Importance of Radio Stations

In the ABC, Graham White of the Victorian Rural Department maintained a very close liaison with the Bureau's Central and Divisional Offices. Following discussions with the ABC the Bureau arranged a conference with the news media, attended by representatives of newspapers and radio stations, to discuss the availability, wording and content of forecasts and other information provided.

For many years the ABC had provided a very comprehensive coverage of forecasts and other information with considerable emphasis being given to sparsely settled areas. These broadcasts contained district forecasts for individual rural areas, details of rainfall from a considerable network of urban and rural rainfall stations and river heights of major river systems.

Morning newspapers in capital cities also contained comprehensive detail of rainfall and river heights but had the disadvantage for rural dwellers of delay in delivery. The ABC programs containing this information were generally broadcast at noon.

During the Dwyer years representations were made by the ABC and some commercial stations for direct broadcasts from the Divisional Office weather rooms. This had the advantage of being very timely because the forecaster making the broadcast was able to include the latest information. A major advantage for the Bureau was a public awareness that the forecaster was a real, often witty, person. The direct broadcasts were made in January 1957 from the Melbourne weather room through radio station 3AW and in Sydney in July of that year from the Sydney weather room through radio station 2GB.

These direct broadcasts by Bureau forecasters through ABC and commercial stations have continued to the present time, with Bureau forecasters participating in talk-back radio broadcasts and becoming well-known radio personalities. As we shall see the public relations impact of including weather presentations in television programs was spectacular, but the portability of small transistor radios and the simplicity of voice transmission still make the direct broadcasts very popular.

Bureau of Meteorology