Welcome to the 1WAY FM 30th Anniversary Celebration page.
HISTORY
A brief history of the station from someone who has been with 1WAY FM for many, many years – David Lee, our current Board Chairman.
1992 we were broadcasting as Radio Rhema in the Canberra region. Our licence was temporary and we broadcast on and off, more off than on. It was like two weeks on-air (24/7), 1 month off air. We were on frequencies 107.1 and 105.5 in the early days. Initially, we were on the first floor in a building in Jamison. We had 3 CD players (2 in the studio), a cassette player, a cartridge player and a reel-to-reel tape player. There were 2 computers in use, one for the programme director and one for the manager.
The founder of Canberra Christian Radio was Warren Rout. He was the first Manager and he was also frequently on-air as we had very few volunteers back then. I remember going in to do the shift after Warren one Sunday afternoon and we were chatting in the studio and he put on a CD, as it was on the printed schedule, THAT was a bit lively for Sunday arvo. A misprint/typo by Rosie we suspected, but by golly, the studio was a rockin! (He just played what was on the printed paper list, made by Rosie at the time).
After a few years, we had to shift to a large (long & skinny) shipping container outside the Belconnen Church of Christ. We had acquired about this time about 1000CDs of music and probably about 5 Christmas CDs (donated, given by artists and bought). However, over the years that number grew very quickly as we became more widely known.
We were still broadcasting on a temporary licence with different frequencies, but now we were on air for more on than off. We acquired another piece of technology for the studios at the time, a Sony mini optical/magnetic disc thingy. It never really took off commercially, but we had one to add to our collection of music playing equipment. I think we used this mini disc to quickly record and quickly play promos, jingles etc.
Around 2000, with the then Manager Colin Sampson from New Zealand (from Radio Rhema NZ or Rhema NZ) we moved into our current upstairs floor at 1 Lithgow Street, Fyshwick. The business Southside Lighting (ground floor), who owned the building supported our Christian radio station at the current location. We also obtained our “permanent” licence to broadcast 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year (community licence to be renewed every 5 years).
Shifting into 1 Lithgow Street, we also considerably upgraded our systems, computers, sound desk, etc, BBC links and I think we had some other feeds/links active too (Australia wide). Not sure when we started broadcasting 94.3 into Tuggeranong from Isaacs ridge. Initially, we were broadcasting from a small transmitter array thingy off Black Mountain tower, I think the transmitter was on a level two above the viewing platform. Costs forced us to be located at Poppet hill in Kowen forest (East of Queanbeyan) but then various cost & technical issues along with very patchy reception in black spots around Canberra, required us to return to Black Mountain Tower. However, this time we broadcast from the main high array and joined 3 community radio stations in relocating back to Black Mountain Tower.
In the years since 2000, we have had several managers, many of whom were locals.
TOP SONGS OVER THE YEARS
1992
The Great Adventure – Steven Curtis Chapman
Everything Changes – Kathy Troccoli
I Will Be Here For You – Michael W. Smith
1993
The Rhyming Song – Colin Buchanan
Shout to the Lord – Darlene Zschech