Joy 94.9 - History

History

Under its original license name JOY Melbourne Independent Community Broadcasters Association, JOY 94.9 began its first test transmission on 1 December 1993 (World AIDS Day) in Melbourne on 90.7 MHz. JOY continued to broadcast via temporary test transmissions, mostly on a part-time basis sharing the 90.7 frequency with other community broadcasters.

Out of the approximately 20 aspirant community radio licensees in Melbourne, JOY Melbourne was one of only four to be granted a full-time broadcasting license in 2001 (the other broadcasters were SYN FM, Light FM and 3KND). In its application to the Australian broadcasting regulator (Australian Broadcasting Authority) JOY had applied for a community licence in both the Melbourne-Wide and lesser coverage Melbourne City coverage areas. However JOY Melbourne was successful in the Melbourne City license area where it succeeded against one competing applicant then known as City-FM (Refer to ACMA license report for official license allocations report).

JOY Melbourne commenced full-time broadcasting on its permanent license in January 2002 on its current frequency of 94.9 MHz.

In July 2008, after 14 years above a hardware store at 268 Coventry Street, South Melbourne, JOY 94.9 relocated to Level 9, 225 Bourke Street, Melbourne as part of the City of Melbourne's "City Village" initiative.