About 7TAS 97.7 FM Tasman FM

7TAS 97.7 FM Tasman FM

Overview

Tasman FM is a volunteer-run community radio station broadcasting on 97.7 FM to the Tasman Peninsula in south-eastern Tasmania. It operates under the ACMA community broadcasting callsign 7TAS and holds the community service licence for the Tasman Peninsula RA1 licence area, transmitting from Mt Koonya.

The station is unmistakably local in character. Its presenters are community volunteers who bring their own music collections to the studio, and its schedule is built around the tastes and interests of a small, close-knit coastal community. Programming mixes live local shows with recorded segments, and in the hours when no local presenter is on air the station takes programming from the Community Radio Network, the satellite program service shared by Australian community stations. Tasman FM is listed in the Tasman Connect community directory — the service directory for the Tasman Peninsula — as a volunteer-run station that helps locals find out what is on in the community, providing local news and highlights alongside entertainment.

History

Tasman FM's existence is rooted in federal radio planning for the Hobart region. The Australian Communications and Media Authority's Licence Area Plan – Hobart Radio, determined in December 2001, set aside a community broadcasting service for the Tasman Peninsula: service licence number SL1150788, on 97.7 MHz, with a transmitter site at Mt Koonya on the peninsula. The plan's technical specification for the service (TS10010801) provides for a maximum antenna height of 21 metres, mixed polarisation and an effective radiated power of 1 kW in all directions — a facility sized for the peninsula rather than for the Hobart market. That planning decision created the framework within which the peninsula's own community station operates today.

The station was established early enough to be recorded in the University of Tasmania's Companion to Tasmanian History, which names Tasman FM among Tasmania's local community stations, in company with services such as Huon FM and Launceston's City Park Radio, in its survey of Tasmanian broadcasting.

The station has continued to develop in the digital era. Its current website offers a live stream, an events calendar for the local area and online membership. In 2019 Tasman FM was among the community stations thanked by Australian independent musicians for playing their music: the country musician Gav Brown listed "Tasman FM 97.7 Nubeena Tas" in a shout-out to the radio stations that had supported his Sound Circus and Road Less Travelled releases, reflecting the station's role as an outlet for Australian recordings that receive little commercial airplay. The Nubeena reference in that listing matches the station's local identification: Nubeena, a fishing village on Parsons Bay about 103 kilometres south-east of Hobart, is the seat of Tasman Council and the peninsula's main town, and its Wikipedia entry records that the town is served by 97.7 Tasman FM.

Programming and Content

Tasman FM's programming is presenter-driven. According to the station, its dedicated broadcasters bring their own music collections to the airwaves, which gives the schedule its variety: the station promotes genres including 1960s rock and roll, old-style country, jazz and songs of worship among its offerings. Shows feature local DJ personalities presenting music they know and love, rather than a centrally formatted playlist.

Around the locally presented hours, the station airs recorded segments, and after hours it broadcasts Community Radio Network programming. The Community Radio Network is the program-sharing service through which Australian community stations distribute shows to one another by satellite and download, so its presence in the schedule ensures the frequency is never silent and connects peninsula listeners to programs produced by the wider Australian community broadcasting sector.

Local information is the other half of the station's role. The Tasman Connect directory describes the station as a way for locals to find out what is happening in the community, with local news and highlights, and the station's website maintains an events calendar covering activities across the area. In a district of small towns and scattered settlements — Nubeena, Port Arthur, Taranna, Eaglehawk Neck and the surrounding localities — that community noticeboard function is a significant part of the service.

Audience and Reach

Tasman FM's licence area is the Tasman Peninsula, the area served by Tasman Council, south-east of Hobart. It is a small audience in population terms: Nubeena, the peninsula's largest settlement and the seat of the council, recorded a population of 362 at the 2021 census, and the peninsula's towns are small communities supplemented by holiday homes and a large flow of visitors drawn to the Port Arthur Historic Site and the Tasman National Park coastline.

The station's transmitter at Mt Koonya is authorised at 1 kW effective radiated power, a facility planned to cover the peninsula's communities. The signal travels further in favourable conditions — radio hobbyists compiling reception lists in Kingston, south of Hobart, have logged 7TAS Tasman FM on 97.7 — and the station's online stream removes the geographic limit entirely.

The station publishes no audience measurements, and none are collected for a licence area of this size; its audience is the peninsula community itself, together with visitors and online listeners.

Digital Presence

Tasman FM's website, tasmanfm.com.au, is the station's digital home. It carries the station's live broadcast stream, allowing anyone to listen online, along with an events calendar for the local community and an online membership form for supporters who want to join the station, with a paper form available on request for those who prefer it.

The station is also listed on the TuneIn streaming platform, which carries it as "Tasman FM Peninsula Radio" among its Hobart-area streams, and it appears in the Tasman Connect online service directory alongside other peninsula community organisations, with its phone number and email address published for community contact.

Ownership and Organisation

Tasman FM holds a community broadcasting licence — service licence SL1150788 — issued under the Broadcasting Services Act for the Tasman Peninsula RA1 licence area. Community licences in Australia are held by not-for-profit community organisations, and Tasman FM fits that model: the Tasman Connect directory describes it plainly as a volunteer-run radio station.

The station is supported by its community in the ways typical of small Australian community broadcasters. Its website thanks the local businesses and individuals whose support it receives, and membership is open to the public — the station actively invites listeners to become members, either through the online form on its website or by requesting a paper copy. Its volunteer presenters double as the station's public face, and community members with an interest in broadcasting are encouraged to share their passion with the community through the station. The Tasman Connect directory makes the same point from the community's side, describing broadcasting at the station as a skill locals can learn while sharing their interests with their neighbours, and listing the station among the peninsula's volunteering opportunities as well as its services.

Contact and Availability

Tasman FM broadcasts on 97.7 FM across the Tasman Peninsula, Tasmania, and streams live through its website at tasmanfm.com.au, where its events calendar and membership form can also be found.

The Tasman Connect community directory lists the station's phone number as (03) 6250 1000 and its email address as tasman7184@gmail.com — the 7184 postcode in the address being that of Nubeena, the peninsula's main town. Community groups wishing to promote local events, and residents interested in membership or presenting, can contact the station through these details or via its website.