2MBS

2MBS FM is a Sydney music radio station operated by the Music Broadcasting Society of New South Wales Co-Operative Limited.Launched on December 15, 1974, it was the first continuously-operating licensed FM station in AustraliaFact|date=September 2007 and remains the largest community radio broadcaster in the countryFact|date=September 2007.

The station broadcasts from studios located at Chandos Street, St Leonards, to the greater Sydney region at a frequency of 102.5 MHz from a 50 kilowatt (ERP) transmitter located atop Governor Philip Tower, in Sydney's central business district. Its operations are conducted by volunteers and a small number of paid staff. Operational funding is principally derived from commercial sponsorship, listener subscriptions, and occasional sales of second-hand books, LPs, and CDs.

Approximately 80 percent of 2MBS's on-air music content is from the Western classical and related traditions, and the remainder is made up of jazz, blues, and non-mainstream and experimental contemporary music.

Perhaps reflecting a great proportion of its audience, the station's most popular programme for the past several decades has been "Evensong", a weekly programme of English sacred music in the Anglican tradition. Its regular presenter Mrs Ann Ramsay died at the age of 91 on 1 April 2006, prior to which she was thought to be Australia's oldest on-air radio presenterFact|date=September 2007.

Popular non-classical programmes broadcast by the station include blues show "Stormy Monday", which has aired on Monday evenings for three decades, and is rebroadcast nationally by the Australian CBAA (Community Broadcasting Association of Australia) satellite service. "Ultima Thule", the station's Sunday evening ambient music programme has been on air for nearly twenty years and in 2005 became the first programme to be podcast on Australian community radioFact|date=September 2007.

2MBS has a loose affiliation with a number of similar independently owned and operated stations in other parts of Australia, including 3MBS FM Melbourne, 4MBS FM Brisbane, 5MBS FM Adelaide and ArtSound FM Canberra.

External links

* [http://www.2mbs.com/ 2MBS FM website]
* [http://2mbsfm.primcast.com/2MBSFM 2MBS live internet stream]
* [http://www.halftheory.com/cmc/ 2MBS Contemporary Music Collective]
* [http://www.ultimathule.info 2MBS-FM Ultima Thule, Ambient and eltro acoustic music]