A Community Classic Turns 40

It’s Victoria’s oldest FM Station and it turns 40 today. On 1st July 1975 at 6.30pm with a burst of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, 3MBS arrived on Melbourne’s airwaves as Australia’s pioneer Community Broadcaster.

3MBS was conceived by music fan and radio engineer Brian Cabena in 1968 to address the lack of classical music being played. He wrote a letter to The Age newspaper, calling for interest in a listener-run classical music radio station. 200 people attended that first meeting and founded the Music Broadcasting Society of Victoria. With persistent lobbying of government ministers, community Fine Music station 3MBS finally acquired the first FM broadcast license granted in Victoria.

To celebrate their 40 years 3MBS will broadcast a special Illuminations program on Thursday from 8pm. It will take a trip down memory lane, recounting the past four decades – the people who fought for and brought the dream to life, the technological developments, the people and events that have shaped 3MBS’s evolution.