SYN (ACMA callsign: 3SYN) is an Australian

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial broadcasting, commercial and public broadcasting. Community broadcasting, Community stations serve geographic communities and communities o ...

station broadcasting to

Melbourne, Victoria Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. First broadcast in January 2003, the station is operated by SYN Media under a youth license, with programming presented entirely by volunteers aged 12–25 years old. The station broadcasts from studios on the campus of

RMIT University The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (abbreviated as RMIT University) is a public research university located in the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia., section 4(b) Established in 1887 by Francis Ormond, it is the seventh-o ...

, with additional content syndicated from other community radio stations in Australia. Between 2014 and 2019, SYN Media operated a secondary station – SYN Nation – broadcast on

DAB+ Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) is a digital radio international standard, standard for broadcasting digital audio radio services in many countries around the world, defined, supported, marketed and promoted by the WorldDAB organisation. T ...

digital radio Digital radio is the use of digital technology to transmit or receive across the radio spectrum. Digital transmission by radio waves includes digital broadcasting, and especially digital audio radio services. This should not be confused with In ...

in Melbourne. On 16 April 2019, SYN Media announced the two stations would merge to create a single station, broadcasting on 90.7FM and DAB+ digital radio. The newly merged SYN commenced broadcasting on 22 April 2019.

History

SYN first launched at 12pm on 28 January 2003 as SYN FM, following a successful application to the then-

Australian Broadcasting Authority The Australian Broadcasting Authority was an Australian government agency whose main roles were to regulate broadcasting, radio communications and telecommunications. The Authority took over the functions of the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal ...

for a

FM license in 2001. This followed the amalgamation of 3TD at Thornbury Darebin College and the Student Radio Association based at

into SYN Media in 2000. In May 2004, the Australian Broadcasting Authority removed a power restriction on the station's signal, which was in place to avoid interference from the

ABNT The Brazilian Technical Standards Association (, ABNT) is a private non-profit organization and the normative body which is responsible for technical standards in Brazil, and intends to promote technological development in the country. Brazilian ...

television service broadcasting from

Launceston, Tasmania Launceston () is a city in the north of Tasmania, Australia, at the confluence of the North Esk River, North Esk and South Esk River, South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River, Tasmania, Tamar River (kanamaluka). As of 2021, the Launc ...

on VHF channel 3. The restriction also applied to 89.9 LightFM and the then-unallocated smoothfm 91.5. On 14 April 2011, the station launched on

, alongside fellow community broadcasters 3CR, 3KND,

3MBS 3MBS is an FM 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 broadcasting classical and jazz mus ...

3RRR 3RRR (pronounced "Three Triple R", or simply "Triple R") is an Australian community radio station, based in Melbourne. 3RRR first commenced broadcasting in 1976 from the studios of 3ST, the student radio station of the Royal Melbourne Instit ...

, 3ZZZ, 89.9 LightFM, PBS 106.7FM and

Vision Australia Radio Vision Australia Radio is a network of eight radio stations in Victoria, amongst some other states in Australia. It is owned by Vision Australia. The stations broadcast a range of programs, generally consisting of readings of newspapers and mag ...

. This saw the station rebrand as SYN Radio. On 7 May 2013, the station ceased transmitting on both FM and DAB+ for 24 hours in protest of funding cuts to the

sector in the

2013 Australian federal budget Thirteen or 13 may refer to: * 13 (number) * Any of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, or 2013 Music Albums * ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013 * ''13'' (Blur album), 1999 * ''13'' (Borgeous album), 2016 * ''13'' (Brian Setzer album), 2006 ...

. This formed part of a larger

call to action Call to Action (CTA) is an American progressivism in the United States, progressive organization that advocates a variety of changes in the Catholic Church. Call To Action's goals are to change church disciplines and teachings in such areas as ma ...

"Commit to Community Radio" by industry body 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 ...

, as well as the

Community Broadcasting Foundation The Community Broadcasting Foundation (CBF) is an independent non-profit funding organisation based in Melbourne, Australia, Melbourne. The CBF receives funds from the Australian Government to distribute through grant programs to support the mainte ...

. On 1 April 2014, the station ceased broadcasting on DAB+ digital radio, and was replaced with a digital radio-only sister station SYN Nation. Following an organisation-wide rebrand, SYN Radio was rebranded as SYN 90.7, emphasising content made by young people in Melbourne. On 22 April 2019 the station was again rebranded as SYN, as the station became available on DAB+ digital radio once again. On Thursday 29 May 2025, listeners reported that the station had ceased transmission on 90.7 FM. This apparently went unnoticed and unaddressed by SYN until Monday 2 June, when they posted on their social media that the FM service was experiencing an outage and would eventually return. Their DAB+ and online services continued unaffected. SYN returned to 90.7 FM on Tuesday 3 June 2025. Today, SYN operates on a schedule updated with new presenters – all under the age of 26 – and programming every 12 weeks, across two tiers of programming: flagship shows and seasonal shows. Flagship shows operate year round in fixed timeslots under the management of an

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

, a role rotated yearly, while seasonal shows air for up to six months at a time, and cover a variety of topics and music.

Programming

Current flagships

*''Fresh Sounds'' (Music playlist) *''Get Cereal'' (Breakfast programme) *''The Sports Desk'' (Sports talk) *''Panorama'' (Current affairs) *''Art Smitten'' (Arts and Culture show) *''The Naughty Rude Show'' (Sex and relationships) *''In Joke Tonight'' (Comedy) *''Graveyard Shift'' (Overnight programme) Music flagships *''The Hoist'' (

Australian music The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions o ...

) *''New & Approved'' (New music) *''Sunday Sweets'' ("Sweet 16" and feature albums) Genre flagships *''Asian Pop Nation'' (Asian

pop music 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.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

) *''Hip Hop Night'' (

Hip hop music Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music Music genre, genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African Americans, African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide r ...

) *''Moshpit'' (

Punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

and

heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a Music genre, genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal band ...

) Access flagships *''Amplify'' (under-18 drive programme) *''The Awkward Stage'' (under-18 on-air training programme) *''Schools on Air'' (high school students, managed by SYN Media Learning) *''Raise the Platform'' (disability advocacy)

Regional syndication

In addition to programming produced in Melbourne, a number of shows presented by young people across Australia are syndicated on SYN as part of the SYN Nation project. Current affiliates include 2BOB, Gippsland FM, Woroni Radio, Wangki Radio and Radio Fremantle.

References

External links