Our History (at Capital Community Radio) to Date .....
(updated 20 November 2011)

What is Community Radio in Australia? (click here)

OUR HISTORY CHRONOLOGICALLY:

1.  The concept of Capital Community Radio Inc. (CCR) was formed when a group of volunteer presenters gathered together to discuss the possibility of establishing a dedicated community radio service for “Senior Citizens” in the Perth metropolitan area.  These presenters, from their previous local radio experience, knew that there are a large number of mature age listeners who would welcome such a radio station, and that a dedicated community radio station could only succeed.

2.  They first met in April, 2000 and their stated aim the, which has continued through unchanged, is - "To establish a Community Radio Station dedicated to the needs of Seniors."  The group was aware that THERE WAS NO OTHER RADIO STATION IN PERTH DEDICATED SOLELY TO THE NEEDS OF SENIORS.

3.  There were nine people present at the first business meeting of the group and these formed the working foundation group and set about the task of setting up the business.  They adopted their name, prepared and had approved a Constitution and elected a Committee of Management.  They applied for and registered the name of CAPITAL COMMUNITY RADIO INC. (CCR) in August, 2000 with the Department of Consumer Affairs.  The name was selected so that the entire metropolitan area of Perth was covered.  The group was issued Australian Business Number (ABN) 84 705 840 024.

4.  The group was aware that some of the existing Perth radio stations used to play music from the 1940's, 50's and 60's but they had progressively been replacing their entertainment with a much younger flavoured music thus creating a void in the market for the older listener.  In addition As well as music, it is intended that CCR intends to provide information on health, investment, law, holiday and community information relevant to Seniors both from a metropolitan, State and Australia wide perspective.  Their research and knowledge of the Perth Radio market reinforced their observation "that there is currently no radio station in Perth's inner or outer metropolitan area which offers a dedicated service for Seniors / mature aged listeners."

5.  The group  applied for a Temporary Community Broadcast License (TCBL) in February, 2001.

6.  In mid 2001 the then Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA), now the Austalian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), presented their final License Area Plan (LAP) for Perth and it was of particular interest to our group that the ACMA (formerly ABA) plan showed that there was an FM frequency 101.7 available in the Perth area for community usage and that they only had one applicant for the use of this frequency, namely: Capital Community Radio Inc.

7.  The ACMA (formerly ABA) granted a TCBL in October, 2001 but only for a period of 3 months from December 1, 2001 until February 28, 2002.  This met the ACMA's final LAP for Perth although most earlier Temporary Licenses were granted for 12 months.  It appears that in the meantime and outside of the Perth License Plan another group had lodged an application for a Community License.

8.  It came to light that Groove FM had lodged an application after the publication of the final LAP for Perth and from the 1st May, 2002 until February 28, 2003 CCR and Groove had to share the 101.7 FM frequency.

9.  With the grant of this first TCBL we lost the support of our financial backer and so lost our probable studio space and transmitter requirements.  There was a difference in ideologies and we opted to go with the ABA Code of Practise.  As a result and with a lot of hard work we were able to relocate our entire operation to the present Wireless Hill site.  A dollar value of $85,000 was placed on the community contribution towards the erection of studios, production room, transmitter space and the general office.  Additional work valued at $45,000 has since been undertaken and this takes in the provision of excellent computers, commercial CD players, computer programming including an automatic logging system and general and modern office furniture and equipment, plus the final purchase of our transmitter.

10.  With the loss of our financial backer and a shift of operations to Wireless Hill we were not able to broadcast during the 3 months of our first TCBL.

11.  Up to this time the ability of CCR's management, administrative and technical staff as well as our other volunteer presenters and producers, was of the highest order and it was considered that such efforts would be augmented by a further influx of volunteers once we were on air.  This proved to be correct and the station is currently working with a task force of 60 volunteers on its books.

12.  Prior to the commencement of on air broadcasts as shown in (8) above Curtin Radio announced the imminent closure of their station 927 Curtin Radio and as part of their cleanup of operations prior to their closure they promised us financial aid and other incentives, e.g.: access to their record library and membership lists.  The finance was to assist us with the establishment of a Transmitter site.  These discussions were commenced in May, 2002 but at the beginning of September that year they reneged on their promises to our group.  However at this time we were well advanced in the construction of the station complex listed above in (9).

13.  The completion of the station complex at Wireless Hill was in September, 2002 and it is a credit to the dedication and drive and the management capabilities of the Committee that they stand today as a first class community radio station set up.

14.  Whilst the sharing arrangements with Groove FM were in force the ACMA called applications for the Permanent License of the 101.7 frequency and in August, 2002 both groups lodged applications for the license.  In accordance with their Rules the ABA select the community organisation to whom they will grant the Permanent License.

15.  Unfortunately for CCR and the senior Citizens of Perth the ACMA selected Groove to award the Permanent License to on the basis of:

• (a)  The youth market in Perth was not covered by radio;

• (b)  The seniors of Perth were covered by a number of stations including 6PR and 6IX.

There are grave doubts on the validity of these stated basis reasoning in that we are aware of a number, if not the majority, of Commercial stations who are primed towards covering the youth market of Perth, and at the same time we are convinced that CCR is the only Radio Station in the Perth metropolitan area that is dedicated to the specific task of providing music, entertainment and information to the senior people of our Community.

16.  At the same time of this advice of the grant of License the ACMA also informed our group that our TCBL would be terminated on November 24, 2002, in lieu of the previously approved date of February 28, 2003.  CCR appealed the new expiry date and with the strong support of the Federal Minister for Justice, Senator Chris Ellison we won the appeal and the expiry date reverted back to February 28, 2003.

17.  In the meantime in November, 2002 the ACMA asked us to locate a frequency in the FM band which was not being used.  We engaged approved ACMA consultants to investigate this and they established that 90.5 FM was available.  They also established that this frequency would not cause interference to any other station in the area and would not receive interference from any other station.

18.  The Consultant's report was forwarded to the ACMA who refused CCR the use of the 90.5 frequency because of the likely interference to TV channel 3 operating out of Bunbury.  The consultant's and CCR appealed to the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) and eventually that decision was reversed and a test transmission period of three (3) months was granted from May 8, 2003.

19.  The test transmissions proved that there was no interference to any existing frequency or channel or that they received any interference from any other frequency.

20.  During this time another group, Western Sports Media (WSM), appeared on the scene and applied for the use of the 93.3 FM frequency but the ACMA put them on a shared basis with CCR on frequency 90.5 FM from August 8, 2003.  They were not ready to commence broadcasts and CCR continued full 24 hours per day operations until they were ready to commence on November 14, 2003.

21.  The majority of CCR listeners were most irate at this forced again sharing procedure and as we understand it the ACMA have been flooded with numerous protesting letters giving total support to our group.  In the now well established CCR community spirit the management team, volunteer presenters, producers and general office staff and technical personnel have all elected and are more than ever determined to continue with their vision of providing a dedicated community radio service for the "Senior Citizens" in the Perth metropolitan area.

22.  The previous TCBL expired on February 8, 2004 and CCR had lodged an application for a new TCBL.

23.  As an indication of the public support that CCR has been able to generate the station ran a "Dedicated Subscribers Week" commencing on August 8, 2003 and in that week they received applications from over 600 listeners for a return of over $10,000.  We operated the one telephone and it was surprising the actual number of people who made the effort to actually come up to the station to become subscribers.

24.  In November, 2003 the Station suffered a major blow when vandals cut the restraining (guy) cables to the mast where our (transmitting) antennae were placed, and dropped everything to the ground, smashing our antennae.  We were off the air for just over a day whilst a temporary mast and antenna were erected.  A new permanent mast is expected to be erected in March, 2004.

25.  The Committee of Management are extremely proud of their efforts in getting the station CCR to the position of where they are now and consider that they have exercised sound management principles and practises to achieve the results listed above.  At the same time it is their sole aim to improve on these results and eventually achieve their vision of a dedicated Community radio station for the use of the Senior Citizens of Perth.  The Committee have faced a number of hurdles and encountered many barriers but have always overcome these by the application of solid and proven management criteria.  That fact that CCR have continued to grow and flourish is a glowing indication that they are on the right track to achieve their target.

26.  We received notice that our TCBL had been extended to August 23, 2004 on the same shared basis with WSM (Western Sports Media).

27.  The Australian Communications and Media Authority has advised Capital 90.5 that its TCBL has been extended a further six months until February 2005 on the same shared basis with WSM.

28.  The Australian Communications and Media Authority has advised Capital 90.5FM that its TBCL has been extended for a further twelve months from March 2005 to March 2006 on the same shared basis with WSM.

29.  The Australian Communications and Media Authority has advised Capital 90.5FM that its TBCL has been extended for a further twelve months from March 2006 to March 2007 on the same shared basis with WSM.

30.  6 March, 2007 - Management Committee determined proposed merger with Western Sports Media would not proceed.  Changes to the Management Committee were necessary with three resignations.  Vice chairman Philip Salinger became the Chairman of Capital Community Radio.  Many changes immediately implemented to begin restoration of the primary aims of Capital Community Radio.

31.  20 March, 2007 - The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has advised Capital 90.5FM that its TBCL has been re-issued for a further twelve months from 20 March 2007 to 20 March 2008, on a continuing shared basis with Western Sports Media, but with changed broadcasting hours for Capital 90.5FM, now 8pm Sundays to Midday Fridays.

32.  12 July, 2007 - The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is due to call applications for our permanent Community Broadcast Radio licence in Perth.  Listeners were urged to call phone 9364 9888 to receive a prepared letter of support to send, or could go to the relevant page on this website, to either download a copy of the prepared letter - or to submit your submit directly, online.

33.  14 July, 2007 - The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has finally advertised for applications for our permanent Community Broadcast Radio licence in Perth.  It is now VERY IMPORTANT that as many listeners as possible, and their friends and family members, give support to Capital Community Radio, to ensure success in obtaining our permanent licence.  "The Golden Years of Radio" would then be 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year round.

34.  21 September, 2007 - Capital Community Radio has finally submitted their application to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), for the permanent Community Broadcasting Licence, for which applications were called by ACMA on 14 July.  Licence applications closed on 16 August.  Capital 90.5FM will await anxiously the decision later this year by ACMA.

35.  7 January, 2008 - The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) announces the allocation of a permanent Community Broadcasting Licence to Capital Community Radio (Inc.), commencing Tuesday, 22 January, 2008 (the existing TCBL will cease at midnight on Monday 21 January, 2008).  Western Sports Media (SportFM90.5) is not granted a permanent licence.

36.  29 September, 2008 - National Radio News commences, courtesy of an installed satellite link from the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA), of which Capital Community Radio is a member station.  Using the CBAA National Radio Network, delivering programs through a digital delivery system, the National Radio News is a 4-minute on-the-hour feature used by Capital 90.5FM at appropriately decided times each day (not every hour all day), and continues to be complemented by the existing WA & Local News Headlines at other times in the station programming.  The satellite link and associated digital delivery equipment have been funded by two grants won by Capital Community Radio, from the Community Broadcasting Foundation (CBF), which itself receives funding from the Commonwealth Government to support community broadcasting, doing this through a grants regime to good applications.

37.  25 November, 2008 - Capital 90.5FM launches a new Listener Survey, to ascertain listener views on the current program format, and guage an changes or improvements that may need to be implemented as the station moves into its second year of its permanent community broacasting licence.  The survey is also targeted at listeners on the Internet via the station's website "Listen Live" streaming link - this will help determine the strength of audience listening by the Internet streaming service that would be covered by any possible increase in the broadcast signal transmission power, if approval for that can be obtained from the licensing authority ACMA (the Australian Communications and Media Authority).

July, 2009 - LARGE GRANT APPROVED TO CCR BY THE WA LOTTERIES COMMISSION:  LotteryWest WA has approved a grant of a little over $136,000 to allow Capital 90.5FM to completely upgrade studio equipment to the latest digital operation, and providing two "on-air" studios and one "production" studio, in lieu of the current single "on-air" and single "production" studios.  Technical equipment will also have its own enclosed and secure room.  Building alterations will be required internally and a temporary studio will need to be created in our same premises away from the current studio area building and technical works.  It is hoped to begin the works prior to Christmas 2009.

4 August, 2009 - Capital 90.5FM has submitted an application to change frequency - to increase our coverage of the Perth metropolitan area.  Overwhelming support has come from a large range of listeners urging the granting of our application, many listeners stretching their options in order to pick up our signal, or resorting to the Internet to hear us "live streaming" on www.capitalcommunityradio.com.  The increase in the broadcast signal transmission power will come should we be granted the change of frequency, still on the FM band, by the licensing authority ACMA (the Australian Communications and Media Authority).11 July, 2010 - LotteryWest grant approval advice - funds to provide painting, replacement furniture and miscellaneous other costs for building renovations in preparation for the Digital Studio Equipment Upgrade project, which will follow immediately the above works and replacement carpeting is completed.

12 November, 2009 - CAPITAL 90.5FM TO MOVE TO 101.7FM:  The Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA) announces Capital Community Radio (CCR) as the successful applicant for allocation of the permanent community licence on Perth RA1 - 101.7MHz, thus providing CCR with the opportunity to have full coverage of the Perth metropolitan area.  CCR will relinquish their current Perth RA2 - 90.5MHz licence to take up the new licence, approx. mid 2010, once procurement, installation and commissioning of the required technical equipment is completed, and the agreements necessary for the transmission mast/tower location are finalised.  A red letter day for the volunteers and listeners to Capital 90.5FM.  Click here for the full media announcement by ACMA.  The Seniors of all the Perth metropolitan area can now look forward to "The Golden Years of Radio" on air on their radios.  Live streaming on the Internet to the world will of course continue.

18 May, 2010 - AN UPDATE OF PROGRESS WITH THE NEW DIGITAL STUDIOS (FUNDED BY A LOTTERIES WA GRANT), THE MOVE TO FROM 90.5FM TO 101.7FM (FOR FULL PERTH METRO AREA COVERAGE) AND DAB+ DIGITAL RADIO BROADCASTING AS WELL, ALL FOR CAPITAL COMMUNITY RADIO IN 2010:

(a) DIGITAL STUDIO EQUIPMENT UPGRADE:  work in the current studios building alterations is still underway with delays caused by various hurdles to overcome, and we moved on 18 April to a temporary on-air studio whilst our contracted broadcast engineer and volunteer station technicians begin the task to replace our very old studio technical equipment.  This will include modern state of the art digital studio equipment, including digital studio control desks in our studios.  Our modern vinyl record turntables and digital CD players will naturally be retained, and we will have three studios instead of two in the station premises at Wireless Hill Park.  Two of the studios are for on-air use (what you, as listeners, hear), the third studio is for production use.  The temporary studio is in the station premises, to be used over the coming months whilst those new studio rooms are built and the digital studio equipment and separate equipment racks room are installed.

(b) MOVING FROM 90.5FM TO 101.7FM:  planning has been underway since very soon after ACMA announced us as the successful applicant for the 101.7FM frequency last November, currently now being used on low power by one temporary licensees, Phoenix Radio for country music. Current expectations by ACMA will allow us to move to 101.7FM around August of 2010.  However a lot needs to be done, as we will also need to shift our transmitter equipment location from Wireless Hill Park in Ardross to the Walliston in the Darling Range, and with the studios remaining at Wireless Hill, provide a program link between Wireless Hill and the transmitter location.  Costs have been agreed and an agreement reached on 26 April, 2010 for a site in Walliston, and quotes accepted to allow purchasing link and transmission equipment costing between $55,000 and $80,000 (giving us considerable savings on our budget which is a little over $100,000) in total installed.  This equipment is not "off the shelf", requiring some time for delivery, once ordered in June, 2010.  The concluded agreement with the particular Darling Range radio mast operator has obtained the best financial and technical outcome in gaining access to an existing mast in the hills for our transmitter equipment.  It will also help contain future maintenance costs by providing full access to the site for our volunteer technical staff, and remote electronic access to the equipment for operational and fault finding purposes.

(c) DAB+ DIGITAL RADIO BROADCASTING:  Capital Community Radio has been advised that because our 101.7FM change from 90.5FM will bring us full Perth metropolitan area coverage, digital broadcasting will commence on our station once we have moved to 101.7FM, not before, with both our 101.7FM and digital radio broadcast (the same programs) then covering the same area.
In December, 2009, Capital Community Radio, because of its success in gaining the 101.7FM frequency, was added to the previous 2009 grouping of the other six Perth full metro area coverage community radio stations to benefit from a recent Australian Government funding agreement.  This is to provide for these stations to also broadcast in the new DAB+ Digital Radio format (listeners will require a DAB+ Digital radio to hear the broadcast, however the FM broadcast will continue indefinitely).  The studio end digital audio processing equipment is now scheduled to arrive at our station by the end of May, and is expected to be installed in some time later, whilst the transmission facility is being installed with that of all other stations, on the TEN10 (channel 10) mast at Walliston (on the Darling Range).  It is now estimated by the coordinating body for the community radio digital broadcast rollout that the digital format for Capital Community Radio will commence in October, sometime after our change to 101.7FM.

31 May, 2010 - Community Broadcasting Foundation grant approval for transmission equipment - funding of has been gratefully received for equipment required to allow Capital Community Radio to broadcast on 101.7FM.  This includes part funding for a transmitter priced at $47,000 plus GST, and a quality antenna.

31 May, 2010 - Radiothon 2010 raises another record - just over $20,000, for the first time, has been raised in the 2010 Radiothon, conducted for the first time from a Monday morning to Saturday lunch time, and held as usual, during May.  Another tremendous effort from our loyal band of listeners to "The Golden Years of Radio".

24 June, 2010 - Digital Radio Broadcasting - advice from the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA), who are project managing the cooperative effort to bring digital radio transmission to the full metro coverage community radio stations in Perth (including Capital Community Radio, soon to be on 101.7FM), that we should expect to be transmitting on DAB+ digital radio very soon after we move to 101.7FM.  DAB+ digital radio will also be full Perth metropolitan area coverage.  The studio end digital audio conversion equipment has already arrived at our station, ready for installation.  The community station transmission multiplexer for Perth stations will be at the NEW10 (TV channel 10) tower site in Walliston, and is scheduled to be installed over the third quarter of 2010.

5 July, 2010 - Wireless Hill for 101.7FM - the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has approved the broadcast transmission site for 101.7FM at Wireless Hill.  This is an interim arrangement to allow Capital Community Radio to switch from 90.5FM to 101.7FM as soon as practicable.  Our final preferred location for 101.7FM transmission is on the Darling Range, giving full quality sound throughout the Perth metropolitan area.  Broadcasting from Wireless Hill will give a much greater coverage of the metro area, but not all at full quality, however technical difficulties that ACMA need to have resolved to their satisfaction at our chosen Darling Range site (in Walliston) could mean considerable delay in us being able to reach our full audience in the metro area with a quality signal.  We are working to assist resolving the problem along with the other parties involved, to expedite our 101.7FMtransmission relocation to Walliston.

13 July, 2010 -  CAPITAL 90.5FM  TO BECOME  CAPITAL 101.7FM  ON 1 SEPTEMBER, 2010 - 6SEN Capital Community Radio is very pleased to advise that we will at last be changing to our new permanent community broadcasting licence on 101.7MHz on 1 September, 2010.  Thus we will finish transmission on 90.5MHz at midnight on Tuesday, 31 August, 2010, at which time the current temporary broadcaster on 101.7MHz (Country 101.7) will also cease broadcasting on 101.7MHz.  At 12.01am on Wednesday 1 September, the Capital Community Radio broadcast program with then begin on 101.7MHz.

1 September, 2010 -  WE HAVE NOW CHANGED BROADCASTING FROM 90.5FM TO 101.7FM - 6SEN Capital Community Radio is now a stronger, clearer signal for your reception in the Perth metropolitan area.  On 1 September, we commenced our new permanent community radio licence on 101.7MHz, replacing our low power permanent 90.5 licence, relinquished on 31 August.

Initially we are able to give you Capital 101.7FM transmission from Wireless Hill in Ardross, where we currently transmit on 90.5FM, (Wireless Hill is also the location of our station studios).  The transmitter location is expected to change some time later on to Walliston in the Darling Range, once other issues are resolved for us by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).  At Wireless Hill we are therefore restricted in how much power we can transmit, however we have been able to start at double the power we were transmitting on 90.5FM, and will gradually raise the power, thus increasing the coverage of the Perth metropolitan area with good quality signal - we hope this will over the coming months be able to reach a level of 10 times the power we had on 90.5FM.  When we move our transmission ultimately to Walliston, we can potentially treble that power level yet again from the limit we have at Wireless Hill.

We now look forward to great things with our ultimate coverage for the Seniors of the entire Perth metropolitan area on CAPITAL 101.7FM, progressively increasing over the coming months.

28 September, 2010 -  CAPITAL 101.7FM NOW USING NEW HIGH POWER TRANSMITTER & NEW 101.7FM TUNED ANTENNA - our station on Monday, 27 September at 3pm, switched over to our new high power 5 kilowatt (5Kw) transmitter (capable of broadcasting much higher from the antenna, known as "ERP"), supplied and installed at our Wireless Hill station studio building by N-Com Pty Ltd, of Brisbane (Queensland).  The transmitter is connected to the new broadcast antenna, tuned to 101.7FM, supplied and installed by Future Engineering & Communication, of Jandakot, WA, on our Wireless Hill radio mast on 20 September.  Underground cabling infrastructure between the studio building and the radio mast was provided by Access Infrastructure, of Jolimont, WA.

At 28 September the station was broadcasting at 4,000 watts (4Kw ERP) from our new antenna.  Unfortunately we received reports from listeners of increasing static/clipping/clicking noise over our program as the coverage power level has increased, largely inside residences, occasionally on car radios.  It would appear interference is being experienced and attempt were being made to identify the problem, and the station expected to report it to the Australian Communications and Media Authority for direction.  A pattern seems to be evolving where the problem seems to be in a ring of "middle-ring" Perth metro area suburbs approximately 10-15 Km radius of Wireless Hill.  Otherwise many wonderful reports of much improved reception and quality of signal being received at the station.

4 October, 2010 -  Now broadcasting on 101.7FM at 5000 watts -  to the whole Perth metropolitan area from studio & transmission facilities at Wireless Hill (coverage power on 90.5FM, before 1 September, was 500 watts!) - the maximum licensed power on 101.7FM has now been reached.  A much greater coverage reach being experienced by many new listeners, and the signal strength is strong enough to have a significant impact on the interference experienced by many listeners in the middle ring Perth metropolitan suburbs in the previous weeks (as per report below on 28 September - see also above report dated 5 October, 2010). 

In the meantime, we are now loud and clear throughout most of the Perth metro area, include our off-shore islands of Rottnest Island and Garden Island, and in the hills of the Darling Range.

5 October, 2010 - 101.7FM INTERFERENCE PROBLEM - interference is still being experienced, albeit in the background (particularly for those affected if they raise their volume to a high level), by those predominantly in the middle ring Perth metropolitan suburbs around our station - mainly 10-15Km from Wireless Hill.  A few cannot receive our signal on 101.7FM as a result, most do receive the program signal, with the noise in the background.  The interference issue has been reported to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).  In addition Capital 101.7FM's own volunteer technical personnel are actively doing tests in attempting to identify the source and to aid the removal of the interference.  It is expected, from what has been found already, that it may take actions by the ACMA to bring about some licence technical specification variations in order to remove the offending interference, thus some time will be required to pass to the time of remedial action.  Interference reports by listeners can be phoned to us following the instructions below in the report dated 28 September, 2010.

5 October, 2010 - A TECHNICAL OUTLINE OF THE COMING DIGITAL RADIO ROLLOUT FOR CAPITAL 101.7FM - An "informal listening test" by Professor Sverre Holm, reported by Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org), of DAB digital broadcasting in Europe (the forerunner to the laest DAB+ format adopted by Australia), has shown that for stationary listening the audio quality on DAB is lower than FM stereo, due to most stations using a bit rate of 128 kbit/s or less, with the MP2 audio codec, which requires 160 kbit/s to achieve perceived FM quality.  128 kbit/s gives better dynamic range or signal-to-noise ratio than FM radio, but a more smeared stereo image, and an upper cutoff frequency of 14 kHz, corresponding to 15 kHz of FM radio.  However, "CD sound quality" with MP2 is possible "with 256..192 kbps".

An upgraded version of the system, adopted by Australia, was released in February 2007, which is called DAB+.  DAB+ is approximately twice as efficient as DAB due to the adoption of the AAC+ audio codec, and DAB+ can provide high quality audio with as low as 64kbit/s.  Reception quality will also be more robust on DAB+ than on DAB due to the addition of Reed-Solomon error correction coding.  For detailed information on DAB+ digital broadcasting in Australia, click this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_radio_in_Australia.

5 October, 2010 - WHAT DOES THE COMING DIGITAL RADIO MEAN FOR CAPITAL 101.7FM LISTENERS - In Perth, commercial radio stations are using a multiplexor transmission facility based at the NEW10 (TV channel 10) television mast site in Walliston, and Perth's full metro community radio stations (including Capital Community Radio) will be sharing this multiplexor facility.  Community radio's bit rate allocation is 32Kbits for each station (on DAB+, 64Kbits is considered better than FM stereo).

The Federal Government has provided $10.1 Million in funding to help community broadcasters (through the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia - CBAA, who are project managing the implementation for community stations) with the costs of beginning digital broadcasts.  Capital 101.7FM is scheduled to be broadcasting in DAB+ Digital format (simultaneously with 101.7FM) in November, however delays being indicated are expected to make it sometime before Christmas 2010.  Listeners can peruse the range of digital radios available at retailers in Australia, by using this link:  www.digitalradioplus.com.au.

15 October, 2010 - INTERFERENCE TEST ON 101.7FM ON THURSDAY (14 OCTOBER) - The tests (see below - 8 October) proved the main source of the interference to our broadcast program, but also revealed our coverage power level being received in many suburbs was very deficient and not anywhere near what it should be given we were putting out 5,000 watts (5Kw).  This turns our attention to the previously recognised possibility of an antenna problem on the radio mast at Wireless Hill.  This is now to be looked at by the installers on Tuesday, 19 October.

20 October, 2010 - COVERAGE POWER & INTERFERENCE FAULT FOUND! - And fixed!  On Tuesday, 19 October, the professional staff of the antenna installation company spent 6 hours at the top of the Wireless Hill radio mast in a cherry picker, correcting issues and checking every design aspect of the antenna.  At 2pm, our "red letter day and time" finally arrived!  Full coverage power and the station studio premises phones running continuously with delighted and excited listeners from all over the Perth metropolitan area calling to express their pleasure at the very strong and quality stereo reception.  Capital Community Radio has finally returned to where they started in 2002, 101.7FM, with a "bang" (the station first began on 101.7 before then having to switch to 90.5 in 2003, whilst a temporary community broadcast licensee (TCBL).  Capital Community Radio (CCR) has been a permanent community radio broadcast licensee since 20 January, 2008, being a low power station for Perth's seniors covering the inner and middle ring suburbs and city of Perth.  The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) granted CCCR the permanent license for 101.7 on 5 November, 2009, and we finally transitioned to the new frequency on 1 September, 2010, after much detailed planning.

5 November, 2010 - DIGITAL RADIO (DAB+ FORMAT):  WHAT"S HAPPENING AT CAPITAL 101.7FM  - Digital radio broadcasting by Capital Community Radio will be in addition to the broadcast on Capital 101.7FM, and will be the same program content.  Currently Capital Community Radio is waiting provision of the link from Wireless Hill to the NEW10 (Channel 10) tower location in Walliston.  The Walliston location is central to the operation of digital radio for the commercial and community sector radio stations broadcasting to the full Perth metropolitan area - it is the location of the Multiplexor (MUX) used.  Our digital studio end interface equipment has already been installed by our volunteer technicians, and it is expected the MUX end transmission equipment at Walliston will soon be installed.

Community radio stations broacasting to the full Perth metropolitan area are all a part of the community station digital radio rollout, being managed by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) on behalf of the stations in Perth, and is being largely funded by Commonwealth Government funded grants distributed through the Community Broadcasting Foundation (CBF).  Capital Community Radio is grateful for the support being provided in bringing about digital radio broadcasting, and our volunteer technicians are also undertaking all the studio end equipment connectivity, testing and configuration, and commissioning.

Any currentl DAB+ digital radio available in retail stores will be able to bring you our digital radio broadcast once it begins.  Keep checking back here to get the latest information on a potential startup date for digital broadcasting by Capital Community Radio.  It is also noteworthy to report we will still also be broadcasting on Capital 101.7FM, reflecting our on-air identification.  FM radio will be the king of the radio broadcasting airwaves for 20+ years yet, the experts contend.

15 December, 2010 - ANOTHER UPDATE ON DIGITAL RADIO (DAB+ FORMAT) - The connection of Perth full metro community radio stations to the DAB+ digital radio broadcasting world took another step yesterday (14 December) with a TEST transmission of RTR (92.1FM) commencing on digital radio.  This is a test, predominantly using the usual RTR (arts type) program broadcast on 92.1FM.  It does give listeners a feel for what the sound is like and what to expect when Capital Community Radio adds its 101.7FM program to the digital radio world, expected over the next two months - we still await provision by Telstra of the all important link required to connect our studios at Wireless Hill to the DAB+ radio transmission facilities (for commercial and community stations) at the NEW10 (TV channel 10) mast site at Walliston (on the Darling Range, adjacent to Kalamunda).

22 December, 2010 - ANOTHER INCREASE IN BROADCAST POWER FOR CAPITAL 101.7FM, VERY SOON - The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), which is the Australian Government's authority which manages licensing of the broadcast radio and television industry, has approved an increase in transmission power by Capital 101.7FM, from our current 5 kilowatts up to 8 kilowatts.  Our planning is underway for this simple step technically, but one that needs some procedural steps to be followed.  We are targeting the change at midday on Monday, 17 January, 2011.  The change will be straight up from 5 to 8Kw, we are not required to step through stages as we did over 6 weeks after changing from 90.5FM on 1 September, 2010 and gradually moving from 1Kw to 5Kw.  The increase in power will help to improve a small number of reception pockets in the Perth metropolitan area that currently experience a less than satisfactory signal from us, and will help to increase the standard of reception in the Morley - Dianella area.

You’ll continue to hear us permanently in Perth, Western Australia on 101.7FM

 Many thanks, the team at Capital Community Radio Inc.