19 July 2010
ACMA proposes new radio services for the Bunbury region of Western Australia
The Australian Communications and Media Authority is seeking public comment on proposed changes to radio services in the Bunbury and Busselton areas of Western Australia.
The ACMA is proposing to make channel capacity available for:
- the introduction of the ABC radio service NewsRadio at Busselton;
- infill translators at Augusta, Collie and Margaret River for the commercial radio broadcasting services 6TZ and 6BUN Bunbury;
- two new community radio broadcasting services at Augusta and Harvey (on FM 96.5 MHz and 97.1 MHz respectively); and
- a new high power open narrowcasting radio service at Collie (on 1593 kHz with a maximum transmitter power of 500 W).
The ACMA is also proposing to change the category of service of a planned (but unallocated) community radio broadcasting service at Bunbury to a high powered open narrowcasting service. The service is planned to operate on AM 855 kHz with a maximum transmitter power of 500 W.
The proposal to make a frequency available for the ABC NewsRadio service stems from a Commonwealth Government commitment to extend this ABC service to all transmission areas of Australia with a population of 10,000 or more.
‘ABC NewsRadio will be a welcome addition to the services currently provided in the Busselton area. When not providing coverage of the proceedings of Parliament, it provides a continuous news and information service, which is a great resource for any community,’ said ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman.
The ACMA has been unable to find any FM frequencies in the Busselton licence area for the proposed ABC NewsRadio service due to spectrum congestion. The ACMA has instead identified AM 1152 kHz as a frequency that would be able to provide the proposed service with a similar coverage area to comparable ABC services elsewhere. The ACMA therefore proposes to make the frequency 1152 kHz available at Busselton with a maximum transmitter power of 10 kilowatts for ABC NewsRadio.
The three FM infill translators for the Bunbury commercial radio services are proposed to operate on 101.5 MHz at Augusta and 96.7 MHz at Collie for 6BUN and on 100.3 MHz at Margaret River for 6TZ.
The proposed changes are contained in the draft variations to the Bunbury radio licence area plan and accompanying explanatory paper.
The documents are available on the ACMA’s website, or by calling 1300 850 115.
More information on the ACMA’s broadcast planning process and licence area plans can be found at the ACMA website.
The closing date for comments on the proposals is Friday 13 August 2010.
For more information or to arrange an interview please contact: Donald Robertson, Media Manager, on (02) 9334 7980, 0418 86 1766 or media@acma.gov.au.
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The ACMA is Australia’s regulator for broadcasting, the internet, radiocommunications and telecommunications. The ACMA’s strategic intent is to make communications and media work in Australia’s public interest. For more information: www.acma.gov.au.
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