In J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books there’s a secret magical railway platform at King Cross Station. Platform 9 3/4 isn’t easy to find if you’re not a wizard. Newcastle’s radio station 1629 isn’t quite as difficult, but you must have the right kind of radio to receive it. Many radio receivers – including some in popular makes of car – only receive AM stations as far up the dial as 1610 or 1620.
That’s a headache for the station’s owner, Barry Parsons, who laments the difficulties that 1629 faces in a changing world. If only – back 30 years ago when the licence was being applied for – the operators hadn’t jumped so eagerly to accept the “narrowcast” licence that was offered. If only they had applied earlier than they did to shift over to the FM band. If only the FM band wasn’t already so congested in the Newcastle area. If only AM reception wasn’t being so badly affected by the proliferation of rooftop solar and other electrical innovations. If only the Australian Communications and Media Authority was a little more sympathetic and helpful . . .
For Barry it’s a very frustrating situation, but he carries on the best he can, juggling the station with his other interests and doing all he can to keep it on the air. The 73-year-old operates a demanding business fitting out cinemas and maintaining projection equipment for customers all over the Eastern States. He devotes time to his ham radio hobby and he also owns two other “serious” radio stations, ACE FM at Valla Beach and Vintage FM at Camden.
Keeping 1629 on the air would be impossible without help from enthusiastic volunteers, but even those have dwindled in recent years. The station still has about 16 presenters, but Barry is eager to hear from other people who might like to curate their own programs or contribute in other ways. He’d love somebody to help on the information technology side, for example, and also to take on the management of social media. And, since the station is classed as “commercial” and can receive no government funding – as it might if it were classed as “community” – a few more sponsors would be very welcome too, to join the small group of loyal and greatly valued financial supporters already on board. The station’s listener base is relatively small, but definitely loyal. When it promoted AM receivers that were guaranteed to pick up its signal it sold nearly 600 during the promotion period.
The station operates out of a converted house in suburban Cooks Hill which boasts three studios and other facilities and which relays to 2HD’s backup tower at Sandgate. A handful of presenters run their programs from the studio, but most these days do it all from home, using their own computers, microphones and software to produce and package their entire sets. Under its licence conditions, 1629 is required to cater to an audience of “over 50s” and to play music to suit that demographic. Barry’s personal preference is “easy listening”.
How did 1629 begin? According to Barry, at least part of the original impetus came from former ABC presenter Brian Blacklock, who managed to get permission to set up a radio station to cater to hospital patients in Newcastle. With that precious permission in his hands, he needed technical help to get the project off the ground. The obvious person to approach was Newcastle’s legendary electronics wizard and sound engineer Alan Bourne.
Alan Bourne was a remarkable character; inventive, industrious, imaginative but also unassuming. Born and educated in Newcastle, he apparently worked on radar installations near Darwin during World War 2 before coming back to Newcastle and melding his loves for music and electronics into his company, Bourne Electronics – later to be known as Associated Sound Newcastle. An interesting article about him can be found here.
When the stage hypnotist, “the Great Franquin” (the stage name of New Zealander Frank “Pat” Quinn), toured Australia in the 1950s he proved a sensation. After wowing audiences in Brisbane and Sydney in 1950, Franquin had hoped to play Melbourne next, but the lack of an available venue led him to bring his show to Newcastle, where he opened at the 3500-seat boxing stadium in Newcastle West (now the site of Markettown shopping centre). His show was a huge success, and it may have been here that he met and formed a lasting association with Alan Bourne, who during the 1950s provided and maintained the venue’s sound and PA equipment.
According to Franquin’s biography, when he returned to Newcastle in 1954, “where electronics wizard Alan Bourne offered to design and organ specially for the show”. After handling sound and PA for the Royal Visit of that year, Alan joined Franquin for the rest of his Australian tour, completing the “Franbourne” organ on board a ship en route to Perth.
Those who knew Alan Bourne describe him as indefatigable, a veritable whirlwind of creativity and entrepreneurialism. His expertise in the fields of wireless and radio, in music, in cinema technology and sound engineering made him a go-to man for anybody with problems and projects in those fields. He installed sound equipment and public address systems, including those used during the 1954 Royal Visit to Newcastle, and he got to know many big names in entertainment while installing and maintaining sound gear at the old Newcastle Stadium in Newcastle West. He was also reputed to be a very canny businessman, sealing lucrative deals at the same time as he was scooping up equipment from ex-military disposal sales.
Bourne Electronics produced records from studios at Alan’s home in Dawson Street, Cooks Hill, and he developed the Australian-built electronic organ. Alan was an accomplished musician in his own right and newspaper articles refer to him building his own organs as early as 1951. According to Barry, 29 “Bourne Organs” were sold, several to Hunter Region churches, and famous organist Wilbur Kentwell used one on at least one of his record albums.
Barry Parsons started working for Alan Bourne in 1968. His parents had a shop on the corner of Bull and Darby Streets, Cooks Hill, and he had been intrigued by the hive of activity at Bourne’s nearby home. That’s hardly surprising. The Dawson Street house contained recording studios, a small cinema and superbly equipped workshops where Alan Bourne created his inventions and repaired equipment.
Barry started off sweeping the floors but soon was helping out with other tasks and, before he knew it, he was on the road as the company’s service technician for the Yamaha organs Alan Bourne maintained. In those days electronic organs were incredibly popular, having taken over from pianos as a home entertainment option. And Newcastle, it seems, was particularly partial to organs. According to Barry, one Newcastle retailer – Vince Millington – sold more organs than every dealer in the state of Victoria combined. In time the organ fad faded, and Barry found himself working more and more on the cinema equipment side of the business, travelling huge distances to maintain projection and sound gear and, later, to help cinemas convert to digital.
Not surprisingly, given his interests, Alan Bourne always dreamed of operating his own radio station. According to one old friend, his original idea was to have a station that catered to people – like himself – who loved radio as a hobby and who shared his taste in “easy listening” style music. The stars began to align for this idea in the late 1980s and in the early 1990s he bought at auction a large lot of equipment being discarded from the ABC’s Newcomen Street premises. When Brian Blacklock managed to get a narrow-cast licence what emerged was the entity originally known as HRN – Hospital Radio Newcastle – with a charter to entertain hospital patients. Over time this morphed slightly into the “over-50s” format now familiar to 1629’s listeners.
Alan Bourne died in 2012, leaving his businesses to his long-time loyal employee and associate Barry Parsons.
This brings us back to where we began with this story: Barry keeping the station alive – despite its limitations – and the need for more people to be aware of 1629 and for more people to consider contributing to its operation. Meanwhile, Barry is still hoping he might somehow win some support from the bureaucrats and politicians to take 1629 onto the FM band. “If they wanted to find a frequency they’d find one,” he said. “There are about 25 possibilities that I’m aware of that could be explored.”
If you want to listen to the station you can find it on the AM band or listen to the internet streaming service, Radion 1629am Newcastle, on I-Heart.
If you would like to contribute in any way to Radio 1629, whether by becoming a presenter, technician, social media manager or sponsor, you can call Barry on 0418680842.
A most interesting article containing some information I was not aware of. I would think the article should be flicked over to the Newcastle Herald as it is a good example of Newcastle’s broadcasting history.