Australian radio audiences have had virtually no exposure to pirate radio. There were no broadcasts as part of the World War II propaganda campaigns and commercial as well as community stations alongside the taxpayer funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation were available during the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s - a period when the UK was experiencing a surge in illegal broadcasts during the early days of acid house and the Second Summer of Love. The absence of pirate radio in Australia is primarily attributed to the relatively large number of commercial licences that were issued, particularly after World War 2, as well as the existence of public non-commercial broadcasting licenses supported mainly by listener subscription. Additionally, the lack of availability of imported broadcasting equipment and the likely application of severe, legislated penalties including jail for offenders, would also have been a factor.
Radio Adelaide is Australia's first community radio station. The signal reaches across the Adelaide metropolitan area to the Mid North, the Yorke Peninsula and Fleurieu Peninsula, the southern Barossa, Kangaroo Island, Riverland and parts of the Eyre Peninsula broadcasting at 13 kilowatts on 101.5 MHz FM. The transmitter power was only 7 kW until an upgrade on 2 November 2006.
Channel 44 is a free-to-air community television channel in Adelaide, South Australia. C44 features locally and nationally made content and has been broadcasting since 23 April 2004. Previously known as C31 when on analogue television, C44 made the switch to digital on 5 November 2010 and switched off its analogue signal on 31 May 2012. C44 airs a range of local, interstate and international content that is relevant to the local community.
Casey Radio 3SER is a non-commercial community radio station which caters to the greater south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia.
Groove 101.7FM was a Western Australian community radio station broadcasting from studios located in Carlisle, owned and operated by the Youth Media Society of Western Australia Incorporated. First broadcast in March 2003, the station was closed in March 2008.
94.7 The Pulse, is a community radio station which broadcasts to the region of Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
Triple M Riverina is an Australian radio station which transmits on 1152 kHz on the AM band. It is licensed to the city of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. The station was originally owned by Eric Vernon Roberts BSc and his second wife Ida Annie "Nan" Roberts, who were both formerly school teachers in Narrandera. Both the studio and 100 watt AWA transmitter were originally located in the upper storey of the former Hardys' Building in Fitzmaurice Street overlooking the Wollundry Lagoon. A replacement transmitter of 2,000 watts, making 2WG one of the most powerful in Australia, was built by his brother Phil Roberts, on the Oura Road Transmitter site on 29 June 1932 and operated between 6.00 am and 11.00 pm. By June 1979 the transmitter site was located at coordinates 35° 8' south; 147° 22½' E, approximately 200 m east of the Olympic Highway and 200 m. north of Trahairs Road.
3WBC FM is a local radio station in Melbourne, Australia with a frequency of 94.1 MHz. The station is operated under licence by Whitehorse-Boroondara Community FM Radio Incorporated. It often involves local school students in its programs and is developing a larger audience. Discussion topics include current events such as global warming.
Call signs in Australia are allocated by the Australian Communications and Media Authority and are unique for each broadcast station. The use of callsigns on-air in both radio and television in Australia is optional, so many stations used other on-air identifications. Australian broadcast stations officially have the prefix VL- and originally all callsigns used that format, but since Australia has no nearby neighbours, this prefix is no longer used except in an international context.
102.7FM is a community radio station operating in Toowoomba, Queensland. Established in the 1970s, it broadcasts from studios in the city's CBD, and is transmitted from the University of Southern Queensland in Darling Heights. It is a member of the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia.
2WZD, which is branded as hit93.1 Riverina, is an Australian radio station that transmits on 93.1 MHz FM and is owned by Southern Cross Media.
87.8 UCFM is an independent student radio station transmitting from the campus of the University of Canberra. It broadcasts a professionally consulted College Radio niche music format - 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a mix of news and current affairs. The radio station's studios are located within the lower level of "The Hub" complex on the university's Bruce campus, in Australia's capital city - Canberra.
Bankstown-Auburn Community Radio Inc is a community radio station broadcasting on 100.9 FM from Padstow, New South Wales. The licensed broadcast area covers Silverwater to Picnic Point, Villawood to Mount Lewis in Sydney, New South Wales. Programs are produced for the local community and include sports, music, talk back and local news.
6AR was a community radio station based in Perth, Western Australia. It was operated by the Western Australian Aboriginal Media Association and was on air between 1994 and 2006.
Mount Helen FM was a community radio station, serving the Hunter Valley and Liverpool Plains areas of New South Wales. It operated studios in Willow Tree and Muswellbrook, and operated from transmitters serving both areas.
Melbourne Jewish Radio was a timeshared radio station formerly broadcast on 1674 kHz in the AM narrowband from Werribee South in Melbourne's west. The station aired between 12noon Sundays and 12noon Fridays, with Surf City Sound broadcasting on the same frequency during the Shabbat period. During 2010 and 2011, Lion FM held a Temporary Community Broadcasting Licence, and broadcast from the Melbourne CBD.
Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) is the peak body for the commercial radio broadcasting industry in Australia. CRA was formed in 1930 as the Federation of Australian Radio Broadcasters.
Bendigo's Fresh FM 101.5, also known as Bendigo's Best Sport, is a community radio station broadcast in Bendigo, Australia. It began in 1983 as 3CCC based in Harcourt using the frequency 103.9 FM.
Lofty 88.9 is a community radio station based in Mount Barker, South Australia, named in reference to its location in the Mount Lofty Ranges.
WOWfm 100.5 is a community radio station based in Semaphore, South Australia, named in reference to its location in Adelaide's Western suburbs.
