PHOTO: ZAK SIMMONDS (July 2020)

My name is Josh Agnew, I am 16 years old and am from Tasmania, Australia’s island state. I own and operate an FM radio station in Tasmania called Pulse FM Hobart.

Pulse FM is a radio station targeted at young people in Hobart, specifically between 13 and 25 years old.
I have been involved in radio since I was just 7 years old, starting out at a rural community radio station. I started an internet radio station called ‘JNET’ when I was 9 years old, and launched Pulse FM when I was 10.

Placing the Pulse FM microphone at a state government press conference. PHOTO: LUKE BOWDEN (July 2020)

THE HEART OF THE STATION! Behind the scenes at Pulse FM Hobart.

Pulse FM started out as a internet radio station focused on youth in southern Tasmania in 2016. I was able to obtain a low-power FM license in a part of Tasmania’s Huon Valley near the end of 2016, and put my first FM transmitter on the air in early 2017 (87.6 FM Geeveston). In February of 2018, I comissioned Pulse’s second FM transmitter site, covering rural/regional parts of Southern Tasmania on 87.8 FM from Mt Herringback.

Today, Pulse FM broadcasts from three FM transmision sites across Greater Hobart, attracting an estimated 20,000 weekly listeners with a contempoary hit music format.

Pulse FM also boasts over 40,000 followers on social media, and has become Tasmania’s most engaged with and most reached online content creator (ex ABC).As a result, Pulse FM restructured in mid 2020 to position itself as a content creator rather than a radio station, with the radio station just one of the several content outlets.

Carrying the transmitter up to Cove Hill.

LIGHTING UP THE THIRD SITE: In early May of 2020, We comissioned our 87.6 FM service on Cove Hill in Bridgewater, the third transmitter site in the network. This site brings Pulse FM’s coverage to over 100,000 people across Hobart’s Northern Suburbs.

Pulse FM’s transmission site at Cove Hill, Bridgewater.

A recent article on myself in the Sunday Tasmanian (JULY 2020).

The Pulse FM logo has become a regular sight for Tasmanians. PHOTO: CHRIS KIDD