A number of people ask us where the name Radio 16 comes from. Back when Radio 16 first got going it was originally intended to be a network of stations covering various regional areas and Sydney on 1611 am, hence “16”.
During discussions for the lease of these frequencies we did some research and realized that simply no one listens to off band stations primarily because they are plainly not on the broadcast band and receivable by the majority of radio’s. Whilst this might seem like common sense there were all sorts of urban myths thrown at us about pushing the dial to the end and the 1% of radio’s that go up that far. Every test we did all we could hear was electrical noise from every surrounding electronic device (like the computer in every home!), it seems AM wants to be be bang on the dial and if its not forget it.
Asking people about these “ghost” stations that their owners had talked up was just met with blank stares. We looked at the wealth of commercially available data demonstrating the sharp decline in AM listening since the 1970’s and realized why. We decided running such stations would just be a waste of electricity.
Not to be disheartened we compared the concept of internet only broadcasting and data like the $4 Million “Enduring concepts Communications and media in Australia” report prepared by the ACMA and it became clear that Australians were looking to the Internet for their media almost exclusively.
Deciding we wanted people to actual listen to us we opted for the Internet! (a non-brainer). We liked the name “Radio 16” so decided to keep it.
Radio 16 has become the name of true innovation in the Hunter Region being the first station to show real time listening figures not based on presenters or owners talking up who is actually listening; but computer accurate logs of exactly who listened and when.