Broadcasting in Australia

The History of broadcasting in Australia has been shaped for over a century by the problem of communication across long distances, coupled with a strong base in a wealthy society with a deep taste for aural communications.

Australia developed its own system, through its own engineers, manufacturers, retailers, newspapers, entertainment services, and news agencies. The government set up the first radio system, and business interests marginalized the hobbyists and amateurs.

The Labor Party was especially interested in radio because it allowed them to bypass the newspapers, which were mostly controlled by the opposition. Both parties agreed on the need for a national system, and in 1932 set up the Australian Broadcasting Commission, as a government agency that was largely separate from political interference. The first commercial broadcasters, originally known as "B" class stations, were on the air as early as 1925. The number of stations (commercial and national) remained relatively dormant throughout World War II and in the post-war era.

During the formative years, Australian radio hams (Amateur radio operator) can be traced to the early 1900s. The 1905 ''Wireless Telegraphy Act'' whilst acknowledging the existence of wireless telgraphy, brought all broadcasting matters in Australia under the control of the Federal Government. In 1906, the first official Morse code transmission in Australia was by the Marconi Company between Queenscliff, Victoria and Devonport, Tasmania.

The first broadcast of music (in Australia) was made during a demonstration on 13 August 1919 by Ernest Fisk of Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia). A number of amateurs commenced broadcasting music in 1920 and 1921. Many other amateurs soon followed.

2CM was run by Charles MacLuran who started the station in 1921 with regular Sunday evening broadcasts from the Wentworth Hotel, Sydney. 2CM is often regarded as Australia's first, regular, non-official station.

Although Australia's first officially recognised experimental broadcast was made in 1905, there are reliable reports in September 1897 (just two years after Guglielmo Marconi's original radio experiments) of demonstrations of wireless communication in Australia conducted by Professor William Henry Bragg of Adelaide University following experiments by Bragg, and at some stage in conjunction with G.W. Selby of Melbourne - wikipedia

It was not until November 1923 when the government finally gave its approval for a number of officially recognised medium wave stations.

All stations operated under a unique Sealed Set system under which each set was sealed to the frequency of one station. Part of the price of the set went to the government via the Postmaster-General's Department (PMG), with money also going to the broadcaster.

Apart from extremely limited advertising, this was the broadcasters' only source of income. From the outset problems with the system came to the fore. Many young people built their own sets, which could receive all the stations.

The sealed set system was devised by broadcasting pioneer Ernest Fisk of AWA – Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia).

As quickly as July 1924, the Sealed Set system was declared to be unsuccessful and it was replaced by a system of A Class and B Class stations. There were one or two A Class stations in each major market and these were paid for by a listener's licence fee imposed on all listeners-in. The five former sealed set stations became A Class stations, and they were soon joined by stations in other State capitals.

From 1929, all A Class stations received all their programs from the one source, the Australian Broadcasting Company which was made up of the following shareholders: Greater Union Theatres (Event Cinemas) (a movie theatre (movie theater) chain), Fuller's Theatres (Ben Fuller (producer)) (a live theatre (theatre) chain) and J. Albert & Sons (Albert Music) (music publishers and retailers).

A number of B Class stations were also licensed. These did not receive any government monies and were expected to derive their income from advertising, sponsorship, or other sources. Within a few years B Class stations were being referred to as "commercial stations".

Amateur broadcasters continued to operate in the long wave and short wave bands.

A national service, the Australian Broadcasting Commission (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), was formed in July 1932, when the Australian Broadcasting Company's contract expired.

The Corporation took over the assets of all A Class stations. It still exists as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The Australian Broadcasting Co changed its name to the Commonwealth Broadcasting Company (KIIS 106.5) and later the Australian Radio Network. It soon purchased Sydney commercial station 2UW (KIIS 106.5) and now has an Australia-wide network of commercial stations.

As with most countries, most Australian stations originally broadcast music interspersed with such things as talks, coverage of sporting events, church broadcasts, weather, news and time signals of various types. Virtually all stations also had programs of interest to women, and children's sessions. From the outset, A Class stations' peak-hour evening programs often consisted of live broadcasts from various theatres, i.e. dramas, operas, musicals, variety shows, vaudeville, etc. The first dramas especially written for radio were transmitted in the mid-1920s. By the 1930s, the ABC was transmitting a number of British programs sourced from the BBC, and commercial stations were receiving a number of US programs, particularly dramas. However, in the 1940s, war-time restrictions made it difficult to access overseas programs and, therefore, the amount of Australian dramatic material increased. As well as using original ideas and scripts, there were a number of local versions of overseas programs. Initially, much of the music broadcast in Australia was from live studio concerts. However, the amount of gramophone (gramophone record) (and piano roll) music soon increased dramatically, particularly on commercial stations.

In the late 1930s, the number of big production variety shows multiplied significantly, particularly on the two major commercial networks, Macquarie (Macquarie Radio Network) and Major (Macquarie Radio Network). After World War II the independent Colgate-Palmolive radio production unit was formed. It poached most major radio stars from the various stations. Until the 1950s, the popular image of the whole family seated around a set in the living room was the most accepted way of listening to radio. Therefore, most stations had to be all things to all people, and specialised programming was not really thought about at this stage (it did not come in until the late 1950s). Because of this, programming on most stations was pretty much the same.

As early as 1929, two Melbourne commercial radio stations, 3UZ and 3DB (KIIS 101.1) were conducting experimental mechanical television broadcasts – these were conducted in the early hours of the morning, after the stations had officially closed down. In 1934 Dr Val McDowall at amateur station 4CM Brisbane conducted experiments in electronic television.

Two of Australia's most unusual medium wave stations were mobile stations 2XT and 3YB. They both operated in eras prior to the universal establishment of rural radio stations. 2XT was designed and operated by AWA within the State of New South Wales, from a NSW Railways (New South Wales Government Railways) train, between November 1925 and December 1927. 2XT, which stood for ''experimental train'', visited over 100 rural centres. Engineers would set up a transmitting aerial and the station would then begin broadcasting. This led to the further sales of AWA products. 3YB provided a similar service in rural Victoria (Victoria (Australia)) between October 1931 and November 1935. Initially, the station operated from a Ford (Ford Motor Company) car and a Ford truck, but from 17 October 1932 they operated from a converted 1899 former Royal Train carriage. Whilst the engineers were setting up the station's 50-watt transmitter in the town being visited, salesmen would sign up advertisers for the fortnight that 3YB would broadcast from that region. The station was on the air from 6.00 and 10.00 pm daily, and its 1,000-record library was divided into set four-hour programs, one for each of 14 days. In other words, the music broadcast from each town was identical. The station was operated by Vic Dinenny, but named after announcer Jack '''Y'''oung from '''B'''allarat. On 18 January 1936, Dinenny set up 3YB Warnambool, followed on 18 May 1937 by 3UL (3GG) Warragul.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="ReferenceD"/>

The merchant vessel MV Kanimbla (HMAS Kanimbla (C78)) is believed to be the world's only ship built with an inbuilt broadcasting station. The Kanimlba was constructed in Northern Ireland in 1936 and was primarily designed for McIlwraith McEachern Limited to ply passengers between Cairns, Queensland and Fremantle, Western Australia. The broadcasting station was constructed and operated by AWA (Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia)) and was initially given the ham radio (Amateur radio) callsign VK9MI but was later 9MI. (At this time, the "9" in the callsign was aberrationary [see "Call Signs, above].) The station made an experimental broadcast before leaving Northern Ireland, and a number of such broadcasts at sea, on the way to Australia. 9MI's first official broadcast in April 1939 was made from the Great Australian Bight.<ref name="ReferenceD"/> The station broadcast on short wave, usually a couple of times per week, but many of its programs were relayed to commercial medium wave stations that were also owned by AWA. The 9MI manager and announcer (and probably the only member of staff) was Eileen Foley. 9MI ceased broadcasting at the commencement of World War II in September 1939. The Kanimbla was commissioned as a Royal Navy (later Royal Australian Navy) vessel with the name HMS/HMAS Kanimbla. It had an extremely prominent and successful war-time career.