The origins and development of 3MBS

First 30 Years
To say that Elvis Presley caused 3MBS to be established might be drawing a long bow, but the increasing popularity of 'rock' music (Elvis, Beatles, etc) through the late 50s and 60s, led to a reduction in the amount of classical music played on the ABC and commercial stations in Australia.

Up until the early 1950s most radio stations employed orchestras to play music which included classical music. By the 1960s, only the ABC supported its own orchestra. But even the ABC had dramatically reduced the amount of classical music on air.

A music fan and radio engineer, Brian Cabena, was unhappy about being unable to listen to the music he liked on the radio - and he did something about it.

After much unsuccessful lobbying of radio stations, he turned his attention to the government. He argued that if the existing stations were not willing to program for classical music fans, the government should licence new stations that would.

In 1968, Cabena wrote a letter to The Age (click here to read letter) calling a meeting of anyone interested in pursuing the idea of a listener-run classical music radio station.

200 people turned up and the Music Broadcasting Society (MBS) of Victoria was born. The group spent years lobbying the government for what they called "listener controlled" radio.

The government rejected their approaches. The initial response from the government was that the AM band was full and the existing stations catered for the majority of listener needs. But Brian Cabena was persistent and eventually convinced the government that the FM band would work for metropolitan-wide broadcasting.

After a change of government in 1972, public, or what is now termed community broadcasting got off the ground. People from the Melbourne MBS station travelled to Sydney and started up a Sydney MBS which had the same aims: For people who liked classical music to volunteer to operate a radio station that would principally broadcast classical music.

2MBS went to air in late 1974 and Brian Cabena got 3MBS to air in July 1975. This extraordinary effort led to the development of a range of community radio stations catering for diverse interests across the country.

There are now over 300 stations that address the needs of geographic communities and Indigenous, ethnic, youth, disability, religious, specialist music and sexuality based interests.
All of these stations share share the aim of being volunteer operated, not dependant on government funding and catering for a particular 'community' of interest.

First licenced FM Station in Victoria
At 6.30pm on July, 1975, 3MBS played Carl Orff's Carmina Burana as its first licenced broadcast. It was not only the first community broadcaster to be heard in Victoria, but also the first radio station in the State to transmit on the newly established FM band.

The station was able to operate through subscription ($10 pa) contributed by all those who shared the need to have a station in Melbourne broadcasting classical music.

Right from the start, the station produced program notes about the music being broadcast and sent them to subscribers. 3MBS did not broadcast details of composers or performers. If listeners were curious about the music, it was station policy to only give details to subscribers.

The music presented was shrouded in mystery unless you were a subscriber and received the monthly programme guide, the predecessor to Libretto . Before a musical work began, the announcer, usually in austere tones, would inform those listening that “We will now hear item number 6”.

Despite this method of presentation, the subscription rate rose steadily and quickly, so that by the end of the first year of broadcasting 2,700 people were financially supporting the station.

The advent of ABC-FM in 1976 caused a drop in the number of subscribers to 3MBS but, as people realized that they could have the best of both worlds by switching from one station to the other in order to hear music to which they wished to listen, the subscriber base moved upwards again, so that by the 1980s 3MBS was financially secure.

Fought the Law
There was a hiccup in the station's development when the then Australian Broadcasting Tribunal (ABT) acted on complaints from some listeners that as non-subscribers, they should still be able to hear details about the music that was broadcast on 3MBS. The ABT, which issued licences to radio stations, ordered 3MBS to broadcast music details over the air. The station Board resisted this direction, claiming that it would lead to a loss of subscribers.

The ABT eventually threatened 3MBS with the removal of its licence. It asserted that the licence to broadcast implied that music details should be part of that broadcast and not just in a subscriber magazine. 3MBS relented and presenting these music details led to an overnight loss of almost one third of its subscribers.

The station recovered from this set back. Even though people could listen to the station without subscribing, many listeners realised that if they did not subscribe, the station would struggle to survive. The station invested more resources into subscriber benefits, such as the magazine 'Libretto'. The magazine included more than just music details. It soon contained articles, CD reviews and even a cross word.

Although the broadcast of classical music remained the station’s main objective, it was decided that other forms of “fine” music, insufficiently represented in other Melbournian radio station’s programmes, should be recognized; thus, 3MBS became host to popular jazz and world music programmes as well.

The late 80s were eventful for the station.

Better coverage
In 1989, the station's technicians relocated the station's transmitter from the Kew premises to Melbourne's main transmitter site at Mt Dandenong. From that point, subscription numbers rose to unprecedented levels. Unfortunately, the advent of higher powered transmission from other stations in 1992 started to cause interference to the 3MBS signal. This coincided with a slow decline in subscriber numbers. The station protested about the interference, but received little comfort from either the other stations or the regulatory authorities.

Arts City Radio
The late 80s also saw the station's volunteers consider a move to Melbourne's Arts Centre. There was a lot of interest in the move, which was eventually vetoed by members of 3MBS who feared that the station would lose its independance and autonomy.

Support for local music
From the early 90s, 3MBS took its charter to support local music seriously. In association with the Music Society of Victoria, the station developed the 3MBS Young Performers Award. In the year 2000, it developed a National Composer Award. The winning entry has been performed by Orchestra Victoria in Hamer Hall every year since then.

Apart from the broad spectrum of music presented, 3MBS has actively encouraged and supported the endeavours of local musicians, recording and later broadcasting their concerts and recitals and takes great pride in our Musicians-in-Residence programme, a position currently held by the superb Flinders Quartet. The station, through its Daily Arts Diary and Accidental Arts programme (Saturdays, 11.30 am), also draws attention to the enormous variety of other artistic activities enjoyed by our fellow Victorians.