88.3 Southern FM - History

History

The radio station was established in 1981 by former Australian Broadcasting Control Board member Dom Iacono and then former ABC engineer Jack Burgesson, who with a dedicated band of volunteers, first broadcast for a two day broadcast from the Caulfield Town Hall.

The first test broadcast was not spectacular or particularly notable apart from the fact that it was the first test broadcast by the new group, and attracted much interest in the local area which the radio station was to eventually service.

The second test broadcast was from the store room of the now demolished East Bentleigh Community Hall

The station was originally established to cover the then municipal areas of Chelsea, Mordialloc, Sandringham, Caulfield, and Brighton.

As part of a planning review prior to the formal invitations for licence applications, the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal (now ABA) had offered SCB an extension to its coverage area to include the areas bounded by the Cities of Prahran, St Kilda, and Waverley in addition to the inclusion of the Inner eastern areas (now covered by 3WBC)

The Inner Eastern suburban area (that being the area of the then Cities of Box Hill Camberwell, Hawthorn and Kew) was without a local radio service at the time of the formation and development of the suburban community radio groups such as SCB, ECB, VYV, MDR, etc.

Although the Inner Eastern municipal areas were designated by the then ABA for a potential new area it was, prior to licensing of the first group of Sub-Metropolitan stations offered to Southern Community Broadcasters as an addition to its license area, due to a lack of a local service.

Southern Community Broadcasters - after AGMs and resolutions had after an initial interest in the addition of the area to its own, had rejected the proposal - claiming the Inner East was not an area that shared the Bayside / Inner South identity.

The same argument was presented in the organisation's rejection of including StKilda and Prahran into its coverage area. This rejection of additional coverage areas resulted in a small coverage station with a very limited transmitter power. (200 watts), one of the smallest sub-metropolitan community stations in Melbourne.

After a succession of approx 20 test broadcasts of one to two week durations, the parent organisation Southern Community Broadcasters Inc was successful in being granted a full-time license on March 30, 1990.

Following many moves of studios and offices, the radio station ended up at Railway Crescent Moorabbin, above the (now) former Salvation Army Opportunity Shop.

From there the radio station moved to the Moorabbin City Council offices and from there to the most recent studio location at Balcombe Road in the suburb of Mentone.