ABC NewsRadio

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For the American sitcom, see NewsRadio. For the American radio service, see ABC News Radio.

ABC NewsRadio is an Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio service devoted to delivering live and 24-hour news updates and information. The service is available on a number of broadcasts, including AM/FM radio.

Originally called the Parliamentary and News Network (PNN), the AM/FM radio network is chartered to broadcast live the proceedings of parliament, either the House of Representatives or the Senate, as specified by the standing orders. Also broadcast, at the end of each day's sitting, is a recording of Question Time for the chamber that was not broadcast live that day. These restrictions do not apply to the other broadcasts of Newsradio, or to new rural and regional transmitters in 2006 (see below)^{[citation needed]}.

Parliamentary broadcasting was commenced by Ben Chifley's government in the late 1940s. This received its own frequencies in the 1980s as PNN. The PNN/ABC NewsRadio service was introduced in August, 1994 to utilise the Parliamentary broadcasting frequencies which were not being used when Parliament was not in session.

ABC NewsRadio has a 24-hour news format, including extensive finance, science and IT reports, as well as extended reports from the ABC's local and international news sources. NewsRadio also rebroadcasts international programming from the BBC, DW-Radio, Radio Netherlands and All Things Considered from NPR. On AM and FM radio, NewsRadio also broadcasts Australian Football League matches on weekends in New South Wales and Queensland, where the National Rugby League is the more popular football competition and thus is broadcast on ABC Local Radio services in those two states.

ABC NewsRadio callsigns for stations on the AM radio band are always xPB, where x is the number denoting the particular state or territory and PB stands for Parliamentary Broadcasting. ABC NewsRadio stations on the FM radio band use callsigns of the format xPNN.

From September 2001, live audio streaming of the 24-hour news format was extended so that when Parliament is in session, listeners who have Internet access may still receive the NewsRadio service even when the NewsRadio network is broadcasting Parliamentary proceedings over the air. From 2004, this was extended to digital satellite.

In 2005 it was announced that up to seventy new NewsRadio stations would be rolled out across rural and regional areas of Australia. This roll out is scheduled to commence in 2006 and is expected to take three years. This expansion of ABC NewsRadio services will raise the percentage of the Australian population who can receive the NewsRadio signal from 78% to an expected 95%.

1 Frequencies
2 Other broadcasts
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Frequencies

The following carry parliamentary services, including Question Time, when parliament is in session. Australian Football League broadcasts may also interrupt news coverage.

Adelaide - 972 kHz AM
Brisbane - 936 kHz AM
Canberra - 103.9 MHz FM
Darwin - 102.5 MHz FM
Gold Coast - 95.7 MHz FM
Gosford - 98.1 MHz FM
Hobart - 747 kHz AM
Launceston - 92.5 MHz FM
Melbourne - 1026 kHz AM
Newcastle - 1458 kHz AM
Perth - 585 kHz AM
Sydney - 630 kHz AM
Tuggeranong - 99.9 MHz FM

[edit] Other broadcasts

The following carry 24-hour news coverage, without parliamentary or sport interruption.

Webcast (except during Olympics Games periods) - ABC NewsRadio webcast
Free digital radio (Melbourne only) - ABC Digital Radio
Free satellite radio - ABC Self-Help Satellite
Pay-TV cable or satellite radio (Foxtel and Austar) - tv channel 875 / radio channel 43

Free digital TV may also commence in future - radio channel 204

Podcasts of regularly recorded segments are also available at NewsRadio Podcasts.