Golden Days Radio - History

History

Golden Days Radio history goes back to June 1990 when Dom Iacono, registered an expression of interest with the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal for a “special interest licence” catering to the needs of senior citizens. He placed advertisements in suburban newspapers asking for interested persons to contact him with a view to forming an association for that purpose. Dom convened the first meeting of the group at the Bentleigh RSL. He invited Col Williams (who had already applied for a licence on behalf of the war veteran community) to join the group. Both men, together with Jack Burgesson, the then station engineer at 3SCB Moorabbin, formed a steering committee.

By early 1992 membership stood at around 40 and an application was made for a test licence. In September 1992 the first test broadcasts were made and went to air for 7 days at 10 hours per day. The subsequent conversion of the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal to the Australian Broadcasting Authority led to a change in categories of community broadcasting licensing and it became obvious that there would be considerable delay before a permanent licence would be issued. Progress continued however, and the first broadcast was made from premises provided by the VATC at Caulfield Racecourse using a rented transmitter in March 1994. A series of temporary restricted licences continued for several years. Sadly, Dom Iacono died in May 1996. He did not live to see the success of his labours, culminating in the granting of a full time licence in July 2001.