The Australia Broadcasting Authority recently formed the opinion that RAW FM falls within the radio narrowcasting category.
The decision allows the NSW central coast station to program a format aimed towards dance music enthusiasts for the licence period of 5 years.
Music is the predominant element on RAW FM and features the various styles of dance music including House, Techno, Trance, Hip Hop and RnB.
The Director of RAW FM, Angy Nacson, has “over 30 years experience in the dance music industry” and has brought together “a team of high profile and local DJs who each week sift through a profusion of dance charts from Australia and around the world.”
The result “is a fresh & raw dance music narrowcast service which sounds totally different to mainstream radio.”
Nacson, who has served on the Board of ASTRA (Australian Subscription Television & Radio Association) for the past 4 years, has developed his RAW FM service “to stand comfortably alongside commercial & community services.”
He told radioinfo” “99.1 RAW FM has been operating on the NSW Central Coast since December 1999. The Coast’s two Commercial Stations, Sea FM and 2GO, provide a strong service with general appeal to a wide audience covering news, weather, Breakfast and Drive-time shows, etc, and a variety of music styles. On RAW FM, our focus is dance music and related information — with little or no talk — which means our playlist has to contain three times as many tracks as commercial stations.
“The Community stations on the Central Coast generally target an over-40’s market with programming which caters to the tastes and interests of this particular audience.
“Right from the start, even though we only covered a small area, we wanted our station’s branding to sound big, fresh and professional, so we enlisted the talents of international Award-winning audio producer Trevor Hall from 25/8. RAW FM has successfully integrated this professional image with an edgy ‘underground’ feel which is an important part of its appeal to our listeners,” said Nacson.
RAW FM has support “from a loyal base of active members – there are over 4500 young people currently on our database, which is only representative of our total listenership. We have found these members to be ‘early-adopters’ – people who usually set the trends in the area.”
“Research has shown that these listeners would have previously listened to CDs, etc, to keep in touch with the latest in dance music. RAW FM has met a need in the market by selecting the best latest releases to play on air, and has attracted these listeners back to radio,” says Nacson.
“This great news has given the RAW FM Crew the security and confidence to move forward in developing this totally Australian-owned narrowcast network.”