Southern FM (Melbourne Australia)

Radio station
name = Southern FM 88.3 MHz
region = Melbourne, Victoria
frequency = 88.3 MHz FM
format = Broadbased Community / Music & Talk
website = www.southernfm.org.au
position statement = 88.3 Sounds Great To Me
owner = Southern Community Broadcasters Inc

Southern FM (3SCB 88.3 FM) is a community broadcasting station operating in the Southern and Bayside suburbs of Melbourne Australia.

History

The radio station was established in 1981 by former Australian Broadcasting Control Board member Dom Iacono and then former ABC engineer Jack Burgesson, who with a dedicated band of volunteers, first broadcast for a two day broadcast from the Caulfield Town Hall.

The first test broadcast was not spectacular or particularly notable apart from the fact that it was the first test broadcast by the new group, and attracted much interest in the local area which the radio station was to eventually service.

The second test broadcast was from the store room of the now demolished East Bentleigh Community Hall

The station was originally established to cover the then municipal areas of Chelsea, Mordialloc, Sandringham, Caulfield, and Brighton.

As part of a planning review prior to the formal invitations for licence applications, the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal (Now ABA) had offered SCB an extension to its coverage area to include the areas bounded by the Cities of Prahran, St Kilda, and Waverley in addition to the inclusion of the Inner eastern areas (now covered by 3WBC)

The Inner Eastern suburban area (that being the area comprised of the then Cities of Box Hill Camberwell, Hawthorn and Kew) was without a local radio service at the time of the formation and development of the suburban community radio groups such as SCB, ECB, VYV, MDR, etc.

Although the Inner Eastern municipal areas were designated by the then ABA for a potential new area it was, prior to licensing of the first group of Sub-Metropolitan stations offered to Southern Community Broadcasters as an addition to its license area, due to a lack of a local service.

Southern Community Broadcasters - after AGMs and resolutions had after an initial interest in the addition of the area to its own, had rejected the proposal - claiming the Inner East was not an area that shared the Bayside / Inner South identity.

The same argument was presented in the organisation's rejection of including StKilda and Prahran into its coverage area. This rejection of additional coverage areas resulted in a small coverage station with a very limited transmitter power. (200 watts), one of the smallest sub-metropolitan community stations in Melbourne.

After a succession of approx 20 test broadcasts of one to two week durations, the parent organisation Southern Community Broadcasters Inc was successful in being granted a full time license on March 30, 1990.

Following many moves of studios and offices, the radio station ended up at Railway Crescent Moorabbin, above the (now) former Salvation Army Opportunity Shop.

From there the radio station moved to the Moorabbin City Council offices and from there to the most recent studio location at Balcombe Road in the suburb of Mentone.

Southern FM in 2007

Southern FM presents a wide format of specialist programs, and provides full editorial and content control to its presenters.

The program make up is diverse, as demonstrated by this listing of programs "(source: [http://www.southernfm.com.au] )"

Breakfast With David FrostMusic, incl. children's corner at 7.35AM

8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. The Classical HourWith David Frost

9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Monday MixMusical variety & local showbiz news with Daryl Mietzcke

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Community FusionCommunity issues with Kaye

12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Music TimeEasy listening country music with Janette B

2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Salut Les AmisFrench songs & news with Anna Wasserman Dupont

4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Samoan DriveNews, interviews, music, sports with Sanni & Taffi

6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Indian Voice Of FijiNews, health issues, children's stories in native languages by Usha Sharma & Manju Jaczina

8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. Projection SouthSpanish and Latin American show with Mario Rodriguez

10:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m. Croatian VoiceMusic, chat and phone in with Marisca Chok

It should be noted that Southern FM, like many other community radio stations in Melbourne, has incorporated many non-English speaking groups into the program schedule. This is partially due to the financial consideration offered by the Community Broadcasting Foundation (CBF).

Southern FM is licensed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority as a "C" class community radio station, operating on a power output of 200 watts ERP from Moorabbin.

The longest serving on air presenters at Southern FM include Reg Pitt (Southern Country), Daryl Pitman (Southern Sport), Eric Macarow (Jazz as you Like it), Bill Bennett (God Speak), David Boag (Sunday Easy). There are more to include in this list as this page develops.

Presenters who moved on include a small group who participated in the first broadcasts of a temporary youth broadcasting station Hitz-FM, following the success in 1991 of a Saturday Night radio program NightBeat. In later years another radio broadcast group Golden Days Radio (at time of formation known as Spirit Of Australia Broadcasters) was founded by a number of people formerly associated with Southern FM

External links

*http://www.southernfm.com.au/
*http://www.cbaa.org.au/
*http://www.cbav.org.au/