3MBS is an FM

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

Victoria, Australia Victoria, commonly abbreviated as Vic, is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state (after Tasmania), with a land area of ; the second-most-populated state (after New South Wales), with a population of over 7 million; ...

, and began transmitting to

Melbourne 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 ...

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 broadcasting, commercial and public broadcasting. Community broadcasting, Community stations serve geographic communities and communities o ...

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

History

The increasing popularity of

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

through the late 1950s and 1960s 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 #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

played on the ABC and commercial radio stations in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. 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: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

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, 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 (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

. 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 2MBS Fine Music Sydney (ACMA callsign: 2MBS) is a Sydney music radio station operated by the Music Broadcasting Society of New South Wales Co-Operative Limited. Launched on 15 December 1974, it is Australia's first fully licensed FM radio stat ...

, which had the same aims: for people who liked classical music to volunteer to operate a radio station that would principally broadcast classical music.

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 Heinrich Maria Orff (; 10 July 1895 – 29 March 1982) was a German composer and music educator, who composed the cantata ''Carmina Burana (Orff), Carmina Burana'' (1937). The concepts of his Orff Schulwerk, Schulwerk were influential for ...

's '' Carmina Burana'' as its first licensed

broadcast Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

. 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 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 u ...

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, the station developed the 3MBS Young Performers Award. In the year 2000, it developed a National Composer Award. 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.3MBS Box Office - Your Ticket to the Arts.
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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 Radio stations established in 1975 1975 establishments in Australia