2BS is an Australian

commercial radio Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship, for example. It was the United States' first model ...

station broadcasting to the

Central Tablelands The Central Tablelands in New South Wales is a geographic area that lies between the Sydney Metropolitan Area and the Central Western Slopes and Plains. The Great Dividing Range passes in a north–south direction through the Central Tablelands ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. Owned and operated by

Broadcast Operations Group Broadcast Operations Group is an Australian media company, operating radio stations across various centres across regional New South Wales and Queensland, Australia. Branded as the Super Radio Network, stations carry one of two formats – a n ...

, the station broadcasts a

news talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews w ...

and classic hits music format with local programming presented from studios in Bathurst. For close to fifty years, the station was operated by local proprietors Ron and Stephanie Camplin, and was previously owned by the London Times Mirror and

Australian Consolidated Press Are Media is an Australian media company. It was formed after the 2020 purchase of the assets of Bauer Media Australia, which had in turn acquired the assets of Pacific Magazines, AP Magazines and Australian Consolidated Press (ACP) during th ...

. In June 2019, 2BS and its sister station B-Rock FM were sold to the

, owned by Bill Caralis.

History

The station began broadcasting on 1 January 1937. Prior to that, a station owned by the Mockler Brothers, with the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

2MK, had existed in Bathurst, first broadcasting on 31 October 1925. 2BS was not always the intended call sign - 2BX was also considered. A station located at Meadow Lane, which was to serve both Bathurst and Lithgow, was also projected to start in 1925 with the call letters ''2LE''. That station never eventuated. In the 1950s, it was discovered that 2BS's signal was interfering at night with the signal of Melbourne station 3AK. That forced 3AK to become a daytime-only station, having previously been an overnight station. The problem was fixed in the 1960s by switching to directional antennas, which led to 3AK commencing 24-hour transmission. At that time,

(ACP) owned both stations. In 1969, ACP sold 2BS to Ron Camplin, who owned the station until mid 2019. 2BS is an

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

station with a prime target audience of 25+, playing music from the 1950s onwards. Its Breakfast and Drive programs are produced locally, with other programs being networked:

John Laws Richard John Sinclair Laws CBE (born 8 August 1935) is a retired Australian radio announcer who had a broadcasting career that spanned 71 years. His distinctive voice earned him the nickname ''Golden Tonsils''. Career Best known as a talkback ...

, John Stanley, and the

Continuous Call Team The ''Continuous Call Team'' is an Australian radio sports program, covering the news and live games of the National Rugby League. It is produced and broadcast by 2GB Sydney, and is relayed to stations in New South Wales, the ACT, Queensland, ...

from 2GB

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. 2BS recently opened FM repeater stations in the surrounding towns of Blayney,

Oberon Oberon () is a king of the fairy, fairies in Middle Ages, medieval and Renaissance literature. He is best known as a character in William Shakespeare's play ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', in which he is King of the Fairies and spouse of Titania ...

and

Sofala Sofala , at present known as Nova Sofala , used to be the chief seaport of the Mwenemutapa Kingdom, whose capital was at Mount Fura. It is located on the Sofala Bank in Sofala Province of Mozambique. The first recorded use of this port town w ...

. While 2BS has been promoting itself as a rarity being one of the few remaining locally owned commercial broadcasters in Australia, however radio industry website Radioinfo sources say a sale of 2BS and BRock Bathurst was imminent in 2018. In June 2019, the Camplins sold Bathurst Broadcasters to the Bill Caralis-owned

, which holds the license of 2EL in the adjacent radio market of

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

References

* http://www.radioheritage.net/Story192.asp

External links

*
Countrywide Radio Sales profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:2BS Bathurst, New South Wales Radio stations in New South Wales Radio stations established in 1937 Classic hits radio stations in Australia

History

See also

References

External links