History
The station was initially owned by the Broadcasting Company of Australia, which represented, amongst others, J and N Tait (theatrical entrepreneurs), Buckley and Nunn Limited (a department store) and The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd (a newspaper company). It was named after 2LO in England, where the LO stood for London.
The station began transmission with an outside broadcast of a performance of 'La Bohème' featuring Dame Nellie Melba, from His Majesty's Theatre.
From 1928 the Postmaster-General's Department (PMG) was responsible for the technical side of all Australian A Class stations including 3LO. The Australian Broadcasting Company was given a licence to provide all programming – an arrangement which remained until 1932 when the Australian Broadcasting Commission was formed. The two Melbourne stations (3LO & 3AR) had a studio in a laneway off Russell Street, near Little Collins Street until the building of Broadcast House in Lonsdale Street in 1945. The 3LO on-air studio at Broadcast House was studio 308, although for many years the news broadcasts came from Marland House in Bourke Street. The studios were transferred to the ABC's new Southbank Centre in 1995.
In its early days the station was involved in programs like Kindergarten of the Air, giving children in regional areas greater social awareness and preparation for school.
In early 2006, with the start of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games, the ABC set up what was known as "The G-Spot" at Federation Square – an outside broadcast studio where members of the public could watch and participate in the broadcast. At the same time, 774 ABC Melbourne became the second Local Radio station to introduce streaming broadcasts in addition to its regular radio broadcast, subject to sporting rights and legal concerns.
Read more about this topic: 774 ABC Melbourne
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