Wodonga TAFE Radio was an Australian radio station 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 ...

. First broadcast in November 2005, it broadcast a

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

college radio format from the Wodonga Institute of TAFE to the surrounding

Albury Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – the ...

Wodonga Wodonga ( Waywurru: ''Wordonga'') is a city on the Victorian side of the border with New South Wales, north-east of Melbourne, Australia. It is located wholly within the boundaries of the City of Wodonga LGA. Its population is approximately ...

area. Complementing the institute's Diploma in Broadcasting, the station was staffed entirely by students undertaking the course. As of 2008, the station has fallen silent.

History

Wodonga TAFE first offered as pilot course in Broadcasting in 1998 through the Open Learning scheme, becoming fully accredited in April 2000. In October 2003, Wodonga TAFE applied to the

Australian Broadcasting Authority The Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) was an Australian government agency whose main roles were to regulate broadcasting, radiocommunications and telecommunications. The Authority took over the functions of the Australian Broadcasting Trib ...

(ABA) for a broadcasting license. The application was rejected one month later, as no licenses were available. However, in May 2004 Wodonga TAFE appealed the ABA decision, and in June a frequency became available. In September 2004, the institute was awarded a

narrowcast Narrowcasting is the dissemination of information (usually via Internet, radio, newspaper, or television) to a narrow audience, rather than to the broader public at-large. Related to niche marketing or target marketing, narrowcasting involves ai ...

licence, broadcasting on 87.8 FM with 1

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 ...

of power. Test broadcasts began in March 2005, with the station's first official broadcast commencing in May. 87.8fm Wodonga TAFE Radio was launched in November 2005 by the president of the TAFE board, in the absence of then-Victorian Minister for Education,

Lynne Kosky Lynne Janice Kosky (2 September 1958 – 4 December 2014) was an Australian politician and senior minister in the Government of Victoria. She represented the electoral district of Altona in the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the Labor Part ...

, whose visit to Wodonga was cancelled at the last minute due to a special cabinet meeting. The station's college radio format largely consisted of

, with news and talk content from students undertaking the course - a format chosen after surveying students and staff at the adjoining campuses of Wodonga TAFE and

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria a ...

. Live broadcasts were largely constrained to Wednesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons for most of the TAFE year, with a full day of broadcasting during TAFE open days and a full week of programming in the second last week of November. Before August 2007, the station suffered some issues with signal strength due to another narrowcasting station setting up a transmitter covering the same frequency in Albury. As of August 2007, however, the station ceased transmission. By 2008, Wodonga TAFE Radio fell silent. At the time, the station was the only in the region to broadcast media commentator and author

Mike Carlton Michael James Carlton, (born 31 January 1946) is an Australian former media commentator, radio host, television journalist, author and newspaper columnist. He formerly co-hosted the daily breakfast program on Sydney radio station 2UE with Peter ...

's ''

Friday News Review Friday is the day of the week between Thursday and Saturday. In countries that adopt the traditional "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week. In countries adopting the ISO-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth day ...

'', a satirical look at the week's national news stories. Many students who completed the course at Wodonga TAFE have gone on to gain roles at major regional and metropolitan stations around Australia.

References

External links

Wodonga TAFE Radio Online

Wodonga Institute of TAFE
{{coord missing, Victoria (Australia) TAFE Victoria Student radio stations in Australia Radio stations established in 2005 Radio stations disestablished in 2008 Radio stations in Victoria Defunct radio stations in Australia Wodonga