Australia’s first stereo radio station celebrates

For 50 years Sydney has been listening to the tunes and chat of 2MBS Fine Music Sydney, broadcast from its St Leonards studio. The popular radio station is powered predominantly by volunteers, and is known as a premier broadcaster of fine music.

It was actually Australia’s first stereo radio station, which debuted on the airwaves in December, 1974. It plays a mix of classical, jazz, blues, world, folk, ambient and other contemporary music.

Broadcaster Michael Morton-Evans has been with the station for 15 years and presents the Fine Music Drive program every alternate Tuesday. An accomplished journalist, Michael is about to publish the history of 2MBS, The Experiment that Lasted Half a Century.

He says the station was a ‘crazy concept,’ and the creators had no idea whether it would work. “At one stage we toyed with the idea of working from and broadcasting out of a caravan,” he explains.

He has been working on the book for the last eight months. “It’s more stories about how the station came into being,” Michael says, explaining that the people who put it together were fascinating. “It’s amazing that it was only an experiment, but it grew and grew and grew.

“I believe it’s unique in the world in a sense that it’s the only radio program station that broadcasts 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and is completely volunteer-run without any money from the government.

“It’s an extraordinary story.”

The station is entirely listener supported, and those listeners are both here in Australia and across the world. It features a variety of broadcasters, including Julie Simonds, a music editor, composer and music arranger; and Simon Moore, who received the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2021 for his services to broadcasting and the community.

To celebrate the historic birthday milestone, the station will air a special retrospective broadcast at midday on 15 December, exactly 50 years to the hour since the first broadcast. There will also be an open day on 1 February at the St Leonards studio, where the public can tour the station, meet the presenters, make an on-air request or record a message.

There will be special messages from famous musicians and international personalities and musical ‘stings’ have been recorded for broadcast.

The station will also unveil a new logo as part of the celebrations.

To join in the festivities, tune your radio to 102.5FM, download the 2MBS app, or listen via the internet at: 2mbsfinemusicsydney.com