ABC Newcastle (call sign: 2NC) is an Australian radio station. It is the

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

station of the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

local radio network, and is licensed to, and serving Newcastle and surrounding areas. It operates on the AM band at 1233

kilohertz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base ...

. Formerly known by its callsign 2NC, the NC in the callsign is short for ''N''ew''c''astle, while the 2 represents the state of

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 ...

. The station was established in 1930.

History

2NC was the very first regional radio station in Australia outside a capital city. It was set up by Adrian Jose. The first broadcast occurred 19 December 1930, and played the Newcastle Symphony Orchestra playing the

William Tell Overture The ''William Tell'' Overture is the overture to the opera '' William Tell'' (original French title ''Guillaume Tell''), composed by Gioachino Rossini. ''William Tell'' premiered in 1829 and was the last of Rossini's 39 operas, after which he w ...

James Fenton James Martin Fenton (born 25 April 1949) is an English poet, journalist and literary critic. He is a former Oxford Professor of Poetry. Life and career Born in Lincoln, Fenton grew up in Lincolnshire and Staffordshire, the son of Canon Jo ...

acting as the

prime minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister is the chair of the Cabinet of Australia and thus the head of the Australian Government, federal executive government. Under the pr ...

gave a speech. Local Newcastle content was limited to an hour a week and included news, market reports and church services. The station was heard in New Zealand. Its original frequency was 1245 kHz or wavelength of 241 metres. The power was 2 kW with a modulation of 85%. The transmitting equipment was established by Keith Thow of STC. The transmitting antenna is at

Beresfield Beresfield is a north-western List of suburbs in Greater Newcastle, New South Wales, suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia from Newcastle's central business district. It is part of the City of Newcastle Lo ...

. It was designed to have a range of 25 miles, covering a population of 200,000. In 1931 2YB in

New Plymouth New Plymouth () is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, in Devon, from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. The New Pl ...

, New Zealand was interfering with 2NC causing a

heterodyne A heterodyne is a signal frequency that is created by combining or mixing two other frequencies using a signal processing technique called ''heterodyning'', which was invented by Canadian inventor-engineer Reginald Fessenden. Heterodyning is us ...

whistle. Other early local content included the Newcastle Steel Works Band, the Newcastle Choral Society and the Newcastle Revellers. For a time in the early 2000s, the ABC Newcastle website included a 5-day-a-week 5-minute TV news bulletin dedicated to Newcastle, shot in the ABC NSW studio. The first studios were located behind the Old Strand Theatre on Market Street, before moving to 24 Wood Street.

Programs

Its programs are also heard on ABC Upper Hunter, the ABC's station serving the

Upper Hunter The Upper Hunter Shire is a local government area in the Upper Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire was formed in May 2004 from the Scone Shire and parts of Murrurundi and Merriwa shires. The mayor of the Upper Hunter Shir ...

Sports coverage

In addition to Grandstand's national coverage, ABC Newcastle and ABC Upper Hunter also broadcast

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league team based in Newcastle, New South Wales that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, the Knights joined the top-tier competition in New ...

rugby league and

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from the Australi ...

football games as well.

References

External links

ABC Newcastle official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:ABC Newcastle

Radio stations in Newcastle, New South Wales Radio stations established in 1930

History

Programs

Sports coverage

See also

References

External links