2MCE FM: 50 fabulous years of community radio

Bathurst Regional Art Gallery presents 2MCE FM: 50 fabulous years of community radio on the OUT THERE Digital Platforms | Forecourt Projector.

Bathurst radio station 2MCE is celebrating an extraordinary milestone in May 2026: 50 years on air.

2MCE was the first non-metropolitan community radio broadcaster in Australia, and one of the first stations heard on the FM band in this country.

In November 1975 the then Mitchell College of Advanced Education (MCAE) in Bathurst, one of the predecessor institutions of Charles Sturt University, received an experimental licence from the federal government.

The first programs were officially broadcast on 8 May 1976 from a test transmitter on the MCAE Library roof. The station now beams over Bathurst from Wahluu Mount Panorama on 92.3MHz, and since 1987 to Orange from Gaanha-bula Mount Canobolas on 94.7MHz. You can also listen to a livestream at 2mce.org.

The local community is the heart and soul of the radio station. Volunteers work both on air and behind the scenes to produce a wide variety of programming to serve the community including local news and information; radio reading service The Talking Newspaper; specialist music including alternative, country, electronic, fine music, folk, pop and rock; Indigenous programming; and multicultural programming.

During May, the station will share images from its archives to celebrate the diverse contributions made by volunteers, staff and students over 50 years of broadcasting.

You can find out more about getting involved with 2MCE or showing your support by visiting 2mce.org.