3YB

Last updated

Broadcast area South Coast of Victoria
Slogan Better Music and More of it.
Frequency 94.5 FM MHz.
Format 70's to Today's Music, News, Talk, Sport,
Language(s) English
Callsign meaning 3 = Victoria
Young of Ballarat (see History of broadcasting)
Former frequencies 882 kHz AM (19782018)
Owner ACE Radio Broadcasters Pty Ltd
Sister stations Coast FM
Website 3yb.com.au

3YB FM is a radio broadcaster based in Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia. It transmits on the frequency modulation radio band, at a frequency of 94.5 MHz. The station is part of the Ace Radio FM network. It has an adult contemporary music format mixed with talk such as Mornings with Neil Mitchell syndicated from 3AW.

Warrnambool City in Victoria, Australia

Warrnambool is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria, Australia. At June 2016, Warrnambool had an estimated urban population of 34,618. Situated on the Princes Highway, Warrnambool marks the western end of the Great Ocean Road and the southern end of the Hopkins Highway.

Victoria (Australia) State in Australia

Victoria is a state in south-eastern Australia. Victoria is Australia's smallest mainland state and its second-most populous state overall, thus making it the most densely populated state overall. Most of its population lives concentrated in the area surrounding Port Phillip Bay, which includes the metropolitan area of its state capital and largest city, Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city. Geographically the smallest state on the Australian mainland, Victoria is bordered by Bass Strait and Tasmania to the south, New South Wales to the north, the Tasman Sea to the east, and South Australia to the west.

Australia Country in Oceania

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country by total area. The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. The population of 25 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australia's capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney. The country's other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

Contents

The station has one of the most unusual histories of any Australian radio station, having commenced broadcasting in 1931 as a mobile station, prior to permanently settling in Warrnambool in 1935.

History

The 1930s: Mobile Station, and the move to Warrnambool

3YB's atypical beginnings ensure that it will always hold a place in Australian radio history. Between October 1931 and November 1935 it was a mobile station, broadcasting around Victoria in areas that did not yet have local stations. In 1931, the only stations in rural Victoria were: 3BA Ballarat, 3TR Trafalgar, 3GL Geelong, 3WR Wangaratta, and 3BO Bendigo [1] . It broadcast first from a Ford car and Ford truck, and later from a railway carriage originally built for the 1899 Royal Train, first used for the 1901 visit of Prince George, Duke of Cornwall and York, and the Duchess. 3YB's founder was Vic Dinenny [2] but the concept of the station was the brain-child of one the station's original broadcasters and engineers Jack Young of Ballarat, after whom the station is named.

History of broadcasting aspect of history

It is generally recognised that the first radio transmission was made from a temporary station set up by Guglielmo Marconi in 1895. This followed on from pioneering work in the field by a number of people including Alessandro Volta, André-Marie Ampère, Georg Ohm and James Clerk Maxwell.

3BA is a commercial radio station in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia broadcasting on the FM band on a frequency of 102.3 MHz.

Ford Motor Company automotive brand manufacturer

Ford Motor Company is a multinational automaker that has its main headquarter in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobiles and commercial vehicles under the Ford brand and most luxury cars under the Lincoln brand. Ford also owns Brazilian SUV manufacturer Troller, an 8% stake in Aston Martin of the United Kingdom and a 32% stake in Jiangling Motors. It also has joint-ventures in China, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, and Russia. The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is controlled by the Ford family; they have minority ownership but the majority of the voting power.

The mobile station had a limited power of 25 watts, meaning that it could only be heard in a small regional area at any given time.

The way the station operated was that it would move into a selected town for three weeks. The first week was occupied with setting up the station, particularly the broadcasting mast and other technical gear. Concurrently, local businesses were visited and advertising was sold, although Dinenny also secured a few national advertisers. During the second and third weeks the station broadcast daily from 6.00 to 10.00 pm. The record library was divided into 14 complete programs, ensuring that there was no repetition of records during the two weeks that the station broadcast from a town. The first town to be visited, in October 1931, was Creswick [3] .

Creswick, Victoria Town in Victoria, Australia

Creswick is a town in west-central Victoria, Australia 18 kilometres north of Ballarat and 122 km northwest of Melbourne, in the Shire of Hepburn. It is 430 metres above sea level. At the 2016 census, Creswick had a population of 3,170. Creswick was named after the Creswick family, the pioneer settlers of the region.

Mention should also be made of: Warrnambool radio pioneer Oscar V. Henry; technician and manager Harry S. Fuller; and salesperson Sid Kemp [4] .

As more and more rural stations opened in Victoria, the concept of a mobile station became less practical. Therefore, Dinenny applied for and received licences for two non-mobile (or conventional) stations, one in Warrnambool and the other in Warragul. The opening of the Warrnambool station, which retained the call sign 3YB, was due to take place on 27 December 1935 but, due to problems with the transmission tower, the opening was postponed to 8.00 pm on Saturday 18 January 1936 [5] .

Transmission tower Structure used to support an overhead power line

A transmission tower or power tower is a tall structure, usually a steel lattice tower, used to support an overhead power line.

Ownership

Within a few years of moving to Warrnambool, 3YB became part of the Argus Broadcasting Services network, along with 3UL Warragul and 3SR Shepparton [6] . This Victorian rural radio network was operated by The Argus (Melbourne), then a daily newspaper. When the Argus closed in January 1957, their radio network evolved into the Associated Broadcasting Company which owned 3YB until it was sold to Regional Communications Pty Ltd in 1982, and then, in 1990 the station was purchased by two private shareholders [7] . The current operators, Ace Radio Broadcasters [8] purchased 3YB in 1995.

3GG is an Australian commercial radio station based in Warragul, Victoria owned by Capital Radio Network. Formerly owned and operated by Resonate Broadcasting and prior, RG Capital and Macquarie Regional RadioWorks, it was acquired by the Capital Radio Network in February 2015.

<i>The Argus</i> (Melbourne) former newspaper in Melbourne

The Argus was a morning daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia that was established in 1846 and closed in 1957. It was considered to be the general Australian newspaper of record for this period. Widely known as a conservative newspaper for most of its history, it adopted a left-leaning approach from 1949. The Argus's main competitor was David Syme's more liberal-minded newspaper, The Age.

In the late 1980s/1990s and into the early 21st century, the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal embarked on a policy of increasing the number of regional radio stations, particularly on the FM band by inviting existing AM stations to start a second station, serving the same market. Some stations chose to start a brand new FM station, whilst others elected to move their existing station to the FM band, whilst also starting a new AM station on their former wavelength. 3YB fell into the former category, with its sister station, 3YFM (broadcasting as 95.3 Coast FM) commencing operations on 14 August 2002. However, as from 2 July 2018, 3YB has also broadcast on the FM band (see below).

Studios

The first 3YB studio in Warrnambool (and indeed its first permanent studio) was at the property Wentworth on Weir Road. On 16 April 1945 (ironically, in the dying days of World War II) there was a disastrous fire at the studio and transmitter complex at Wentworth, and 3YB was forced off the air for three weeks! On 5 May 1945 the station re-opened, broadcasting from new studios on the 1st floor of the T & G building on the corner of Leibig and Lava Streets. This studio served the station well until August 1968 when new purpose-built studios were opened at 95 Timor Street [9] .

Broadcasters

Many prominent broadcasters commenced their careers at 3YB. These include: Ron Cadee, Vern Haycroft, Denzil Howson, Rod Kilgour, Barry Seeber, Rod Spargo, Michael Taft, and Mal Walden [10] [11] .

Long serving news presenter Lois Chislett has won a number of ACRAs for best news presenter for a country station including in 2012 [12]

On-Air Schedule

Weekdays

Saturdays

Sundays

Move to FM

On 2 July 2018, 882 3YB converted to the FM band by swapping frequencies with Vision Australia Radio's Warrnambool station. It will now be known as 94.5 3YBFM. [14] [15]

Coordinates: 38°23′14″S142°29′07″E / 38.3871°S 142.4852°E / -38.3871; 142.4852

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References

  1. R. R. Walker, The Magic Spark, Hawthorn Press, 1973
  2. http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2013/05/11/3756857.htm
  3. R. R. Walker, The Magic Spark, Hawthorn Press, 1973
  4. Hugh Adams, 3YB: Pioneer of Country Broadcasting 1931-1981, Collett, Rain & Gaspar, Warrnambool, 1981
  5. Hugh Adams, 3YB: Pioneer of Country Broadcasting 1931-1981, Collett, Rain & Gaspar, Warrnambool, 1981
  6. http://tdgq.com.au/dha/writings/argus_broadcasting_services.html
  7. http://www.standard.net.au/story/3440150/history-jimmy-rocking-the-bay/
  8. https://www.aceradio.com.au/
  9. Hugh Adams, 3YB: Pioneer of Country Broadcasting 1931-1981, Collett, Rain & Gaspar, Warrnambool, 1981
  10. Hugh Adams, 3YB: Pioneer of Country Broadcasting 1931-1981, Collett, Rain & Gaspar, Warrnambool, 1981
  11. talk given by Michael Taft at U3A Deepdene, Melbourne, during which he showed photos of his time at 3YB
  12. http://www.radiotoday.com.au/acras/1421-ace-boss-on-the-acras.html
  13. "882 3YB".
  14. "3YB and Vision Australia swap radio bands". 2 July 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  15. "Vision Australia radio ready to make the big switch". 2 July 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2018.