| 2MBS Fine Music Sydney | |
| Airdate: | 15 December 1974 |
| Frequency: | 102.5 MHz FM |
| Area: | Sydney |
| Format: | Classical, jazz, Instrumental |
| Class: | Community |
| Owner: | Music Broadcasting Society of New South Wales Co-Operative Limited |
| City: | St Leonards, New South Wales |
2MBS Fine Music Sydney (ACMA callsign: 2MBS) is a Sydney music radio station operated by the Music Broadcasting Society of New South Wales Co-Operative Limited. Launched on 15 December 1974, it is Australia's first fully licensed FM radio station and it has since reached over 630,000 listeners.[1] [2]
Approximately 80 percent of 2MBS Fine Music Sydney's on-air music content is from the western classical and related traditions which include baroque music, opera, contemporary classical music and chamber music. The remainder is made up of jazz, blues, operetta, piano music, film soundtracks, oldies, sacred music, ethnic music, ambient music, and non-mainstream and experimental contemporary music.[3]
The station broadcasts from studios located at Chandos Street, St Leonards, to the greater Sydney region at a frequency of 102.5 MHz from a 50 kilowatt (ERP) transmitter located in the northern suburb of Artarmon. Its operations are conducted by volunteers and a small number of paid staff. Operational funding is principally derived from corporate sponsorship, arts partnerships, philanthropic donations, listener subscriptions, and the secondhand Book and CD Fairs held around the Sydney area.
In February 2020, the station rebranded from Fine Music 102.5 to Fine Music Sydney.[4] and in 2022 added the prefix 2MBS to its name again to become 2MBS Fine Music Sydney.
One of the station's most popular programmes for several decades was Evensong, a weekly programme of English sacred music in the Anglican tradition. Its regular presenter Mrs. Ann Ramsay died at the age of 91 on 1 April 2006. Evensong has been replaced by another popular Sunday program, Hosanna.
Popular non-classical programmes broadcast by the station include the blues show Stormy Monday, which has aired on Monday evenings for three decades, and for many years was rebroadcast nationally by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) satellite service. Ultima Thule, the station's Sunday evening ambient music programme has been on air for nearly twenty years, and in 2005 became the first programme to be podcast on Australian community radio.
Fine Music Sydney is a member of the Australian Fine Music network which is a loose affiliation with a number of similar independently owned and operated stations in other parts of Australia, including 3MBS FM Melbourne, 4MBS FM Brisbane, 5MBS FM Adelaide, and ArtSound FM Canberra.
Fine Music has over 15 programs per week that centre on jazz music (from its beginnings in the early 1900s right up to present) and it is Sydney's chief radio station that would primarily feature jazz music.[5] Jazz music is aired every day on 12pm and 7pm (10pm on Sundays and as well as on Mondays).[6] The schedule of Fine Music's jazz program is listed below: