ABC NewsRadio

ABC NewsRadio is an Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio service devoted to delivering live and 24-hour news updates and information. The service is available on a number of broadcasts right around Australia, including AM/FM radio, some pay-TV platforms and online via the Internet.

Originally called the Parliamentary and News Network (PNN), the AM/FM radio network is chartered to broadcast live the proceedings of parliament, either the House of Representatives or the Senate, as specified by the standing orders. Also broadcast, at the end of each day's sitting, is a recording of Question Time for the chamber that was not broadcast live that day. These restrictions do not apply to the other broadcasts of Newsradio (nor to newly-commissioned rural and regional transmitters in 2006 (see below), although this is not exploited).

Parliamentary broadcasting was commenced by Ben Chifley's government on 10 July 1946, on ABC Radio. These broadcasts received their own frequencies in the 1980s as PNN. The PNN/ABC NewsRadio service was introduced in August 1994 to utilise the Parliamentary broadcasting frequencies which were not being used when Parliament was not in session.

ABC NewsRadio has a 24-hour news format, including extensive finance, science and IT reports, as well as extended reports from the ABC's local and international news sources. NewsRadio also rebroadcasts international programming from the BBC, DW-Radio, Radio Netherlands and All Things Considered from NPR. On AM and FM radio, NewsRadio also broadcasts Australian Football League matches on weekends in New South Wales and Queensland, where the National Rugby League is the more popular football competition and thus is broadcast on ABC Local Radio services in those two states.

ABC NewsRadio callsigns for stations on the AM radio band are always xPB, where x is the number denoting the particular state or territory and PB stands for Parliamentary Broadcasting. ABC NewsRadio stations on the FM radio band use callsigns of the format xPNN.

ABC NewsRadio also uses resources from around the world such as news bulletins and programs from the BBC.

From September 2001, live audio streaming of the 24-hour news format was extended so that when Parliament is in session, listeners who have Internet access may still receive the NewsRadio service even when the NewsRadio network is broadcasting Parliamentary proceedings over the air. From 2004, this was extended to FTA digital satellite and subscription TV services. In 2009, separate standard and parliamentary feeds were launched on digital terrestrial (DAB+) radio.

FM transmission was expanded greatly during a 2006-2009 program. It planned to increase the AM/FM coverage from 78% of the population to 95%.