2MCE FM Bathurst
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2MCE FM Bathurst is a local community radio station, located on the campus of Charles Sturt University in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It broadcasts to the communities of Bathurst and Orange and their surrounds.
2MCE FM is run by CSU's School of Communications in conjunction with the local community, and operates two frequencies:
- 92.3 megahertz in the Bathurst area (including Oberon), broadcasting from a transmitter atop Mount Panorama, with a power output of 1 kilowatt (1,000 watts)
- 94.7 megahertz in the Orange area, broadcasting from a transmitter atop Mount Canobolas, with a power output of 500 watts.
The station is Australia's oldest non-metropolitan licensed community radio station.
The "2" in the callsign is the New South Wales prefix for radio stations. The "MCE" in the callsign stands for the University's former name, Mitchell College of Advanced Education.
The station began full-time broadcasting in May 1976. Run by dedicated staff and members of the community, the early broadcasts came from a 170 watt transmitter and a bizarre aerial on top of the library.
A 1 kW transmitter was installed on Mount Panorama in 1977, and replaced in 1994. A translator service to Orange (with a separate transmitter on Mount Canobolas) came on-line in 1987.
In 1989 renovations increased the number of studios from one small studio to three somewhat larger work areas, located on the university's Bathurst campus. The studios are also used by students for their course work, and feature broadcast-standard tools and equipment.
The station includes two separate studios:
- A studio used by the Student Broadcasting Society (known by the name "Studio 4", the brand used by student programming since 1981)
- Separate studios that house a news studio run by the School of Communications. From here, a nationally networked news service for community stations, the National Radio News is produced.
2MCE-FM also owns a caravan equipped with facilities for outside broadcasting, purchased from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1992.
The station's schedule is mostly made up of community programming, including Studio 4 programs (which are broadcast between the hours of 3.30pm and 5pm weekdays, 8pm to 10pm Wednesdays, and 10pm and 2am Sundays through Fridays) and BBC World Service programs overnight.
2MCE also broadcasts a local news service with bulletins airing weekdays at 8:30am, 9:30am, 12 noon and 3:30pm. The local news bulletins are put together by second-year Journalism students studying at Charles Sturt University's Bathurst campus. Rodney Bloomfield is the supervisor of the local news room and students rotate throughout the week, taking turns in reporting main news items, sport as well as reading the bulletins.
Simon Crump presents the weekly Rural News bulletin.
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[edit] Shows
2MCE offers a wide variety of shows which cater for people of all ages and with many different tastes. Talking Newspaper is a prime example of Senior citizen Seniority, while Cowboys and Outlaws has all the favourite country songs. White Noise caters for lovers of alternate and metal music. 2MCE has a breakfast show each morning hosted by differing people, depending on the day and time of year. While all of these shows make the station a great one on its own, the afternoon show (Beat Cafe') really reaches the audiences.
[edit] Beat Cafe'
Beat Cafe' is the afternoon timeslot show for everyone. It runs from 3:30 to 5:30 each working afternoon. It features the newest songs, the best retro songs and spans all the different music genres. This show is by far the most popular, though not solely due to great programming, for 2MCE has in its midst two champions of radio hosting.
[edit] Sam and Dan
Sam and Dan, who currently occupy the Wednesday timeslot, have revolutionised the art of radio entertainment. Their uncanny ability to make any topic interesting and relevant to everyday people is only surpassed in excellence by the duo's handsome looks. While some are quick to criticise the pair, they merely shrug off these empty allegations. Each of the two bring their own parts to the show, Sam with his quick wit and famous ability to hold a conversation he knows nothing about and Dan, with his quirky randomness and the amazing talent of seeing the brighter often funnier side of anything. 2MCE realise the greatness of the pair and will willingly brag to others of their luck in finding the two. Sam was heard to quote "Actually, our show isn't pre-prepared. Sometimes you can tell, but that's what makes the show interesting and edgy. We just go [on air] and do what we do, the way we do it, and do it well." and 2MCE stand by this. Dan also added "I was the one who got the two of us into the show, Sam just tagged along. I did the six weeks of necessary training but Sam just did a quick one day run down of the control panel." The two are a true testament to our nations fine young people and their continual creativity. Sam and Dan are bettering the community with their show, promoting 100%, true blue, fair dinkum road safety. Sam has a wide and varied knowledge of music, and a great number of other things which don't apply to a radio show like math. Dan knows his stuff when it comes to general knowledge, excepting a few of the basic knowledges of people Dan has street smarts. If you live in the Bathurst region but haven't yet tapped into Sam and Dan, do so. You won't regret it.
[edit] Personal Note to Everyone from the Two
"We fully endorse the listening to of our show, whether it be live, taped, podcasted or some fantastic new format. Sam wishes the public many happy blessing. Dan sends his love. So does Sam though. They both love everyone, but aren't gay. Not that there's anything wrong with that. They just don't swing that way. Happy salutations campers. Keep the music going strong."
[edit] Guest Stars
Beat Cafe' has become so well known that A list personalities often wish to guest host the program with Sam & Dan. These stars bring interesting and unique features to the show. If you are lucky and are listening to the show when some guest hosts are in the studio you may just catch a rare, yet not unheard of, session of the talents singing in harmony to some of their favourite songs. Guest stars have included, the amazing singer Domonic Bourke, the Top Gun fan Daniel Bunyan, the tall one Chris McRae and the Scout Braedon Smith.
[edit] The Nick Pearson Show Featuring Nick Pearson
The Nick Pearson Show Featuring Nick Pearson began broadcasting in early 2005, and is produced and presented by Charles Sturt University journalism student Nick Pearson. For 2005, the show was on Fridays between 10pm and midnight. In 2006, The Nick Pearson Show Featuring Nick Pearson was moved to Wednesday nights at the same time.
