Sport and seniors beat country music
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Sport and seniors have emerged the big winners in an allocation of long-term community broadcasting radio licences for the Perth metropolitan area - but fans of country music have not been so lucky.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority yesterday awarded Sport FM and Capital Community radio long-term broadcasting licences.
Sport FM will broadcast - as it does now on a share-basis - on the 91.3 FM frequency based in Fremantle, while Capital Community Radio will take the 101.7 FM frequency for the wider Perth area.
The sport broadcaster beat off competition from Cockburn Sounds - which shares the frequency with it at present and also broadcasts programs for the Portuguese community - and Phoenix Radio, a country music station.
Phoenix - which withdrew from the Fremantle race after deciding it would be unable to provide a Perth-wide service if it won the licence - also missed out to seniors broadcaster Capital Community for the Perth licence, as did the YMCA's Hype FM.
Sport FM chairman Colin Minson said he hoped the new licence - which could potentially turn Sport FM into a round-the-clock broadcaster - would be the catalyst for more minority sports to hit the airwaves.
The station caters for those sports, as well as local leagues of the major sports. It also broadcasts the likes of WA Sheffield Shield and one-day cricket matches and Perth Wildcats NBL basketball games.
"I'll have a meeting with the Department of Sport and Recreation next week and tell them 'you can take a horse to water but you can't make them drink'," he said.
"It's up to those (minor) sports now if they want to get airtime."
The station would aim to become a local version of Melbourne-based SEN.
"We won't do AFL like they do - that's well covered elsewhere - but it's full steam ahead doing more of what we do now."
Capital Community will now be able to broadcast to a wider area than previously.
ACMA decided that Hype's programming was similar to commercial stations in Perth, and the race for the long-term licence boiled down to a race between Capital Community and Phoenix.
However, the regulator believed there was country music programming "to a limited extent" on other radio stations, and therefore seniors had a greater need.
Capital Community board member and former chairman Phil Salinger said the station was "very excited" about extending its reach.
"At the moment, you can't really get us past Wanneroo or Safety Bay but we'll be able to go from the northern suburbs down to Mandurah at least with this," he said.
Capital Community had set aside money for the new equipment, while its studio was also undergoing a refit and the station would also move to digital broadcasting.
"Things are changing dramatically. Over the next 12 months we'll have lots and lots of changes and this will also make a difference to our sponsorship too. Most of them always ask us how far out do you go."
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Country music has gone down hill since the 70s ... 
it was only Billy Ray Cyrus's mullet which bought it back for a breif amount of time ... oh how I love a good mullett ... the last one I saw was completely redonclulous ... suzi quotro ... come on!!! it looks terrible!!! what where you thinking?!
