720 ABC Perth

720 ABC Perth

720 ABC Perth studio in the ABC Building
Broadcast area Perth, Western Australia
Frequency 720 kHz AM[1]
First air date 4 June 1924
Format Talk
Audience share 10.3% (August–October 2013, Nielsen Survey #8 2013[2])
Power 50 kW[1]
Transmitter coordinates 31°51′21″S 115°49′4″E / 31.85583°S 115.81778°E / -31.85583; 115.81778[1]
Owner Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Website http://www.abc.net.au/perth/

720 ABC Perth (call sign: 6WF) is a radio station located in Perth, Western Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and broadcasting at 720 kHz AM.[1][3] It is the flagship ABC Local Radio network in Western Australia.

History

East Perth studios

6WF transmitted its first broadcast on Wednesday 4 June 1924. It was originally owned by Westralian Farmers Co-operative, and operated from a studio in the Westralian Farmers building in Perth. The Premier of Western Australia, Philip Collier made a speech on-air to mark the opening of the station.[4][5]

The station was equipped with a transmitter that was the most powerful allowed under Commonwealth regulations. It was intended as a source of "information and entertainment to rural areas". The station's original broadcast footprint covered most of the state of Western Australia.[6][7] In 1929 the radio station was sold to the Australian Broadcasting Company. As a result, the radio station moved from the Westralian Farmers buildings to the ESA Bank building on the corner of Hay and Milligan Streets in Perth. When the Australian Broadcasting Commission was founded in 1932, 6WF became part of the national network.[6][8]

The station moved again in 1937 to the Stirling Institute building located in the Supreme Court Gardens, St Georges Terrace. Despite the fact the building had been built 21 years earlier as a temporary structure it became the home of 6WF for the next 23 years.[6]

In 1960 a specially built 23 studio building complex was completed at 191 Adelaide Terrace and the station moved there during that year. This building was to provide the home for the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra for a number of years, running alongside three separate radio stations.[6][9]

These buildings lasted 45 years, until it was decided that new buildings must be built. A site was commissioned and the radio station moved to its new offices and studios in East Perth in March 2005.[6]

The Adelaide Terrace site was sold to property developers in 2008 who have proposed demolishing the structure and erecting residential buildings.[10] The transmission tower was demolished in January 2011.[11][12]

Programming

News and current affairs

720 ABC Perth produces news bulletins unique to Western Australia, which are broadcast between 5:00am and 10:00pm on weekdays, and between 6:00am and 1:00pm on weekends. National bulletins are broadcast outside these times.

The station also broadcasts national news magazine programs - AM, The World Today and PM.

Talk

Geoff Hutchison, presenter of the Morning programme, in the 720 ABC Perth radio studio (The Wally Foreman Studio, Radio Studio 600)

Throughout the day and evening, 720 ABC Perth broadcasts a variety of talk shows. Breakfast on weekdays, presented by Eoin Cameron from 2002 until March 2016,[13] has consistently been the highest rating breakfast program on Perth radio.[13][2][14][15][16][17]

Sports

720 broadcasts a range of sports coverage syndicated through the network under the name ABC Radio Grandstand, including Australian rules football and cricket.[18]

The station is one of two that broadcast Australian Football League matches in Perth; the other is 6PR. The station also broadcasts West Australian Football League matches.[19][20]

Production

720 ABC Perth and ABC Local Radio stations in Western Australia produce less content than their counterparts in the rest of Australia. This is primarily because Western Australia's time zone is two hours behind Australian Eastern Standard Time, or three hours behind Australian Eastern Daylight Time, and most national programs are broadcast live across Australia, at a time earlier in Australian Western Standard Time.

Unlike all other state capital ABC Local Radio stations, 720 ABC Perth does not produce a weekday evening program, or any weekend programs except for Saturday Breakfast. A weekday early morning program was formerly produced, but terminated as a result of funding cuts in November 2013 and replaced with a program compiling content previously produced during the day.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Radio and television broadcasting stations - Internet edition" (PDF). Australian Communications and Media Authority. October 2010. p. 14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 December 2010. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  2. 1 2 "Survey #8 2013" (PDF). Nielsen. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  3. ↑ "ABC Radio Transmitter Frequencies". 720 ABC Perth. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  4. ↑ "Some Early History - The Original 6WF". The West Australian. 8 April 1933. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  5. ↑ "Communication". Western Australia and Federation. State Library of Western Australia. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Perkins, Matthew (4 July 2008). "The origins of 720". 720 ABC Perth. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  7. ↑ "Wesfarmers Building (fmr)" (PDF). REGISTER OF HERITAGE PLACES - ASSESSMENT DOCUMENTATION. Heritage Council of Western Australia. 23 June 2000. p. 1. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  8. ↑ "The History of Australian Radio" (PDF). Radio Adelaide. University of Adelaide. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  9. ↑ Presenters: Rebecca Carmody, Jonathon Beal (4 June 2004). "6WF celebrates 80 years". Stateline Western Australia. true. ABC Television.
  10. ↑ Fuhrmann, Kim (15 June 2010). "Plans to demolish old ABC building". Western Australian Business News. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  11. ↑ ABC transmission tower demolition starts, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 25 January 2011, retrieved 26 January 2011
  12. ↑ Ryan, Vivienne (26 January 2011), "50 years of ABC history comes down", The West Australian
  13. 1 2 "Eoin Cameron: ABC radio ends 47-year career for retirement and recovery". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 11 March 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  14. ↑ "Survey #7 2013" (PDF). Nielsen. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
  15. ↑ Ganska, Helen (16 December 2009). "Eoin Cameron takes prime breakfast slot in radio ratings". Perth Now. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  16. ↑ Lawson, Rebecca (5 March 2009). "ABC 720 wins breakfast radio ratings war". Western Australian Business News. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  17. ↑ Ganska, Helen (30 March 2010). "WA ratings wars: more listen to 96FM". Perth Now. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  18. ↑ "WA Grandstand team". 720 ABC Perth. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 18 June 2010. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  19. ↑ "WAFL season kicks off tonight". wafootball.com.au. West Australian Football Commission. 19 March 2010. Archived from the original on 4 December 2010. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  20. ↑ "AFL and the media". AFL.com.au. Australian Football League. 7 August 2009. Retrieved 7 January 2011.

Further reading

External links

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