Private company
Australian Broadcasting Company
Short-lived Australian commercial broadcasting company
The Australian Broadcasting Company was a short-lived Australian commercial broadcasting company set up by Benjamin Fuller and Frank Albert. Founded in Melbourne in 1924 with a capital of £A 100,000 by a consortium of entertainment interests, notably Farmer & Company, J. C. Williamson's and J. & N. Tait to found and operate commercial radio broadcasting stations. Other major shareholders, perhaps later entrants, were Union Theatres Limited, B. & J. Fuller and J. Albert & Son.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0
Last updated Oct 21, 2026.
Overview
See how the biggest companies compare on our leaderboards
The Australian Broadcasting Company was a short-lived Australian commercial broadcasting company set up by Benjamin Fuller and Frank Albert. Founded in Melbourne in 1924 with a capital of £A 100,000 by a consortium of entertainment interests, notably Farmer & Company, J. C. Williamson's and J. & N. Tait to found and operate commercial radio broadcasting stations. Other major shareholders, perhaps later entrants, were Union Theatres Limited, B. & J. Fuller and J. Albert & Son. Directors were Stuart Doyle, Frank Albert and Sir Benjamin Fuller.2
Products and brands
Listed on Wikidata.1
Controversies and legal
Controversies
In 1927, a Royal Commission was instituted by the Federal Government due to audience dissatisfaction. The outcome was that the Australian Broadcasting Company would provide radio content under the new National Broadcasting Service (NBS).
B Class
Class B was purely funded by advertising, with its first radio station being 2BE Sydney. According to Jones in 1995, many B-class radio stations struggled. This included 2BE Sydney, which closed down in April 1929 due to its lack of consistent broadcasting. 2MK Bathurst followed by closing in December 1930. After inquiries as to why the station had been closed down, the Postmaster General's Department released a statement ensuring it was for the better, saying that "Exceptional care has been exercised by the Department in the expansion of broadcasting services to the Commonwealth so that listeners might enjoy the greatest possible selection of programs without undue risk of interference in reception between one station and another."
The Postmaster General's department also ensured that the Australian Broadcasting Company would provide exceptional service and maintain a high standard. According to Jones in 1995, the ABC should 'do all in its power to cultivate a public desire for transmission of educational items, musical items of merit and, generally, for all items and subjects which tend to elevate the mind.'
Following the Department's statement in response to the B class radio stations, the ABC was subject to rules, requiring the company to avoid tedious broadcasting repetition of an artist in a particular state. These rules were in the contract of the company with the department.
Following the disruption to 6WF, Chairman Harry Brown advocated for a C class station. It would be run by the Post Master General's office and made available for public audiences such as organisations or firms. Due to its lack of popularity, a C class station never came into existence.
1929 marked the five-year anniversary of A and B class stations. At the time, 301199 listener licences were held, and twenty radio stations were on air.
Read the full text
According to Jones, 40% of listeners were located in Victoria. As the Great Depression began, 14 stations came on the air from 1930-1930, to keep the Australian public informed. However, only three of these stations were owned by the Australian Broadcasting Company. This was due to ABC's struggle to return a profit, due to all of its resources going to regional stations in Newcastle, Rockhampton, and Albury. Port Pirie was the location of the ABC's last regional station.
In May 1932, the government passed the Australian Broadcasting Commission Act, marking the fourth major change to broadcasting in just ten years. Postmaster General Department's director Harry Brown had decided a national broadcasting system would be more appropriate for the nation. Required by the new Act, the ABC commission was to take over the studios of the company and 'broadcast from the National Broadcasting Stations adequate and comprehensive programs in the interests of the community.
The contract with the Australian Broadcasting Company expired on 30 June 1932 and thereafter programming for the National Broadcasting Service was provided by the newly established Australian Broadcasting Commission which purchased the assets of the earlier ABC.
From Wikipedia’s article on Australian Broadcasting Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3
Timeline
- 1929Founded Founded1
Links
- WikipediaAustralian Broadcasting Company
- WikidataQ4823911
Sources
The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.
- 1
- 2
- 3