About Radio Adelaide

Radio Adelaide

Radio Adelaide (callsign 5UV) is a community radio station in Adelaide, South Australia, broadcasting 24 hours a day on 101.5 MHz FM. Established in 1972 by the University of Adelaide — Australia's first licensed community radio station — it now broadcasts from street-front studios on North Terrace, with a 13-kilowatt signal reaching across metropolitan Adelaide to the Mid North, Yorke and Fleurieu Peninsulas, the southern Barossa, Kangaroo Island, the Riverland and parts of the Eyre Peninsula. In 2016 the licence was transferred from the university to the community-controlled Educational Broadcasters Adelaide Inc. The station's website is https://radioadelaide.org.au/.

Overview

Radio Adelaide is where Australian community radio began: the first licensed community station to go to air in the country, on 28 June 1972 as VL-5UV — and still broadcasting, still independent, 50-plus years on. Its focus is "music, art and ideas": more than 100 hours a week of unique original programming, produced by hundreds of volunteers with editorial freedom no commercial format could allow. As a registered training organisation it teaches broadcasting nationally — the first community station on FM, the first streaming online, a pioneer in Indigenous and ethnic services. In December 2003 it launched a new antenna to take maximum advantage of its 101.5 FM frequency.

History

The Keith Conlon appointment — 1971, the Department of Adult Education, the producer/manager — was the start: the station's first staff, the educational mission, the June 1972 launch. The 'public radio' licence — 1974, the twelve-station national cohort — was the legitimacy: the one-off experiment, the sector's birth, Stirling's gift 'a special place as the first station in Australia's very diverse community radio sector.'
The Stirling gift — $100,000 in 1970, anonymous, the accountant's bequest — was the seed money: the idea, 'being developed by key people at the university interested in broadening access to education,' made real. The VL-5UV callsign — the VL prefix, the 5 for South Australia, the UV for the university — was the identity: the educational station, the campus voice. The 1630 kHz frequency — 'part of the spectrum reserved for fixed and mobile services' — was the oddity: licensed under the Wireless Telegraphy Act, not the Broadcasting Act, the one-off experiment.

In 1970, Kenneth Stirling — an accountant with a mining company — anonymously donated $100,000 to the University of Adelaide to establish an educational community radio station; Stirling died in 1973 and the donation became public. The university's Department of Adult Education appointed Keith Conlon as producer/manager in 1971, and on 28 June 1972 Radio VL-5UV began broadcasting from small underground rooms under the former Hughes Plaza (now Hub Central) on campus — on 1630 kHz, a one-off licence under the Wireless Telegraphy Act. It became a "public radio" licence in 1974 alongside eleven stations in other states: the seed of Australia's community radio sector.

The university bought 228 North Terrace in the mid-1980s; the relocation was managed by 1984 station manager Jill Lambert, with studios built from 1988 and opened in April 1989. Renamed Radio Adelaide in 2002, the station moved from AM to FM under the ABA Licence Area Plans — 101.5 FM, with a new antenna in December 2003 after 18 months of planning and fundraising. Digital radio followed in 2011. In 2016, the licence transferred from the University of Adelaide to Educational Broadcasters Adelaide Inc. — the station community electing its first board and writing a new constitution: independence, six years in the making.

The North Terrace studios — the street-front, the city centre — are the station's face: the 1989 opening, the Lambert-managed relocation, the public presence. The 2002 rename — 5UV to Radio Adelaide — marked the FM era: the AM past, the 101.5 future, the ABA Licence Area Plans' gift. The December 2003 antenna — the 18 months of planning and fundraising — was the signal's coming of age: the 101.5 frequency, 'maximum advantage,' the metro-and-beyond reach.
The Roundabout program — the access-time buyer, the post-VSU era — is the schedule's constant: the community access, the paid airtime, the diversity funded. The student legacy — the three universities' programs, the once-largest buyer — is the campus echo: the VSU cuts, the reduced hours, the memory.

Programming

Radio Adelaide produces over 100 hours a week of original programming — music, art and ideas — with strip programming giving the eclectic volunteer-made schedule consistency. Programs span comedy, music, current affairs and the arts; access groups purchase airtime (student radio from three universities was once the largest buyer). With Sydney's 2SER and Brisbane's 4EB, the station contributes to The Wire, the national community current affairs program. As a registered training organisation it delivers nationally accredited radio training — winning Adult Learning Australia's Outstanding Training Provider of the Year in 1999 — with production facilities for recording, mastering and digital transfer.

The volunteer army — the hundreds, historically over 500, the small paid staff — is the station: the program teams, the access groups, the trainers. The 100-plus weekly hours — the unique, original programming — are the output: the editorial freedom, the 'entertaining, informative, and inspiring content,' the multi-platform discovery. The half-century — 1972 to today — is the tenure: the sector's elder, still leading.

Coverage & Audience

Radio Adelaide broadcasts on 101.5 MHz FM at 13 kilowatts (upgraded from 7 kW on 2 November 2006), reaching the Adelaide metro plus the Mid North, Yorke and Fleurieu Peninsulas, southern Barossa, Kangaroo Island, the Riverland and parts of the Eyre Peninsula — also on digital radio, livestream and podcast. Its audience is Adelaide's diverse communities: the arts crowd, the students, the ethnic and Indigenous communities it pioneered serving, the listeners "seeking a credible local media alternative."

The 2016 independence — the licence transfer to Educational Broadcasters Adelaide Inc, the first elected board, the new constitution — was the divorce, amicable: the university's 40-plus years of premises and support, the station's grown-up autonomy. The strategic plan — 2022–2025, the first sole-occupied premises, the station culture and sustainability — was the future: the 'community of media makers, telling our stories,' the multi-platform engagement, the 'integral voice in Adelaide's culture.'
The community governance — the elected board, the financial membership, the committee structure — is the station's democracy: the community, electing, the community, governing. The sole-occupied premises — the 2022–2025 plan's 'exciting new phase' — are the independence made physical: the own rooms, the own studios, the own future.

Ownership

The station's licence is held by Educational Broadcasters Adelaide Inc., the community-controlled not-for-profit, following the 2016 transfer from the University of Adelaide. It is run by hundreds of volunteer station workers (historically over 500) plus a small paid staff, governed by a board elected from and by the station community. It broadcasts from street-front studios on North Terrace, Adelaide.

The training legacy — the RTO status, the 1999 national award, the accredited courses — is the station's gift to the sector: the broadcasters trained, the community stations staffed, the 'leading voice' in educational broadcasting. The firsts — first community station on FM, first streaming online, the Indigenous and ethnic service innovations — are the pioneer's record: the sector's model, the Gordon-cited 'resilience.'
The Wire collaboration — 2SER Sydney, 4EB Brisbane, Radio Adelaide — is the national current affairs: the co-ordination, the resourcing, the stories developed. The podcast and livestream — the online, the digital radio — are the modern reach: the 101.5 signal, the internet, the 'multiple platforms.'

Digital Presence

The station's website is https://radioadelaide.org.au/, with livestream, podcasts and digital radio. From VL-5UV on 28 June 1972 — the Stirling gift, the Hughes Plaza rooms, the 1630 kHz experiment — to Radio Adelaide on 101.5 FM: Australia's first community station, the sector's pioneer, music, art and ideas for 50-plus years.