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FBi (call sign: 2FBI) station is an independent, not-for-profit
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 Sydney, Australia. FBi places a heavy emphasis on local emerging
music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...
: it has a policy that at least 50 per cent of its music content is to be Australian, of which at least half comes from Sydney musicians.


History

FBi began 'test broadcasting' as an 'aspirant broadcaster' in 1995 following the then-
Keating government The Keating government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Paul Keating of the Australian Labor Party from 1991 to 1996. The government followed on from the Hawke government after Paul Keating replaced Bob ...
's decision to allocate the last three FM licences in Sydney. The
election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...
of
John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. His eleven-year tenure as prime min ...
delayed the process as the
Coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...
government focussed on radio licences for country towns. After making a series of short-term broadcasts over eight years, FBi Radio beat 16 other aspirant broadcasters to be granted a permanent licence by the
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 ...
in 2002. Popular dance and hip hop aspirant station DEX FM were unsuccessful and FBi President Cassandra Wilkinson invited DEX founder George Crones to join the FBi board and merge the two stations. A failed
takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are publicly listed, in contrast to the acquisi ...
attempt by one of the losing bidders for the permanent licence, Wild FM (a more commercially oriented
dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance musi ...
station) pushed FBi's full-time 24/7 broadcast to August 2003. At the launch, company President Cassandra Wilkinson told radioinfo that FBi 94.5FM aims to "celebrate the creativity and diversity of the city’s music and arts communities." The station went to air with program director Meagan Loader and station manager Christina Alvarez in charge with Australia's youngest Music Director Dan Zilber calling the tunes. In November 2006, FBi's 'Sunset' program won the Best Radio Show award at the national Australian Dance Music Awards. In September 2007, the
Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...
chose FBi as the platform to announce its electoral commitment to resume funding for the Australian Music Radio Airplay Project. In 2009, FBi asked listeners to ask
Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English business magnate who co-founded the Virgin Group in 1970, and controlled 5 companies remaining of once more than 400. Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneu ...
to donate $1 million to the station, with the person getting his attention being promised $50k if he came through with the goods.... A young Australian woman swam to his house on Necker Island to inform him of the campaign and Branson called the station to chat on air to broadcaster Alison Piotrowski. While Branson did not pay up the $1 million he did donate prizes to the Save FBi campaign which raised nearly $500,000 to save the station from the drop in membership and revenues during the
2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...
. During mid-2014, FBi Radio officially launched FBi Click - a second station dedicated to dance and electronic music. FBi Click broadcast on DAB+ in Sydney and via online stream at fbiradio.com/click. A number of Sydney dance music promoters and collectives presented shows on the station; including Picnic, Motorik, Purple Sneakers, THUMP by Vice and others. On 5 June 2017 FBi Click was discontinued, although many of the programs were merged back into the main FBI station's programming. The rationale for the change was that listeners wanted to hear the main FBi station on DAB+."We're making changes to FBi on digital radio"
FBi website, 6 June 2017


Reach and format

FBi is Sydney's only independent youth radio station, broadcasting across the city with a signal strength as large as its commercial rivals - reaching
Gosford Gosford is a waterfront city at the northern end of Brisbane Water on the Central Coast in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Gosford Waterfront is known for its boating and scenic views on the shores of Brisbane Water. Gosford is ...
, the Blue Mountains and
Wollongong Wollongong ( ; Dharawal: ''Woolyungah'') is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near water' or 'sound ...
. A ratings survey conducted by McNair in 2019 showed that FBi's audience was per month. Its music policy is 50% Australian, half of that from Sydney. The eclectic music mix that results is different from anything available through commercial music stations in Sydney.


FBi SMAC Awards

The FBi Sydney Music, Arts & Culture (SMAC) Awards recognising Sydney musicians, artists, performers, restaurants and events. They are voted on by the public and presented in an annual ceremony. The 2022 event took place at the Powerhouse in Ultimo on 10 November 2022.


Broadcasters

FBi broadcasters have included many individuals from the Australian music and entertainment industries including: ''DJs & Musicians:'' Anna Lunoe, Nina Las Vegas,
Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...
,
Kid Kenobi Kid Kenobi or Jesse Thomas Desenberg is an Australian DJ, sound mixer, music journalist and dance music artist. Together with Hook N Sling (a.k.a. Anthony Maniscalco), he was nominated for the 2007 ARIA Award for Best Dance Release for their ...
, Mark Dynamix, Deepchild, Ro Sham Bo, Kato, Bad Ezzy, Pimmon (aka Paul Gough), Klue (True Vibenation), Johnny Segment (aka Timothy Neville), Peter Hollo, Al Grigg, Marcus Whale, Bruno Brayovic ( Peabody); DOBBY, Mike Who (Planet Trip Records), Luke M de Zilva, Jaimee Taylor-Nielsen and Adi Toohey. ''Broadcasting:'' Amelia Jenner; Avani Dias (Hack / Triple J); Lucy Smith (Triple J); Declan Byrne (Triple J); Ebony Boadu (Triple J); Alex Pye; Adam Lewis;
Linda Marigliano Linda Marigliano (born Carmelinda Marigliano; 27 September 1984) is an Australians, Australian television and radio presenter, podcaster, musician and disc jockey, DJ, best known for her work on FBi Radio and Triple J. She also played bass guit ...
(Triple J); Georgia Hitch (ABC); Lewis McKirdy (Triple J); SBS and Triple J film critic Marc Fennell; Jayne Cheeseman (Virgin Radio UK); comedian and filmmaker Dan Ilic ( The Ronnie Johns Half Hour, Channel 10, AJ+); Nathan Sapsford ( Video Hits, Channel 10); Jaimie Leonarder / Jay Katz (former SBS Film Critic); Dom Alessio (Triple J); Meagan Loader (Triple J); Dan Buhagiar (Triple J); CNET (Lexy Savvides); Shantan Wantan Ichiban (Triple J) ''Industry:'' Dan Zilber, Programming Manager MTV Aus & NZ;
Stuart Coupe Stuart Coupe is an Australian music journalist, author, band manager, promoter, publicist and music label founder. A renowned rock music writer, Coupe is best known for his work with Roadrunner (Australian music magazine), ''Roadrunner'', ''Rock ...
(Laughing Outlaw); Anna Burns, General Manager Future Classic; Andrew Levins, co-founder of
Diplo Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is a co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer; a member of the supergroup LSD (group), ...
's 'Heaps Decent' label, DJ and promoter; GetUp Communication Director Matthew Levinson; Fat Planet & New Weird Australia editor Stuart Buchanan; Ben Marshall, Head of Contemporary Music at
Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue Performing arts center, performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive b ...
; Sweetie Zamora (Remote Control Records); Harry White (Future Classic), Melody Forghani (twntythree).


Studios

The studios of FBi are located in Botany Rd., Alexandria, in the same building as 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 ...
.


Staff

FBi Radio is predominantly a volunteer-based organisation, augmented by a small core staff. All on-air presenters and producers are volunteers. It is a non-profit organisation with Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status. Co-founder and long-term Company President is Cassandra Wilkinson (2003–2021). She was replaced as president by Amy Solomon (2021–present).


References


External links


FBi Radio official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fbi Radio Community radio stations in Australia Radio stations in Sydney Radio stations established in 1983