Radio in Australia

STATIONS

the federal government power over "postal, telegraphic, telephonic, and other

like services".
1905: Wireless Telegraphy Act placed broadcasting in the control of the Australian Government.
1906: first official telegraph transmission between Queenscliff and Devonport, Tasmania.

Edward Hope Kirkby, his workers and Father Archibald Shaw.
1912: The

first Coastal wireless station opened in Melbourne.
1919: The first radio "broadcast" in Australia was organised by George Fisk of AWA on 19 August.



* AWA – Amalgamated Wireless Australasia Ltd

first broadcast licence (2CM in Sydney) issued to Charles MacLurcan

in December.
1923: 2SB in Sydney is the 2nd official station licensed on 23 November.
1924: The Government introduces a two-tiered licence system in July.
1925: Number of licences issued reaches 80,000.

the Australian Broadcasting Commission Act. Class A: 12 stations. Class

B: 43 stations.
1935: The Sydney studios of the ABC installs a disc recorder, enabling the recording of programs to occur for the first time.
1948: The regulatory body, the Australian Broadcasting Control Board, is created.
1967: Talkback radio began on 6PR in Perth.

radio station.
1972: 5UV in Adelaide becomes the first public radio

station on air.
1974: 2MBS Sydney commences broadcasting as the first full-time FM station, playing classical music 24 hours a day.
1975: Multi-cultural radio is launched with the formation of 2EA Sydney and 3EA Melbourne.

air on 5UV in Adelaide.
1998: NetFM broadcasts Australia's first Internet

radio transmission.
2009: Digital radio officially launches in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
2011: Aussie.fm launches its free online radio portal dedicated to Australian radio.

Australian broadcasting station by Charles MacLurcan.
In 1921, 2CM became

the 1st Australian station to regularly broadcast music and talk.
First licensed in 1911 as a Morse code station with the call sign XDM.
He was probably the only Australian amateur allowed to operate during World War I.
Maclurcan received over 2,000 letters from listeners who had heard his initial transmissions.
2CM was the 1st station to publish a program guide.
Each day’s broadcasting ended with the invocation: don’t forget to wind up the clock and put out the cat.
Callsign 2CM is listed by the Federal Government as “Never to be Reissued”, in recognition of the pioneering achievements of Charles MacLurcan.

operating in Australia.
* MRR owns and operates the largest

commercial radio network in Australia, with 87 commercial radio stations in 45 licence areas in Queensland, NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, SA and WA.