TUNE! FM

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Current TUNE! FM logo

One of Australia's oldest community radio stations, TUNE! FM is based at the University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales and broadcasts on 106.9 MHz. The station styles itself as Armidale's Only Youth Station and is aimed at an audience of ages 13 to 30. The station is staffed by around 70 volunteers, many UNE students but also TAFE and school students.

TUNE! FM broadcasts on the internet using web-streaming and currently transmits from a 10 watt FM transmitter on a narrowband licence. The antenna is situated on the roof of the C.B. Newling Building in Mossman Street, Armidale. Two studios, Studio 1 (on-air) and Studio 2 (production), are located in the Services UNE offices on campus. As at December 2006, the station is broadcasting at 5 watts on a temporary transmitter after strong wind and possible lightning damage^[1] to the antenna. Both the exciter and broadcast antenna are to be replaced in January 2007.

Edward Campbell is the current manager of the station (October 2004 - present).

[edit] History

1986 Logo

TUNE! FM's has a colourful history of broadcasting, both legally and illegally. Its inception dates back to 1968 when a group of five students called the UNE Radio Committee presented a prerecorded, half hour radio show each week on Armidale's local commercial station, 2AD. With the support of this group, Professor Neville Fletcher of the UNE Physics Department approached the then Postmaster-General's Department and presented the idea of establishing a service similar to those emerging on university campuses in the United States. After considering this novel idea, the Postmaster-General wrote on 14 January 1969 to say a licence would be issued. The licence allowed the station to operate a 'closed-loop' system with micro-transmitters located in each of the eight residential colleges on campus.

After overcoming technical and operational hurdles, Radio UNE began test transmissions on 1630 kHz on the AM band in March, 1970. The station was officially opened at 7pm on 27 April that year, with a pre-recorded message from the Vice Chancellor, Professor Zelman Cowen who oversaw the license application. Richard "Swinging Dick" Mutton, Station Manager, introduced the first music track, Nilsson's Everybody's Talking (TUNE! FM, 2005).

Interference problems and frustration with the low powered transmission system led the station to experiment, sometimes illegally, with alternative transmission methods. At times this led to the station being heard as far away as Uralla, Guyra and Thalgarrah. Ultimately the station was granted a licence on the FM band in 1986 (New Englander, 1986) and began transmission as 2UNE-FM and later as TUNE! FM.

This was a Narrowcast licence, which limited them by transmission power to only 10 Watts. This limitation was appealed during the late 90's, but the appeal was rejected by the then ABA.

Whilst being a Narrowcast station, TUNE! FM is an associate member of the CBAA, and voluntarily subscribes to the Community Broadcasters Code of Practice.

Until 2006 the station was funded by the UNE Students' Association through compulsory student union fees. The administration of the station was transferred to Services UNE Ltd in February 2006 prior to a Special General Meeting of the Students' Association that wound up that association. On 11 July 2006 the university announced a funding package for Services UNE Ltd and Sport UNE to ensure that a variety of non-academic services, including TUNE! FM, could be maintained on campus. [1][2]

[edit] External links

1981 Logo

TUNE! FM website with live audio streaming.
UNE News and Events article about TUNE! FM's 35th anniversary celebrations.
VSU concerns for community radio CBOnline article about the potential impact of VSU on community radio stations including TUNE! FM
Community radio stations under threat Andrew Devenish Meares speaking to national community radio current affairs program The Wire about the impact of VSU on TUNE! FM (scroll to "Community Radio Stations under threat" to hear the interview)