HAWKESBURY’S three Rotary Clubs will be applying for a temporary licence after Hawkesbury Radio’s licence lapses next month.
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Assistant governor of the Hawkesbury clubs, Rod Rose, said the radio station was a crucial service for our community which was why the Windsor, Richmond and Kurrajong-North Richmond Rotary Clubs wanted to ensure it continued.
“Like your newspaper, it provides information about fires and floods, and has been going for 35 years,” he said. “It also provides essential advertising for our clubs.
“All we’d be doing is providing the vehicle so it could continue. Our bid is purely to keep it in the community’s hands. We would like to think it will be available to everyone.
“It could be that the board and chairman come from Rotary initially but it would be totally open to the community.”
The Rotary application will be backed up by solid experience – and equipment. Mr Rose was the original chairman of Hawkesbury Radio in the early 80s when it was still broadcasting from Richmond School of Arts.
He was involved with the station for five years before the RAAF posted him back to Melbourne.
“We were a co-op but we never had a problem and we never refused anyone membership,” he said.
He also has access to the hardware required to transmit. While the current licence holders told the Gazette that all the studio hardware and transmitting equipment belongs to their co-op, Mr Rose said that was no problem as his son runs radio stations all over Australia.
“We could have a service up in two days,” he said. “We could operate from anywhere in the line of sight of the Kurrajong Heights tower but we’d really like to keep it in central Windsor or Richmond.”
While the three clubs have only met once so far about their application, they invite any community members currently broadcasting from the station, and anyone else who would like to put their voice out there, to contact him so they can start compiling a format.
“Any broadcaster who came to us would have full access,” he said. “We don’t have an agenda.”
He said the current intention of Hawkesbury Radio to continue broadcasting past the end of its licence by going online wasn’t enough for the community, as not everyone had access to a computer.
When asked what the Rotary station might be called, he said the current name was the best.
“We’re hoping that whoever gains a temporary licence will, all collectively, be able to use the name ‘Hawkesbury Radio’.
He said he was aware of two other groups who would be applying for a temporary licence.
If you are interested in broadcasting on the Rotary station if its application is successful, contact Rod on 4578 2968 or rod@myisp.net.au.
Applications for a temporary licence for 89.9FM close on September 22. Forms are available on the ACMA website. More details in the ACMA advertisement on P69 of this week’s Gazette.
