Melbourne Jewish Radio (branded on air as Lion 96.1, later Lion 1674) was a timeshared radio station formerly broadcast on 1674
kHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that on ...
in the
AM narrowband from
Werribee South
Werribee is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham local government area. Werribee recorded a population of 50,027 at the 2021 census.
Werribee is ...
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 ...
's west. The station aired between 12noon Sundays and 12noon Fridays, with
Surf City Sound broadcasting on the same frequency during the
Shabbat
Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...
period. During 2010 and 2011, Lion FM held a Temporary Community Broadcasting Licence, and broadcast from the
Melbourne CBD
The Melbourne central business district (also known colloquially as simply "The City" or "The CBD") is the city centre and main urban area of the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, centred on the Hoddle Grid, the oldest part of the city lai ...
.
History
As a TCBL
Melbourne Jewish Radio was established in December 2008, with the goal of achieving a form of dedicated full-time broadcast media for the Jewish community. Previously, the
Melbourne Jewish community had little representation in the media, aside from
Hebrew language
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
programmes on
3ZZZ
3ZZZ (''3 Triple Zed'') is an ethnic community radio station in Melbourne, Victoria that currently broadcasts programs in over 70 languages on 92.3 MHz FM and is licensed to Mount Dandenong.
3ZZZ is Australia's largest community multilingual r ...
and
SBS Radio
SBS Radio is an Australian radio network owned by the Special Broadcasting Service directed towards newly arrived immigrants in Australia. SBS Radio originally began as two stations based in Melbourne and Sydney, set up to provide pre-recorded ...
. In June 2010, broadcasting regulator
Australian Communications and Media Authority
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is an Australian government statutory authority within the Communications portfolio. ACMA was formed on 1 July 2005 with the merger of the Australian Broadcasting Authority and the Austr ...
granted Melbourne Jewish Radio, Inc. a 12-month TCBL on 96.1 FM – a frequency formerly used for special events
– with reduced power towards
Geelong
Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...
due to potential co-channel interference from
96three FM.
In June 2011, the spectrum was revoked, forcing Lion FM to close. In a media release, ACMA stated they "decided not to make additional radiofrequency spectrum in the Melbourne City RA1 licence area available to temporary community broadcasting licensees."
During
Senate Estimates
The committees of the Australian Senate are committees of Senators, established by the Australian Senate, for purposes determined by that body. Senate committees are part of the operation of the Australian parliament, and have for some decade ...
on 18 October 2016
Eric Abetz
Eric Abetz (born 25 January 1958) is a former Australian politician who was a Senator for Tasmania from 1994 to 2022, representing the Liberal Party. He was the Minister for Employment and the Leader of the Government in the Senate in the Abbo ...
said to ACMA Deputy Chair Richard Bean he was advised "Lion FM stopped using 96.1 for broadcasting" and went on to query Richard Bean about why the frequency had not been made available subsequently.
As a Narrowband station
In December 2011, Lion FM began broadcasting on 1674 AM, as a timeshared service with
Surf City Sound. Both services closed in March 2015.
References
{{Melbourne AM
Defunct radio stations in Australia
Jewish radio
Jews and Judaism in Melbourne
Radio stations in Melbourne
Radio stations established in 2010
Radio stations disestablished in 2011
Radio stations established in 2011
Radio stations disestablished in 2015
Religious radio stations in Australia
Ethnic radio stations in Australia