ABC Radio Melbourne (official

callsign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

: 3LO) is an

ABC Local Radio ABC Local Radio is a network of publicly owned radio stations in Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ABC Local Radio stations broadcast across the continent using terrestrial transmitters and satellites. Its programm ...

station in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia. It began transmission on 13 October 1924, and was Melbourne's second licensed radio station after 3AR. Most Local Radio stations in Victoria simulcast ABC Radio Melbourne's programming when not airing local shows for their areas.

History

The station was initially owned by the Broadcasting Company of Australia, owned by J. & N. Tait (theatrical entrepreneurs),

Buckley & Nunn Buckley & Nunn (also known as Buckley's) was a department store in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It first opened its doors in 1851 as a drapery store and, in its heyday, competed creditably as a department store with Myer (1900). It occupied ...

(a department store) and

The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd The Herald and Weekly Times Pty Ltd (HWT) is a newspaper publishing company based in Melbourne, Australia. It is owned and operated by News Pty Ltd, which as News Ltd, purchased the HWT in 1987. Newspapers The HWT's newspaper interests date b ...

(a newspaper company). It was named after '' 2LO'' in England, where the ''LO'' probably stood for London. However, many radio historians believe the following alternative reason for the name: the first landline between the studio and transmitter did not work properly and, therefore, a second line was put into use, and someone with a sense of humour named the station 2LO, standing for ''Second Line Out''. The station began transmission with an outside broadcast of a performance of 'La Bohème' featuring Dame Nellie Melba, from His Majesty's Theatre. The station initially operated on longwave on 174 kHz (1720 metres) using 5 watts from a site in what is today

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...

(and was then considered Braybrook). In July 1925, it moved to the mediumwave 810 kHz. From 1927 to 1939, the shortwave service "Voice of Australia" broadcast 3LO material to the world. From 1928 the

Postmaster-General's Department The Postmaster-General's Department (PMG) was a department of the Australian federal government, established at Federation in 1901, whose responsibilities included the provision of postal and telegraphic services throughout Australia. It was ...

(PMG) was responsible for the technical side of all Australian A Class stations including 3LO. Also in 1928, the

Australian Broadcasting Company The Australian Broadcasting Company Pty. Ltd. was a company founded in Melbourne in 1924 with a capital of £A 100,000 by a consortium of entertainment interests, notably Farmer & Company, J. C. Williamson Limited and J. & N. Tait to fou ...

was given a licence to provide all programming on 3LO. The Australian Broadcasting Company was nationalised and became the

Australian Broadcasting Commission The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owned ...

in 1932. In 1938, transmission moved from Maidstone to Delahey (on a site then considered St Albans), where it remains today. The two Melbourne stations (3LO & 3AR) had a studio in Melbourne Place, a laneway off Russell Street near Little Collins Street, until the building of Broadcast House in

Lonsdale Street Lonsdale Street is a main street and thoroughfare in the city centre of Melbourne, Australia. It runs roughly east–west and was laid out in 1837 as one of Melbourne's original boundaries within the Hoddle Grid. The street extends from Sp ...

in 1945. The 3LO on-air studio at Broadcast House was studio 308, although for many years the news broadcasts came from Marland House in Bourke Street. The studios were transferred to the ABC's then new Southbank Centre in 1995. In its early days the station was involved in programs, such as ''Kindergarten of the Air'', giving children in regional areas greater social awareness and preparation for school. In early 2006, with the start of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games, the ABC set up what was known as "The G-Spot" at

Federation Square Federation Square (colloquially Fed Square) is a venue for arts, culture and public events on the edge of the Melbourne central business district. It covers an area of at the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Streets built above busy ra ...

– an outside broadcast studio where members of the public could watch and participate in the broadcast. At the same time, ABC Radio Melbourne became the second Local Radio station to introduce streaming broadcasts in addition to its regular radio broadcast, subject to sporting rights and legal concerns.

Present

ABC Radio Melbourne provides a mix of local and national news,

talkback Talkback or talk back may refer to: * ''Talkback'' (album), a 1983 album by the Canadian band the Spoons * ''Talk Back'' (Kembe X album), 2016 *Talkback, an alternate name for Marvel Comics superhero Chase Stein * Talkback (recording), an audio ...

, current affairs and sports programming. During part of the day it is also identified as ''ABC Radio Melbourne and ABC Victoria'', as much of its content is also heard on other stations in the

network in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. It is also available through online streaming. ABC Radio Melbourne's 774 kHz

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...

is located in Delahey, 20 km north-west of Melbourne's central business district. The station broadcasts at a power of 50,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s, covering the majority of Victoria, and one of two transmitters using the callsign 3LO, the other being at Marengo on 89.5 MHz with an EIRP of about 327 watts serving the Apollo Bay area. ABC Radio Melbourne sometimes broadcasts live from events such as the Gardening Australia Expo, the

Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the second-largest international comedy festival in the world. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typicall ...

, the C31 Melbourne Antenna Awards, the

Royal Melbourne Show The Melbourne Royal Show is an agricultural show held at Melbourne Showgrounds every September. It is organised by the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria and has been running since 1848. Each year Melbourne Royal Show attracts attendances of ...

and the

Royal Geelong Show The Royal Geelong Show is an annual event held at the Geelong Showgrounds. Established in 1855, it is principally an agricultural event which focuses on the primary industries of Victoria, and rural lifestyle of many Victorians with events such a ...

. The station is housed in the ABC Southbank Centre, which has four levels incorporating ABC Local Radio, ABC Radio National,

ABC Classic FM ABC Classic, formerly ABC-FM (also ABC Fine Music), and then ABC Classic FM, is an Australian classical music radio station available in Australia and internationally. Its website features classical music news, features and listening guides. ...

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...

, ABC Dig Music,

Radio Australia ABC Radio Australia, also known as Radio Australia, is the international broadcasting and online service operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Australia's public broadcaster. Most programming is in English, with some in Tok ...

, Australia Network,

ABC News and Current Affairs ABC News, or ABC News and Current Affairs, is a public news service produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Broadcasting within Australia and the rest of the world, the service covers both local and world affairs. The division of ...

and ABC TV. ABC Radio Melbourne is an official Emergency Services Broadcaster, a role it notably filled during the

Black Saturday bushfires The Black Saturday bushfires were a series of bushfires that either ignited or were already burning across the Australian state of Victoria on and around Saturday, 7 February 2009, and were among Australia's all-time worst bushfire disasters. T ...

and recovery in 2009.

Former presenters

* Mary Adams * Doug Aiton * Elizabeth Bond *

Clare Bowditch Clare Bowditch (born 1975) is an Australian musician, actress, radio presenter and business entrepreneur. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2006, Bowditch won the ARIA Award for Best Female Artist and was nominated for a Logie Award for her work on ...

Alan Brough Alan Brough (; born 1967) is a New Zealand actor, television and radio host and comedian based in Australia. Career Early life Brough worked as an actor in Wellington and Auckland, mainly in live theatre. He also appeared in a series of butter c ...

Lindy Burns Lindy Burns is an Australian radio presenter. Career Burns started in radio at 1233 ABC Newcastle co-presenting the Saturday morning sports program "All in the Game" she has been a sports commentator with Triple J and presenting the statewide ...

* Peter Clarke * Peter Evans *

Jon Faine Jonathan Eric Faine (born 21 September 1956) is an Australian former radio presenter who hosted the morning program on ABC Radio Melbourne in Melbourne. Faine is recognised as a prominent and influential member of the Australian Jewish communi ...

Libbi Gorr Lisbeth Joanne "Libbi" Gorr (born 24 March 1965) is an Australian broadcaster working in both TV and radio. Gorr is also an author, voice artist, writer and performer. She first came to prominence with the satirical television character that sh ...

Derek Guille Derek Guille (born 1951) is an Australian radio presenter. He presented the ''Evenings'' program on 774 ABC Melbourne and ABC Victoria from 2003 to 2011. Career Before beginning his radio career, Guille worked for the Nine Network and Batman ...

* Lynne Haultain * Gael Jennings *

Ramona Koval Ramona Koval (born 1954, Melbourne) is an Australian broadcaster, writer and journalist. Her parents were Yiddish-speaking survivors of The Holocaust who arrived in Melbourne from Poland in 1950. Koval is known for her extended and in-depth in ...

* Terry Laidler *

Terry Lane Terry Lane (born 1939) is a retired Australian radio broadcaster and newspaper columnist based in Melbourne. Lane was born at Williamstown in South Australia and was educated at Gawler High School. After studying for the ministry at the Chu ...

Helen Razer Helen Razer is a Melbourne-born and Canberra-raised radio presenter and writer. She is the author of four non-fiction books and a columnist with the Australian version of ''The Big Issue'', Melbourne newspaper ''The Age'' and contributor to the m ...

* Tonya Roberts *

Michael Schildberger Michael Julius Schildberger (4 April 1938 – 2 June 2010) was an Australian journalist, radio and television presenter, and author. He is best known for hosting ''A Current Affair'' in the 1970s. Career Schildberger began his media career in 1 ...

* Mark Skurnik * Alan Stokes *

Richard Stubbs Richard Stubbs (born 4 November 1957) is an Australian radio and television presenter, writer and comedian. Career Stubbs was educated at Wesley College, Melbourne, where he was school captain. He then completed a Bachelor of Economics degree ...

* Red Symons * Kevin Arnett

References

External links

ABC Radio Melbourne website

ACMA 3LO Assignment

Peter Evans broadcasts from the 1970s {{DEFAULTSORT:ABC Radio Melbourne

Radio stations established in 1924 Radio stations in Melbourne

History

Present

Former presenters

See also

References

External links