702 ABC Sydney is the first
public radio station in
Australia opened in
Sydney at 8:00pm on 13 November 1923. The callsign was changed to
2BL when
Broadcasters
Limited took over the business. In May 1928 the Sydney Broadcasting Company was formed to take over stations 2BL and 2FC. A year later a consortium of entertainment companies founded the Australian Broadcasting Company Limited (ABC) to supply programme material to 2BL, 2FC and similar "A-class" stations in other capital cities. 2BL became one of the inaugural stations, along with sister station 2FC, in the government-owned Australian Broadcasting Commission (also ABC) network when it was founded in 1932. In 1946, it became the flagship of the National Programme, forerunner of
Radio National. It also began carrying parliamentary broadcasts. In 1963, it swapped formats with 2FC and assumed that station's old role as flagship of the Interstate Programme, which eventually evolved into Local Radio. However, it continued to air parliament until 1988, when the Parliamentary Broadcasting Network (PBN) was established. The 2BL callsign was gradually phased out in 1999 as the station was renamed to 702 ABC Sydney, before another name change in 2017 which saw the station simply become known as ABC Radio Sydney. In the second radio ratings survey of 2012,
Nielsen Media Research recorded 702 ABC Sydney's share of the local radio market as the second largest at 10.3%, behind commercial talk station
2GB. Most ABC Local Radio stations in New South Wales simulcast 702 ABC Sydney's programming when not airing local shows for their areas. The exception is
999 ABC Broken Hill, which relays
ABC Radio Adelaide due to Broken Hill being on
Central Time. In November 2023, 702 ABC Sydney celebrated its 100th birthday. The station marked the occasion by removing the
time signal pips which had long been heard at the top of each hour before the hourly
ABC News bulletin. On 6 May 2024, 702 ABC Sydney commenced broadcasting from the ABC's new facility at
6 & 8 Parramatta Square in
Parramatta after relocating from the ABC's
Ultimo headquarters.
Mornings with
Sarah Macdonald was the first program to broadcast from Parramatta after the facility was officially opened by chair
Kim Williams, managing director
David Anderson and federal member
Andrew Charlton. ==Programs==