2KY/Sky Sports Radio celebrates 100 years of broadcasting

October 31^st marked another huge milestone in Australian radio.

It’s now 100 years since 2KY made its debut.

When the station first went to air from the Trades Hall building in Sussex Street, Sydney in 1925, the walls were covered with hessian bags for soundproofing.

Last Friday, a special celebration was held to mark the centenary, where former New South Wales Premier Barrie Unsworth addressed staff, past and present:

“The radio station would not have succeeded without all our colleagues many of whom are here today, thank you for all your efforts and comradeship over the years.”

It was Emil Voight (main photo) – an Englishman who came to Australia in 1911 – who established the station.

Voight was a gold medallist in the 5-mile race at the London 1908 Olympics and a master engineer. He worked at the research bureau of the Labour Council of New South Wales.

Voight took a trip to the US came back with an enthusiasm for radio.

He convinced the Labor Council to form its own station becoming the first union owned radio station in the world giving a voice to the Labor movement in New South Wales.

2KY enjoyed many firsts, including the broadcasting of parliament, ringside boxing, Australian radio serials with Australian actors, music on Sundays and narrowcast broadcasting services. It was also first to develop and test digital audio broadcasting.

However, broadcasting racing’s three codes has been its lifeblood for the second half of these 100 years, starting with night-time harness racing in1949 and taking over the full broadcast from 2GB in 1974.

The Labor Council sold 2KY in 2000 to the NSWTAB, which was then sold to Tabcorp in 2007.

In 2009 Tabcorp – which also owned Sky Channel – changed its name to Sky Sports Radio.

Voight and the station’s first announcer Herbert Beaver (pictured above) could never had envisaged that what they created would still be going strong today.

Voight died in Auckland in 1973 at the age of 90. His Olympic gold medal sold at auction in 2005 for $12,000.

A further celebration of the 2KY Centenary – acknowledging the station’s many milestones – will be held in Sydney this Sunday, November 9^th.

Images supplied.