A-Class stations. The government established the National Broadcasting Service to take over the 12 A-Class licences as they came up for renewal from 1928. The original legislation permitted advertising, but this was removed from the Act before it came into effect. At the same time, the government created the Australian Broadcasting Company
Australian Broadcasting Company
The Australian Broadcasting Company was a consortium of entertainment interests formed in 1929 to supply radio programs for broadcast on the former "A-class" transmitters contracted to the Federal Government's National Broadcasting Service...
to supply programs to the new national broadcaster.
Initially the Postmaster-General's Department
Postmaster-General's Department
The Postmaster-General's Department was created at Federation in 1901 to control all postal services within Australia. Its minister was the Postmaster-General. In mid-1975 it was disaggregated into the Australian Telecommunications Commission and the Australian Postal Commission...
, which operated postal and telephone services, was responsible for operating the National Broadcasting Service, although this arrangement did not have universal political support. As a result, the Australian Broadcasting Commission was established on 1 July 1932 to take over the Australian Broadcasting Company and run the National Broadcasting Service.
The ABC was to be based on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
model, funded primarily from listener license fees with some direct government grants.
The Australian Broadcasting Commission's original twelve radio stations were:
- 2FC Sydney
- 2BL2BL2BL may refer to:*2BL , an Australian radio station 702 ABC Sydney*Block 2BL, a Russian rocket stage....
Sydney - 3AR Melbourne
- 3LO Melbourne
- 4QG Brisbane
- 5CL Adelaide
- 6WF Perth
- 7ZL Hobart
- 2NC NewcastleNewcastle, New South WalesThe Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...
- 2CO CorowaCorowa, New South WalesCorowa is a town in the state of New South Wales in Australia. It is on the bank of the Murray River, the border between New South Wales and Victoria, opposite the Victorian town of Wahgunyah. Corowa is the administrative centre of Corowa Shire...
- 4RK RockhamptonRockhampton, QueenslandRockhampton is a city and local government area in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Fitzroy River, approximately from the river mouth, and some north of the state capital, Brisbane....
- 5CK Crystal BrookCrystal Brook, South AustraliaCrystal Brook is a town in South Australia, named after the spring-fed creek next to which it was founded. It is north of Adelaide and in 2006 had a population of 1,185.Crystal Brook is situated on Goyder's Line near the border of two climate systems...
These formed the basis for the present-day ABC Local Radio
ABC Local Radio
ABC Local Radio is a network of publicly owned radio stations in Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.ABC Local Radio stations broadcast across the continent using terrestrial transmitters and satellites...
and Radio National
Radio National
ABC Radio National is an Australia-wide non-commercial radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.Radio National broadcasts national programming in areas that include news and current affairs, the arts, social issues, science, drama and comedy...
networks.
The opening-day program included the first ‘Children's Session’ with ‘Bobby Bluegum’, the first sports program, ‘Racing Notes’, with WA Ferry calling the Randwick races, ‘British Wireless News’, received by cable from London, weather, stock exchange and shipping news, the ABC Women's Association session (on ‘commonsense housekeeping’ and needlecraft), a talk on goldfish
Goldfish
The goldfish is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of order Cypriniformes. It was one of the earliest fish to be domesticated, and is one of the most commonly kept aquarium fish....
and their care, as well as ‘Morning Devotions
Prayer
Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
’ and music. Conductor Sir Bernard Heinze
Bernard Heinze
Sir Bernard Thomas Heinze, AC was an Australian Professor of Music, conductor, and Director of the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music....
was appointed part-time musical adviser to the ABC in 1934, while in 1937, the network was further expanded with the purchase of Brisbane’s 4BC
4BC
4BC is a radio station in Brisbane, Queensland on 1116kHz AM. 4BC is Brisbane's only commercial talkback station, using the promotional phrase "News Talk 1116". Like most talk radio stations, it caters to a predominantly conservative audience...
. Two years later, the Commission began publishing the ABC Weekly - a radio magazine promoting the ABC's local radio, and later television, programs.
Over the next four years the stations were reformed into a cohesive broadcasting organisation through regular program relays, coordinated by a centralised bureaucracy. The Australian broadcast radio spectrum at the time was made up of the ABC and the commercial sector.
During the broadcaster's first decades, programs generally consisted of music, news and current affairs, sport, drama, children's educational supplements and school broadcasts. Because recording technology was still relatively primitive, all ABC programs (including music) were broadcast live until 1935, when the first disc-based recorder was installed at the Commission's Sydney studios. For this purpose, the ABC established broadcasting orchestras in each state
Symphony Australia
- Symphony Services International :Formerly Symphony Services Australia Limited , Symphony Services International has been orchestrating excellence for many years....
, and in some centres employed choruses and dance bands.
Amongst the other early programs were the stations' famous 'synthetic' cricket broadcasts - when tests were played in England, commentators in the ABC's Sydney studios used cables from London and sound effects to recreate the match in play. In addition, all 38 of Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's plays were performed live between 1936 and 1938. Local drama was produced, with a competition for plays and sketches from Australian authors held in 1934. Talks from prominent figures of the time such as King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
, Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939...
, British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald
Ramsay MacDonald
James Ramsay MacDonald, PC, FRS was a British politician who was the first ever Labour Prime Minister, leading a minority government for two terms....
, Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and H.G. Wells were broadcast.
By 1933 regular program relays were in place between the ABC's stations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth - it was not until 1936 that Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
was connected with the mainland, through a cable under the Bass Strait
Bass Strait
Bass Strait is a sea strait separating Tasmania from the south of the Australian mainland, specifically the state of Victoria.-Extent:The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Bass Strait as follows:...
. News bulletins, however, continued to be read in each state from local newspapers (by agreement with the Newspaper Proprietors Association). It was not until 1934 that the ABC hired its first journalist - the service continued to be expanded, with the appointment of a Federal News Editor in 1936, and in 1939 a Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
correspondent to cover national politics.
World War II
During the Second World War, the ABC continued to recruit staff, including a greater proportion of women to replace men who had joined the armed forces. The organisation established reporting and recording facilities in a number of overseas locations, including the Middle East, Greece and around the Asia-PacificAsia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific or Asia Pacific is the part of the world in or near the Western Pacific Ocean...
region. An early challenge to its independence came in June, 1940 when wartime censorship was imposed, meaning that the Department of Information (headed by Sir Keith Murdoch
Keith Murdoch
Sir Keith Arthur Murdoch was an Australian journalist and the father of Rupert Murdoch, the CEO and Chairman of News Corp.-Life and career:Murdoch was born in Melbourne in 1885, the son of Annie and the Rev...
) took control of the ABC’s 7 p.m. nightly national news bulletin. This lasted until September, when control of the news was returned to the ABC after listeners expressed a preference for independent news presented by the Commission.
On 7 January 1941 the ABC revived the Children's Session as a national program, including the "Argonauts Club
Argonauts Club
The Argonauts Club was an Australian children's radio program, first broadcast in 1933 on ABC Radio in Melbourne. Its format was devised by Nina Murdoch who had run the station's Children's Hour on 3LO and stayed on when that station was taken over by the Australian Broadcasting Commission...
", which was first broadcast in 1933-34 in Melbourne. The Argonauts Club proved hugely popular with young Australians - by 1950 there were over 50,000 members, with 10,000 new members joining each year through the 1950s. The Club encouraged children's contributions of writing, music, poetry and art, and became one of the ABC's most popular programs, running six days a week for 28 years.
Post-war period
In December, 1945 rural affairs program "The Country Hour" premiered. Legislation passed in 1946 requiring the ABC to broadcast Parliament when in session. The broadcasts were put onto the interstate network; however the Commission frequently commented on the disruption this caused to its programming in its annual reports. The ABC was also required to 'secure its news for broadcasting purposes within the Commonwealth by its own staff, and abroad through such overseas news agencies and other overseas sources as it desired' (along with its own foreign correspondents). The news department continued to expand, and was inaugurated on 1 June 1947.Changes made in the post-war moved 'serious' programming such as news, current affairs, and features — early forms of what became known as documentaries
Radio documentary
A radio documentary or feature is a purely acoustic performance devoted to covering a particular topic in some depth, usually with a mixture of commentary and sound pictures. It is broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD...
to the Commission's national network, with lighter entertainment programming left for the metropolitan stations. A Light Entertainment department was formed, to produce programs such as ABC Hit Parade, The Wilfrid Thomas Show, Bob Dyer
Bob Dyer
Robert "Bob" Dies OBE , who took the stage name of Bob Dyer, was an American-born vaudeville entertainer, radio personality, and radio and television quiz show host who made his name in Australia. Dyer is best known for the long-running radio and then television quiz show, Pick a Box...
's Dude Ranch and The Village Glee.
Long-running regional affairs program The Country Hour began in December, 1945. The ABC's coverage of rural affairs was significantly enhanced by the deployment of journalists and 'extension officers' to major country areas. The increasing availability of landline
Landline
A landline was originally an overland telegraph wire, as opposed to an undersea cable. Currently, landline refers to a telephone line which travels through a solid medium, either metal wire or optical fibre, as distinguished from a mobile cellular line, where transmission is via radio waves...
s and teleprinter
Teleprinter
A teleprinter is a electromechanical typewriter that can be used to communicate typed messages from point to point and point to multipoint over a variety of communication channels that range from a simple electrical connection, such as a pair of wires, to the use of radio and microwave as the...
s allowed the organisation to gather and broadcast news and other program material with much greater efficiency than in the previous two decades. By this time, as many as 13 national news bulletins were broadcast daily.
1960s–1980s
In 1975, the ABC introduced a 24-hour-a-day AM rock station in Sydney, 2JJ (Double Jay), which was eventually expanded into the national Triple JTriple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
FM network. A classical music network was established a year later on the FM
Frequency modulation
In telecommunications and signal processing, frequency modulation conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its instantaneous frequency. This contrasts with amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier is varied while its frequency remains constant...
band, broadcasting from Adelaide. It was initially known as ABC-FM - referring both to its 'fine music' programming and radio frequency.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983 changed the name of the organisation from the "Australian Broadcasting Commission" to the "Australian Broadcasting Corporation" effective 1 July 1983. At the same time, television and radio operations were split into two separate divisions, with an overhaul of management, finance, property and engineering undertaken.
In 1981 ABC Radio began carrying Aboriginal
Australian Aborigines
Australian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...
and Torres Strait Islander
Torres Strait Islands
The Torres Strait Islands are a group of at least 274 small islands which lie in Torres Strait, the waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea but Torres Strait Island known and Recognize as Nyumaria.The islands are mostly part of...
broadcasts in Alice Springs and later Northern Queensland, while at the same time comedy and social history units were set up, and news and current affairs output expanded.
A new Concert Music department was formed in 1985 to coordinate the corporation's six symphony orchestras, which in turn received a greater level of autonomy in order to better respond to local needs. Open-air free concerts and tours, educational activities, and joint ventures with other music groups were undertaken at the time to expand the Orchestras' audience reach.
ABC Radio was restructured significantly in 1985 - Radio One became the Metropolitan network, while Radio 2 became known as Radio National
Radio National
ABC Radio National is an Australia-wide non-commercial radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.Radio National broadcasts national programming in areas that include news and current affairs, the arts, social issues, science, drama and comedy...
(callsigns, however, were not standardised until 1990). New programs such as The World Today, Australia All Over, and The Coodabeen Champions were introduced, while ABC-FM
ABC Classic FM
ABC Classic FM is a classical music radio station available in Australia, and internationally online. It is operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . It was established in 1976 as "ABC-FM", and later for a short time was known as "ABC Fine Music" , before adopting its current name...
established an Australian Music Unit in 1989. Radio Australia
Radio Australia
Radio Australia is the international broadcasting and online service operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation , Australia's public broadcaster.- History :...
began to focus on the Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific or Asia Pacific is the part of the world in or near the Western Pacific Ocean...
region, with coverage targeted at the south west and central Pacific, south-east Asia, and north Asia. Radio Australia also carried more news coverage, with special broadcasts during the 1987 Fijian coups d'état, Tiananmen Square massacre, and the First Gulf War.
A government initiative undertaken in 1987 known as the Second Regional Radio Network established nineteen new studios in regional areas (with an additional sixteen upgraded), as well as approximately 300 additional transmitters. At the same time, Radio National and ABC-FM were expanded into these areas. A year later, the Parliamentary and News Network
Parliamentary and News Network
Parliamentary News Network was an Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio network dedicated to broadcasting the Australian Parliament's "Question Time" sessions. It was established in the 1960s, parliamentary broadcasts previously being carried by contracted stations.It was taken over by the...
was established to carry the ABC's mandatory Parliamentary broadcasts on eight transmitters in each state capital as well as Newcastle
Newcastle, New South Wales
The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...
, Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, and Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
.
1990s
Symphony Australia
- Symphony Services International :Formerly Symphony Services Australia Limited , Symphony Services International has been orchestrating excellence for many years....
, an umbrella organisation that coordinates the now independent state-based orchestras (still owned by the ABC). The Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
The Sydney Symphony Orchestra , commonly known as the Sydney Symphony, is an Australian symphony orchestra based in Sydney...
was the first to be corporatised in 1996 when Sydney Symphony Orchestra Holdings Pty Ltd was formed.
During this period, the ABC set in motion plans to consolidate its properties and buildings in Sydney and Melbourne into single sites in each city. It was not until 1991, however that the corporation's Sydney radio and orchestral operations moved to a new building built by Leighton Holdings
Leighton Holdings
Leighton Holdings is Australia's largest project development and contracting group. It is active in the telecommunications, engineering and infrastructure, building and property, mining and resources, and environmental services industries...
on a single site in the inner-city suburb of Ultimo
Ultimo, New South Wales
Ultimo is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Ultimo is located 2 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney....
. In Melbourne, the ABC Southbank Centre was completed in 1994, and now houses the radio division in Victoria as well as the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
By the early 1990s, all major ABC broadcasting outlets moved to 24 hour-a-day operation, while regional radio coverage in Australia was extended with 80 new transmitters. Live television broadcasts of selected parliamentary sessions started in 1990. ABC NewsRadio
ABC NewsRadio
ABC NewsRadio is an Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio service devoted to delivering live and 24-hour news updates and information. The service is available on a number of broadcasts right around Australia, including AM/FM radio, some pay-TV platforms and online via the Internet.Originally...
, a continuous news network broadcast on the Parliamentary and News Network
Parliamentary and News Network
Parliamentary News Network was an Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio network dedicated to broadcasting the Australian Parliament's "Question Time" sessions. It was established in the 1960s, parliamentary broadcasts previously being carried by contracted stations.It was taken over by the...
when parliament is not sitting, was launched on 5 October 1996.
Trials for digital radio
Digital radio
Digital radio has several meanings:1. Today the most common meaning is digital radio broadcasting technologies, such as the digital audio broadcasting system, also known as Eureka 147. In these systems, the analog audio signal is digitized into zeros and ones, compressed using formats such as...
began in the 1990s, using the popular Eureka 147 standard. At the same time, the majority of operations were upgraded to fully digitised systems for program playout and storage, as well as a word processing system adapted specifically for the needs of the division's news services.
ABC-FM relaunched in 1994 as ABC Classic FM
ABC Classic FM
ABC Classic FM is a classical music radio station available in Australia, and internationally online. It is operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . It was established in 1976 as "ABC-FM", and later for a short time was known as "ABC Fine Music" , before adopting its current name...
, accompanied by major changes to the station's music and programming. In 1995, D-Cart digital technology developed by ABC Radio attracted worldwide interest and was sold to European, North American and Asian markets. The ABC used D-Radio, the first fully digital audio system, for Triple J
Triple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
.
2000s
Throughout the 2000s, ABC Radio continued to upgrade its studio and transmitter facilities. The ABC attracted large audiences for its non-commercial radio coverage of the 2000 Summer Olympics2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
, with a range of programming across its various networks. All networks celebrated 100 years of radio in 2001 with special broadcasts marking the event and a limited edition CD released, with highlights of the ABC's output since 1932.
ABC NewsRadio began to continue its news programming online while its radio network broadcast parliament in 2002 - amongst the first of the corporation's radio networks to offer live, exclusive, streaming online. The service also expanded into the Gold Coast
Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...
- the first new coverage area for the network in five years.
A high incidence of breast cancer in female staff working at the ABC's offices in Brisbane led to the closure of the site, based in Toowong
Toowong, Queensland
Toowong is an inner suburb of Brisbane, Australia which is located 5 km west of the Brisbane CBD. At the centre of Toowong is a commercial precinct including Toowong Village and several office buildings...
, on 21 December 2006. Fourteen women were diagnosed with the disease in a period spanning 1994 to 2007. A progress report released in March, 2007, by an independent panel formed to investigate the occurrences found that the rate of occurrence for breast cancer at the offices was 11 times higher than elsewhere.
Since the closure of the site, the ABC's Brisbane television and radio operations were moved to alternate locations around the city. Managing Director Mark Scott
Mark Scott (businessman)
Mark Walter Scott AO is the current Managing Director of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He took up his position in July 2006, having previously been the Editorial Director at John Fairfax, responsible for the editorial content of the group's major newspapers including The Sydney Morning...
announced in August, 2007 that new studios would be built on the site, following the final release of the Review and Scientific Investigation Panel's report.
National radio networks
The ABC operates several national radio networks within Australia:- ABC Local RadioABC Local RadioABC Local Radio is a network of publicly owned radio stations in Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.ABC Local Radio stations broadcast across the continent using terrestrial transmitters and satellites...
- ABC Radio National
- ABC Classic FMABC Classic FMABC Classic FM is a classical music radio station available in Australia, and internationally online. It is operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . It was established in 1976 as "ABC-FM", and later for a short time was known as "ABC Fine Music" , before adopting its current name...
- Triple JTriple Jtriple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
- ABC NewsRadioABC NewsRadioABC NewsRadio is an Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio service devoted to delivering live and 24-hour news updates and information. The service is available on a number of broadcasts right around Australia, including AM/FM radio, some pay-TV platforms and online via the Internet.Originally...
(parliamentary and standard feeds are available on some platforms) - ABC Dig MusicABC DiGABC DiG is a digital radio service operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation which began in November 2002, emerging from formats developed by Bill Gates and Phil Cullen at ABC Coast FM, which broadcast an Adult Alternative music format and was for many years ABC Radio's only continuous...
(digital onlyDigital radio in AustraliaDigital radio in Australia uses the DAB+ standard and is currently available in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra and Darwin. The national government owned networks, the ABC and SBS, provide their current services and a few digital-only services on the new platform, while the...
) - ABC JazzABC DiGABC DiG is a digital radio service operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation which began in November 2002, emerging from formats developed by Bill Gates and Phil Cullen at ABC Coast FM, which broadcast an Adult Alternative music format and was for many years ABC Radio's only continuous...
(digital only) - ABC CountryABC DiGABC DiG is a digital radio service operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation which began in November 2002, emerging from formats developed by Bill Gates and Phil Cullen at ABC Coast FM, which broadcast an Adult Alternative music format and was for many years ABC Radio's only continuous...
(digital only)
Radio Australia
Radio Australia
Radio Australia is the international broadcasting and online service operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation , Australia's public broadcaster.- History :...
is available on shortwave within the country, however it is targeted at audiences in the Asia-Pacific region. It falls under the International division.
Local radio
In addition there are several ABC Local RadioABC Local Radio
ABC Local Radio is a network of publicly owned radio stations in Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.ABC Local Radio stations broadcast across the continent using terrestrial transmitters and satellites...
stations - the main metropolitan stations are:
- 702 ABC Sydney702 ABC Sydney702 ABC Sydney is an ABC radio station in Sydney, Australia. It is the flagship station in the ABC Local Radio network and broadcasts on 702 kHz on the AM dial....
(2BL2BL2BL may refer to:*2BL , an Australian radio station 702 ABC Sydney*Block 2BL, a Russian rocket stage....
) - 774 ABC774 ABC Melbourne774 ABC Melbourne is an ABC Local Radio station in Melbourne, Australia. Originally known by its callsign 3LO, it began transmission on 13 October 1924 – Melbourne's second radio station after 3AR.-History:...
MelbourneMelbourneMelbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
(3LO) - 612 ABC612 ABC Brisbane612 ABC Brisbane is an ABC Local Radio station in Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of the largest stations in the network, serving as a base for Queensland programming - many programs are broadcast across the ABC Local Radio network in regional and rural areas of Queensland when those stations are...
BrisbaneBrisbaneBrisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
(4QR) - 891 ABC891 ABC Adelaide891 ABC Adelaide is the ABC Local Radio station for Adelaide. It is broadcast at 891 kHz on the AM band.-History:...
AdelaideAdelaideAdelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
(5AN) - 720 ABC720 ABC Perth720 ABC Perth is a radio station located in Perth, Western Australia broadcasting on 720 kHz on the AM band. The station is a member of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's ABC Local Radio network.-History:...
PerthPerth, Western AustraliaPerth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
(6WF) - 936 ABC936 ABC Hobart936 ABC Hobart is the ABC Local Radio station for Hobart, Tasmania, owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It broadcasts on 936 kHz on the AM band....
HobartHobartHobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
(7ZR) - 666 ABC666 ABC Canberra666 ABC Canberra is an ABC Local Radio station based in Canberra and broadcasting to the Australian Capital Territory and surrounding New South Wales region. This includes the cities and towns of Queanbeyan, Yass and Bungendore....
CanberraCanberraCanberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
(2CN) - 105.7 ABC105.7 ABC Darwin105.7 ABC Darwin is an ABC radio station which is located in Darwin, Northern Territory. It is one of the stations in the ABC Local Radio network and broadcasts on 105.7MHz on the FM dial...
DarwinDarwin, Northern TerritoryDarwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
(8DDD) - 1233 ABC1233 ABC Newcastle1233 ABC Newcastle is an Australian radio station. It is the Newcastle station of the ABC local radio network, and is licensed to, and serving Newcastle and surrounding areas. It operates on the AM band at 1233 kilohertz...
NewcastleNewcastle, New South WalesThe Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...
(2NC) - 92.5 ABC Central Coast92.5 ABC Central Coast92.5 ABC Central Coast is an ABC Local Radio station based at Erina in Gosford and broadcasting to the Central Coast region in New South Wales. The Central Coast is a large semi-urban coastal region just north of Sydney. The large transmission area of the station stretches from Woy Woy to The...
(2BL/T) - 91.7 ABC Coast FM91.7 ABC Coast FM91.7 ABC Coast FM is an ABC Local Radio station. Based in the suburb of Mermaid Beach, the station broadcasts to the Gold Coast and surrounding hinterland in Queensland, covering as far south as Byron Bay in New South Wales....
(4ABCRR)