2MBS Fine Music Sydney (ACMA callsign: 2MBS) is a Sydney music

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

operated by the Music Broadcasting Society of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Co-Operative Limited. Launched on 15 December 1974, it is Australia's first fully licensed FM radio station and it has since reached over 630,000 listeners.

Format

Approximately 80 percent of 2MBS Fine Music Sydney's on-air music content is from the western classical and related traditions which include baroque music,

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

, contemporary classical music and chamber music. The remainder is made up of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

, blues, operetta, piano music,

film soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as ...

sacred music Religious music (also sacred music) is a type of music that is performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. It may overlap with ritual music, which is music, sacred or not, performed or composed for or as ritual. Relig ...

ethnic music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

, ambient music, and non-mainstream and experimental contemporary music.

Background

The station broadcasts from studios located at Chandos Street,

St Leonards St Leonards may refer to: Places Australia *St Leonards, New South Wales **St Leonards railway station *St Leonards, Tasmania, suburb of Launceston *St Leonards, Victoria Canada *St. Leonard's, Newfoundland and Labrador New Zealand * St L ...

, to the greater Sydney region at a frequency of 102.5 MHz from a 50 kilowatt (ERP) transmitter located atop

Governor Phillip Tower The Governor Phillip Tower, the Governor Macquarie Tower, and the Museum of Sydney are the main elements of a large development in the central business district of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Completed in 1994, the property development ...

, in Sydney's central business district. Its operations are conducted by volunteers and a small number of paid staff. Operational funding is principally derived from corporate sponsorship, arts partnerships, philanthropic donations, listener subscriptions, and the secondhand Book and CD Fairs held around the Sydney area. In February 2020, the station rebranded from Fine Music 102.5 to Fine Music Sydney.

Programming

One of the station's most popular programmes for several decades was ''Evensong'', a weekly programme of English

in the Anglican tradition. Its regular presenter Mrs. Ann Ramsay died at the age of 91 on 1 April 2006. ''Evensong'' has been replaced by another popular Sunday program, ''Hosanna''. Popular non-classical programmes broadcast by the station include the blues show ''Stormy Monday'', which has aired on Monday evenings for three decades, and for many years was rebroadcast nationally by the

Community Broadcasting Association of Australia The Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) is the peak body and the national representative organisation for community radio and television stations in Australia. The CBAA provide leadership, advocacy and support for members to ac ...

(CBAA) satellite service. '' Ultima Thule'', the station's Sunday evening ambient music programme has been on air for nearly twenty years, and in 2005 became the first programme to be

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

on Australian

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting. Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popula ...

. Fine Music Sydney is a member of the Australian Fine Music network which is a loose affiliation with a number of similar independently owned and operated stations in other parts of Australia, including 3MBS FM

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 ...

, 4MBS FM

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

, 5MBS FM

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, and

ArtSound FM ArtSound FM (callsign 1ART) is a community radio station broadcasting to Canberra from studios in the suburb of Manuka. Its format is fine music and arts programming. ArtSound was established in the early 1980s under the name Canberra Stereo ...

Canberra.

Schedule

Jazz

Fine Music has over 15 programs per week that centre on jazz music (from its beginnings in the early 1900s right up to present) and it is Sydney's chief radio station that would primarily feature jazz music.About jazz
Fine Music Sydney Jazz music is aired every day on 12pm and 7pm (10pm on Sundays and as well as on Mondays).A Week of Fine Jazz on Fine Music Sydney
Fine Music Sydney.com The schedule of Fine Music's jazz program is listed below: *On Mondays,

swing jazz Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. The name derived from its emphasis on the off-beat, or nominally weaker beat. Swing bands ...

from the 1920s and 1930s are featured at 12pm, and

hard bop Hard bop is a subgenre of jazz that is an extension of bebop (or "bop") music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz that incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospe ...

at 7pm. *On Tuesdays,

Dixieland Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ...

(New Orleans Jazz) is broadcast and as well as smooth small group jazz from the 1950s to present. *An Wednesdays at 12pm, the station plays contemporary

, usually having ethnic or Australian roots, with

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the 19 ...

at 7pm. *A fusion of

Jazz pop Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describes a ...

and rock jazz is broadcast on Thursdays. *Fridays feature jazz music specifically from Sydney and the program would feature guest interviews. *Saturdays feature modern style, urban jazz that have a lounge music feel to them. *At noon on Sundays, the station broadcasts

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott J ...

and jazz from the first 30 years of the 20th century.

Other genres

*Classical world music is featured on Saturdays from 10am to 11:30am. *Oldies from the 1920s to 1950s are presented every 2nd and 4th Saturdays from 1pm to 2pm. *Operetta and

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is ...

are broadcast on Saturdays from 2:30pm to 5pm. *Film music is aired Saturdays between 6 and 7pm and also from 5pm-6pm. *Sacred music is broadcast on Sundays from 9am to 10am. *Contemporary classical music is aired Sundays from 8:30pm to midnight. * Opera music is aired on Wednesdays at 8pm. *Ambient and

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

music from across the world is featured on Thursdays from 10:30pm until midnight.

References

External links

*
Fine Music Contemporary Music CollectiveFine Music Ultima Thule, Ambient and eltro acoustic music
{{Coord, 33.822312, S, 151.19879, E, display=title Community radio stations in Australia Radio stations in Sydney Radio stations established in 1974 Classical music radio stations in Australia Jazz radio stations Easy listening radio stations in Australia Blues radio stations Experimental radio World music radio stations