3AW

3AW is a talkback radio station based in Melbourne. It is broadcast on 693 kHz AM. It began transmission on 22 February 1932 as Melbourne's fifth commercial radio station.

The station is owned and operated by Macquarie Radio Network

History

3AW was created when a company formed by Allans, J.C. Williamson's and David Syme (then publishers of The Age newspaper) was granted a radio broadcasting licence, with the first broadcast on 22 February 1932. The "AW" in 3AW comes from the names of part-owners "Allans" and "J. C. Williamson". 3AW's first studio was situated in His Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne (now Her Majesty’s Theatre).

3AW's original broadcast frequency was 1425 kHz and changed to 1280 kHz on 1 September 1935 as part of a national reshuffle of the radio broadcasting spectrum. On 23 November 1978 the station changed to 1278 kHz with the introduction of 9 kHz spacing on the AM band. Due to poor reception problems, at 7:15 a.m. on 1 May 2006, 3AW swapped with its sister station Magic 1278 to its present frequency of 693 kHz. The station's broadcast signal originates from a transmitter in Werribee.