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ABC Perth going FM in 2026

W

wildthangjim

www.abc.net.au

ABC Radio stations in Perth to move to FM in 2026

Almost 102 years after ABC radio first hit the airwaves, Perth listeners will experience a major improvement in audio quality when the network's three AM stations move to FM in 2026.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au

ABC Newsradio 585, ABC Local 720, and ABC Radio National 810 will be migrating to FM, but regional WA AM stations are unaffected.
 
I'll be interested in seeing what FM frequencies will be used; looking at the listings at



it would appear that the Perth FM band is already pretty crowded. Also, isn't the 720 frequency a 50kW frequency in Perth? And isn't much of western Australia very sparsely populated? To me, this would be like putting Vancouver's CBU (690 kHz) only on FM--nicer sound around Vancouver but nowhere near the coverage area that the AM had.
 
This will necessitate changes in allocations for some surrounding stations. It appears ABC Perth will take 102.5. Community radio KCR-FM will move from 102.5 to 88.9 and 6FMS/Lancelin will move from 102.3 to 102.9.
Radio National will take 103.3, displacing the current narrowcast service on that frequency to 106.5.
ABC News will take 104.1; 6SAT/Lancelin moves from 103.9 to 104.5. Because ABC News carries parliamentary procedures, it is required to broadcast in mediumwave, so it will continue to simulcast on 585.


Most notably, this conversion is for the ABC stations only, leaving commercial operators 6PR and 6IX without FMs (though 6IX does have rimshot repeaters, but not full market FM coverage.)
 
Last edited:
ted chittenden said:
I'll be interested in seeing what FM frequencies will be used; looking at the listings at



it would appear that the Perth FM band is already pretty crowded. Also, isn't the 720 frequency a 50kW frequency in Perth? And isn't much of western Australia very sparsely populated? To me, this would be like putting Vancouver's CBU (690 kHz) only on FM--nicer sound around Vancouver but nowhere near the coverage area that the AM had.
Click to expand...
I lived in Perth from 2012-2016. The FM dial isn't crowded by US standards. One thing that's probably similar to the US is that area around the land where the tower is located used to be bushland but is now surrounded by housing developments. I expect part or all of the land will be sold off.

The difference between this and the Vancouver example is that the main ABC programming is also covered by multiple high-power stations all over WA. From my experience, folks in regional areas will still have access via other transmitters. Radio National (NPR-like long form news and cultural programs) and Newsradio are more limited in availability outside Perth.
 
It's also worth noting that all these stations broadcast in DAB, which is much more successful than HD has ever hoped to be here in the States.
In the latest survey, DAB accounted for 14.7 shares in Perth, with commercial stations totaling 9.9 shares, ABC stations with 2.2 shares and 2.6 shares for the remaining DAB outlets.
 
My experience is 9 years old, but back then, DAB was patchy to nonexistent outside the Perth metro. In Perth there are a lot of DAB options. In fact, when I lived there, if I listened to ABC Local Perth at home, I listened to the DAB one (there are already DAB versions of all the ABC stations).
 


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