Stereo 974

Stereo 974 (call sign: 3WRB) is an English language pop and Languages Other Than English (LOTE) station in western Melbourne, Australia. It broadcasts on 97.4 MHz. It commenced broadcasting in the mid-1980s.

History

The radio station commenced transmissions under the original callsign "3WRB", with an original coverage area including the present Melbourne West RA1, Werribee RA1 and Melton RA1 sub-metropolitan licence areas.

A split in management in the early 1990s saw the station temporarily change its on-air identity to "B-97", and feature mainly dance / top40 music. Intervention by the then Australian Broadcasting Authority set conditions for the continuation of the licence, including a restructure of management and programming.

Following on from there, the radio station was under the 3WRB banner once again. After many years of continued stability, the radio station publicly relaunched with a music / ethnic focus under the brand name "Stereo 974".

Programming

Daytime programmes from 08:00 to 18:00 (8 in the morning to 6 in the evening) Monday to Friday are English language pop. Breakfast, weeknights and weekends feature non-English programming, mainly in Vietnamese.

3WRB presents over 40 hours of non-English programmes per week, for which it received grants from the Federal Government (via the Community Broadcasting Foundation) of approximately $2000 per annum per averaged weekly hour. The most recent grant round saw the station receive just under $40,000 for the six months to 30 June 2009 for ethnic programmes alone.^[1]

The station features a popular overnight programme, Truckstop, from midnight until 06:00 in the morning every day of the week, with extended country music programming until 08:00 on Saturdays and 10:00 in the morning on Sundays. The programme includes all the best from classic to new country, rockabilly and trucking music. The programme is computer playlist generated, with occasional recorded voiceovers from station General Manager and Truckstop host, Rod Boyd.^[2]

Stereo 974 is also extremely proud to present the world's longest running Beatles radio programme Let It Be Beatles each Monday night 22:00 - 24:00 (ten in the late evening until midnite). Let It Be Beatles has been on air continuously every week since September 1992, presenting rare recordings, news, Fab chat and lots of fun with regular hosts Graeme Dickenson, Gary Lally and Greg Armstrong.

Rise FM

One of the most memorable shows on 3WRB was Rise FM, started in June, 1993, and co-founded by Melbourne-based DJs Evan Spencer and Nathan George. It was a two-hour radio show that played electronic music from the underground rave and club scenes, as well as briefly discussing raves and aspects of the rave / techno music culture and upcoming events. It ran in this format from 22:00 hrs. (10 in the evening) on Thursday nights until the mid-1990s and included a range of regular co-hosts who would drop in and say hello. It also featured 45-minute live mixing sets from local and international DJs that were visiting Australia at the time. A lot of sexual and drug-related innuendo was included in the discussions between music which was part of its wide appeal to its Melbourne audience. Rise FM later moved to Kiss 90 FM as an overnight show retaining Evan but also featuring DJ Hellraiser regularly.

Coverage area

ACMA Coverage Area Map

References