Communities on Tasmania’s east coast have been left frustrated after their local radio services remained off-the-air for days following the weekend’s statewide storm event.
Many telecommunications and broadcast services were disrupted during the severe weather, however most services across the state were restored by Monday afternoon.
For residents on the coast, it has been radio silence since Saturday, with local St Helens radio stations Star FM, 7SD and Chilli FM playing nothing but static.
ABC radio and television services were also initially affected in some areas, but their service was promptly restored.
In response to outcry from listeners still unable to hear their favourite local voices, community radio station Star FM told the public the cause of the outage was “complex”.
In a Facebook post, they said while power had been restored to their transmission tower at Flagstaff Lookout days earlier, damaged power infrastructure owned by the Tasmania Fire Service was preventing them and other local radio stations from returning to the airwaves.
“The repair of this infrastructure is beyond our control,” the station said, with the issue blocking their broadcasts across the entire region.
The issue also affected the local St Helens Marine Rescue for a period, with their two-way communication equipment at Flagstaff Lookout taken offline.
Marine Rescue said the issue reduced their coverage and communication capacity with boats off the east coast, forcing them to use backup antennas on the roof of their offices to stay online.
In a statement to Pulse, a TFS spokesperson confirmed their infrastructure at Flagstaff Lookout suffered “extensive damage from falling trees” during the weather event.
They acknowledged repairs to the site were not prioritised given their emergency communications were operating on alternate systems.
“We understand the community’s concerns and we’re currently progressing restoration of the infrastructure as a matter of priority,” the spokesperson said.
Following contact from Pulse, the TFS say they engaged a third party contractor to attend the site on Thursday morning to temporarily power transmissions with a generator.
‘We’re working on a more sustainable solution until the powerlines can be repaired pending Tas Networks’ advice. We’ll continue to work with our key stakeholders including the affected parties,” they said.
The return of local radio services has been welcomed by east coast locals, five days since they disappeared.
“Absolutely fantastic to hear Star FM back up on the airways,” one listener posted to Facebook.
