3MBS was the first FM (frequency modulation)

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 radio ...

Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in ...

, and began transmitting to

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 metro ...

and surrounding areas on 1 July 1975. Since then it has operated successfully as a non-profit community-based organisation broadcasting classical and jazz music. 3MBS also led the way for the introduction of

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 popu ...

in Australia back in 1968. It is a part of the national Australian Fine Music Network.

History

The increasing popularity of

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 a ...

through the late '50s and '60s led to a reduction in the amount of

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" al ...

played on the ABC and commercial radio stations in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. Up until the early 1950s most radio stations employed

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

s to play music which included classical music. By the 1960s, only the ABC supported its own orchestra. But even the ABC had dramatically reduced the amount of classical music on air. A music fan and

radio engineer Broadcast engineering is the field of electrical engineering, and now to some extent computer engineering and information technology, which deals with radio and television broadcasting. Audio engineering and RF engineering are also essential par ...

, Brian Cabena, was unhappy about being unable to listen to the music he liked on the radio - and he did something about it. After much unsuccessful lobbying of radio stations, he turned his attention to the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

. He argued that if the existing stations were not willing to program for classical music fans, the government should license new stations that would. In 1968, Cabena wrote a letter to ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' calling a meeting of anyone interested in pursuing the idea of a listener-run classical music radio station. 200 people turned up and the Music Broadcasting Society (MBS) of Victoria was born. The group spent years lobbying the government for what they called "listener controlled" radio. The government rejected their approaches. The initial response from the government was that the AM band was full and the existing stations catered for the majority of listener needs. But Brian Cabena was persistent and eventually convinced the government that the FM band would work for metropolitan-wide broadcasting. After a change of government in 1972, public, or what is now termed community broadcasting got off the ground. People from the Melbourne MBS station travelled to Sydney and started up a Sydney MBS, 2MBS, which had the same aims: for people who liked classical music to volunteer to operate a radio station that would principally broadcast classical music. 2MBS went to air in late 1974 and Brian Cabena got 3MBS to air in July 1975. This led to the development of a range of community radio stations catering for diverse interests across the country. At 6.30pm in July 1975, 3MBS played

Carl Orff Carl Orff (; 10 July 1895 – 29 March 1982) was a German composer and music educator, best known for his cantata '' Carmina Burana'' (1937). The concepts of his Schulwerk were influential for children's music education. Life Early life Carl ...

's ''

Carmina Burana ''Carmina Burana'' (, Latin for "Songs from Benediktbeuern" 'Buria'' in Latin is a manuscript of 254 poems and dramatic texts mostly from the 11th or 12th century, although some are from the 13th century. The pieces are mostly bawdy, irreverent ...

'' as its first licensed

broadcast Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began wi ...

. It was not only the first community broadcaster to be heard in Victoria, but also the first radio station in the State to transmit on the newly established FM band. 3MBS originally broadcast on 93.7 MHz on the FM band before moving to its current position of 103.5 MHz in 1988 when a number of Melbourne FM radio stations were assigned new frequencies. The station was able to operate through subscription (initially set at $10 per annum) contributed by all those who shared the need to have a station in Melbourne broadcasting classical music. The advent of ABC-FM in 1976 caused a drop in the number of subscribers to 3MBS. However, as people realised that they could have the best of both worlds, by switching from one station to the other in order to hear music to which they wished to listen, the subscriber base moved upwards again, so that by the 1980s 3MBS was financially secure.

Support for local music

From the early '90s, 3MBS took its charter to support local music seriously. In association with the

Music Society of Victoria Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

, the station developed the

3MBS Young Performers Award 3MBS was the first FM (frequency modulation) radio station in Victoria, Australia, and began transmitting to Melbourne and surrounding areas on 1 July 1975. Since then it has operated successfully as a non-profit community-based organisation br ...

. In the year 2000, it developed a

National Composer Award National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ...

. Apart from the broad spectrum of music presented, 3MBS has actively encouraged and supported the endeavours of local musicians, recording and later broadcasting their concerts and recitals. It also conducts a Musicians-in-Residence programme, a Daily Arts Diary and Accidental Arts programme. ''Article sourced with permission from the 3MBS-FM website''3MBS Radio.
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References

External links

* - 3MBS {{Melbourne radio Radio stations in Melbourne Community radio stations in Australia Classical music radio stations in Australia