2MIA secure grant for radio tower but debacle far from over

95.1FM recently managed to secure a $70,000 grant from the Community Broadcasting Foundation, seven months after losing it's broadcasting tower.

While the funds are significant, it shimmers in comparison to the estimated cost of getting the station back to where it was.

$50,000 has been spent so far, and further costs in the neighborhood of $30 to $50,000 will need to be spent on fabrication, mounting and installation, as well as building of the tower itself.

"Things are happening but slowly," station manager Lynda Lane said.

"There's quite a bit of fabrication that will need to happen for the construction of a tower, as well as installing it which will require a specialist team. There's also the issue of removing the old one."

Meanwhile, public submissions for a development application by Griffith City Council regarding the new tower close this Friday.

Council has approved land for the new tower to be built through a Memorandum of Understanding, while the new tower will be owned, operated and insured by the station.

"Hopefully our development application will be approved and it won't take us long to get a construction certificate from there," Ms Lane said.

As if the woes of not being able to broadcast weren't bad enough, the station also recently had issues with online streaming.

READ NOW

"We have been moving from an American-based platform to an Australian-based platform, and we had some computers crash," Ms Lane said.

"Fortunately, we managed to get things back on track on Monday."

On positive note, the community has thrown it's support behind the station's fundraising efforts, the most successful of which was a Spicks and Specks trivia night held at the Yenda Bowling Club in late June which saw 90 in attendance.

"We had the football clubs and other organisations donating prizes, including signed NRL memorabilia, and other businesses/organisations donating everything from wine to vouchers. I'd say there were around 100 prizes," she said.

"It was a really fun night and terrific to see people having a great time. We are extremely grateful for the community's support and we hope to see it continue."

To view the development application, click here

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: