2CH was a commercial radio station in

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 ...

, Australia which aired from 1932 to 2022. It was latterly owned by Sports Entertainment Network.

History

2CH commenced broadcasting on 15 February 1932 on 1210 kHz. It moved to 1190 kHz in September 1935, then 1170 kHz in 1952.

Ownership

The CH stands for "churches". In 1944, the NSW Council of Churches sub-let the licence to AWA who provided program content for six days per week, with the Council of Churches being responsible for programming on Sundays. By 1991, MLC had a 74% shareholding. It was sold to

John Singleton John Daniel Singleton (January 6, 1968 April 28, 2019) was an American director, screenwriter, and producer. He made his feature film debut writing and directing '' Boyz n the Hood'' (1991), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for ...

in April 1994 becoming part of the Macquarie Radio Network. In June 2003, its studios moved from Sussex Street to Pyrmont. In January 2017, 2CH was sold to a consortium of Oceania Capital Partners, Glenn Wheatley and John Williams for $5.6 million. The station had to be sold to comply with an undertaking given to the

Australian Communications & Media Authority The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is an Australian government statutory authority within the Communications portfolio. ACMA was formed on 1 July 2005 with the merger of the Australian Broadcasting Authority and the Aust ...

following the merger of the Macquarie Radio Network and

Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media (communication), media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The ...

(owners of 2GB and

2UE 2UE is an all-music radio station in Sydney owned by Nine Entertainment and run under a lease agreement by Ace Radio. It currently broadcasts from its studios in Pyrmont, New South Wales. History 1920s 2EU Electrical Utilities applied to the P ...

respectively) to comply with legislation allowing one party to only control two radio stations in a market. The station posted a loss of $1.9 million on revenue of $2.4 million for the year to March 2019 In June 2020, it was sold for $11 million to Sports Entertainment Network.

Church thanksgiving

On 18 February 2007, a thanksgiving service to celebrate 2CH's 75 years of broadcasting was held at St Andrew's Anglican Cathedral commencing at 2 pm. The Reverend Peter Jensen, the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

of Sydney presided with Rev. Dr. Ross Clifford preaching.

Transition to 'DAB+ only' radio station and final end

In August 2020 after the station was purchased by Pacific Star, it was announced that 2CH would be switching to only broadcasting on digital radio. 2CH was heard on DAB+ radio until 10 June 2022, after briefly simulcasting on DAB+ and 1170 kHz in the AM broadcast band. The station used be live-streamed over the internet until the station demise. Although not the first 'DAB+ only' radio station in Australia, 2CH was probably the first to transition by relinquishing its AM radio frequency allocation. Trevor Sinclair broadcast his final show on the AM broadcast band from Midday-7pm on 22 October 2020. Chris Kearns broadcast his show on both AM and

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 ...

until midnight 22 October 2020, when the AM frequency 1170 kHz was taken over by 1170 SEN, carrying a dedicated sports broadcasting network, known as the Sports Entertainment Network. At 6pm on 10 June 2022, 2CH left the airwaves for the final time with Jane Nield as the last live announcer. This follows an 18 month legacy after the Sports Entertainment Network purchased the station in 2020, and an unsuccessful DAB+ trial. The former 2CH medium wave frequency, 1170 kHz, is now used by SEN 1170. Veteran radio presenter Bob Rogers worked at the station, from 1995 until he retired in early October 2020, at the age of 93.

References

External links

Official website
* Media at Wikimedia Commons under 2CH
Radio Heritage Foundation - 2CH in 1946
{{DEFAULTSORT:2ch 2CH Easy listening radio stations in Australia Oldies radio stations in Australia Pacific Star Network Radio stations established in 1932 Radio stations disestablished in 2022 Radio stations in Sydney 1932 establishments in Australia 2022 disestablishments in Australia