Decision puts a smile on their dial
The Age
Saturday August 29, 2009
IN RADIO, your frequency is your home. So when Geelong community station The Pulse was told it would be evicted from its 94.7 spot on the FM dial to make way for a new ABC station, it wasn't going to give up without a fight.And this week, following a nine-month grassroots campaign, it prevailed. The Australian Communications and Media Authority, the government body that looks after spectrum allocation, declared it could stay where it was, forcing the ABC to find somewhere else on the dial for its NewsRadio service."We are only a community radio station with small resources so we feel that we've fought way above our weight," said station program manager Gary Dalton, one of three paid staff at the station that attracts about 80 volunteers. "For us and all the people in Geelong who have supported us, it's a real win for people power."The dispute arose after the ABC announced plans to start broadcasting its 24-hour news service into Geelong. With The Pulse only on a temporary community licence, the regulator declared its intention to shift it to the vacant 91.9 frequency, offering 94.7 to the ABC.But as well as forcing The Pulse on to its third frequency in eight years €” Nova's launch in Melbourne pushed its forerunner off 100.3 €” the move would have cut access to an estimated 300,000 potential listeners from areas including the Otways and Ballarat who cannot pick up the weaker 91.9 signal.The plan sparked a campaign that drew more than 130 objections and support from local institutions including Deakin University and local politicians.
© 2009 The Age
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