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Vision Australia AMs shut down

Huff

Huff

Administrator
Staff member
Vision Australia has shut down its AMs in Adelaide (1197kHz), Melbourne (1179) and Perth (990), leaving its reading for the blind programming on DAB only in those markets.
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I may be mistaken, but I believe the stations were typically individually owned. Vision Australia provided the programming as a part of its overall advocacy efforts in the country, which are funded in part by the government.
 
1179 in Melbourne was, long ago, 3KZ and on 1180. Back around 1969 I was offered a position there when I started to have political problems in Ecuador. That station's OM was ready to make a real Aussie bloke out of me.

That was the era when a big station in Sydney or Melbourne might have 50 or 60 employees!
 
davideduardo said:
1179 in Melbourne was, long ago, 3KZ and on 1180. Back around 1969 I was offered a position there when I started to have political problems in Ecuador. That station's OM was ready to make a real Aussie bloke out of me.
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Australian AM stations used the 10 kHz band plan spacing (like the Western Hemisphere) up until 1978 when they switched to the 9 kHz band plan used in Europe/Africa/Asia.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
Australian AM stations used the 10 kHz band plan spacing (like the Western Hemisphere) up until 1978 when they switched to the 9 kHz band plan used in Europe/Africa/Asia.
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New Zealand was also on the 10 kHz system. I'd have to dig out my old World Radio Handbooks, but I think the Phillipines used 10 kHz separations as, up until WW II, their stations were licensed by the FCC.
 
I forwarded the original post from @Huff to my younger brother for his comment. (He is also blind, lives and works down under, and has managed to gain citizenship there.) I have quoted his response below:

"Vision Australia is a not-for-profit organisation. The radio service is funded through doners, some federal funding, corporate sponsors, and many volunteers. I would guess that they lost volunteers in those specific markets."

For the record, he doesn't read this Board regularly and does not know of the death knell of AM radio in most places, including Australia.
 
Vision Australia Radio is what we call a Community Radio station, but in US terms, it's a Public Access station.

Community Radio stations are then divided by licence niches, such as "General" (serving the local community, with variety in programming), "Educational", Religious (who tend to be non-profit, but almost non existant on public access), Ethnic (languages other than English) and Speciality - such as reading for the blind, LGBTIQ+ and even a Sports focused community station (in Fremantle).
 
davideduardo said:
I'd have to dig out my old World Radio Handbooks, but I think the Phillipines used 10 kHz separations as, up until WW II, their stations were licensed by the FCC.
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You are correct about The Philippines. I recall the 1000kw VOA mediumwave station at Poro that beamed into Vietnam was on 1140 kHz, and was later moved to 1143. The Philippines adopted the 9 kHz plan at the same time as Australia and New Zealand, IIRC.
 


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