2FBI

FBi
City of license	Sydney
Frequency	94.5 FM
First air date	August 29, 2003
Format	no set playlist
ERP	10 Kw
Class	Community
Callsign meaning	2=New South Wales Free Broadcast Incorporated
Affiliations	CBAA
Owner	Free Broadcast Inc.
Website	http://www.fbiradio.com/

2FBI (identified on air and in print as FBi) is an independent, not-for-profit community radio station in Sydney, Australia. FBi places a heavy emphasis on local alternative music: it has a policy that at least 50 per cent of its music content is to be Australian, of which at least half comes from Sydney musicians. FBi Radio was the first radio station in the world to play bands such as Wolfmother, Muscles and Angus & Julia Stone. After making a series of short-term broadcasts over some ten years, FBi Radio was granted a permanent licence by the Australian Broadcasting Authority in 2002. A failed takeover attempt by one of the losing bidders for the permanent licence, Wild FM (a more commercially-oriented dance music station) pushed FBi's full-time 24/7 broadcast to August 2003.^[1] In November 2006, FBi’s 'Sunset' program won the Best Radio Show award at the national Australian Dance Music Awards. ^[2] In September 2007, the Australian Labor Party chose FBi as the platform to announce its electoral commitment to resume funding for the Australian Music Radio Airplay Project.^[3] FBi's current president is Cassandra Wilkinson, author and senior public servant and freight expert in the New South Wales Government^[4]

Reach & Format

FBi is understood to be Sydney's only independent youth radio station, broadcasting across the city with a signal strength as large as its commercial rivals - reaching Gosford, Blue Mountains and Wollongong. Ratings published in July 2007 showed that FBi's audience was around 220,000 a week. ^[5] Its music policy is 50% Australian, half of that from city.^[6].

Broadcasters

FBi broadcasters have included many individuals from the Australian music and entertainment industries including: DJs & Musicians: Ajax, Kid Kenobi, Mark Dynamix, Deepchild, Pimmon (aka Paul Gough), Bruno (Peabody) Broadcasting: Linda Marigliano (Triple J); Jaimie Leonarder / Jay Katz (former SBS Film Critic), Triple J and former SBS Film Critic Marc Fennell; comedian / filmaker Dan Ilic (The Ronnie Johns Half Hour, Channel 10) Industry: Stuart Coupe (Laughing Outlaw), Andrew Levins, manager of Diplo's 'Heaps Decent' label, DJ and promoter, Cyclic Defrost editor Matthew Levinson; Fat Planet blog editor Stuart Buchanan.

Studios

The studios of FBi are located in Botany Rd., Alexandria, in the same building as the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia.

Staff

FBi is predominantly a volunteer-based organization. This is becoming much less so as the radio station is receiving more and more sponsors making it possible for jobs which were volunteer roles to now have wages.

References

External links

• FBi Radio official website