The ABA has decided not to allocate a new AM community radio broadcasting licence in Sydney at this time. The service would have operated on the AM band at 1386 and had been expected to transmit from the troubled Homebush site.

The ABA has been trying to make the right decision about this frequency for some time. It was originally planned as a narrowcast licence, but was later changed to a community licence after a variation to the Sydney licence area plan in 2002.

The ABA received eight applications for the Sydney licence. The applicants were 2AMB – Australian Muslim Broadcasting Radio Inc, Australian-Arabic Unity Inc, Hellenic Australian Radio Inc, Islamic Council of New South Wales Inc, Outfm Inc, Radio Tarana Australian Pty Ltd, Sydney Christian Broadcasters Ltd and Sydney Harbour Radio Inc.

ABA Chairman David Flint said: “After giving careful consideration to the criteria laid down in the legislation and the information provided by the applicants, the ABA has decided in this case not to allocate the licence.”

The criteria the ABA had regard to included the existing and perceived future needs of the community, the nature and diversity of interests of that community and the capacity of the applicants to provide the proposed service.

In relation to the matter of financial capacity, the ABA noted how much more expensive and difficult setting up AM services is compared to FM services.

The ABA also decided not to make the frequency available for other broadcasting purposes, such as temporary community broadcasting licences, at this time, in light of concerns about the proximity of new residential developments to AM transmission towers in the Homebush area. The ABA will review the situation in 12 months.