Rhema FM Newcastle
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- For a list of other Rhema stations, see Rhema FM.
Rhema FM Newcastle is the local Christian radio station for the Hunter Valley region in New South Wales, Australia. It is supported totally by its members, volunteers, faith and by sponsorship advertising. Starting out on temporary broadcast, they eventually received a full time licence.
Operating on a shoestring budget the station is strongly supported by the mostly protestant community with large amounts of funding coming from annual Rhemathons reaping hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Rhema faces difficulties in a number of areas. Their transmission from a location south of Sugarloaf Mountain is at times interrupted by heat and a lack of electricity to the site. Diesel Generators are relied upon the power the Transmitter and Air Conditioning in the summer months. Often during the heat, output power has to be reduced to prevent overheating causing reception difficulties in some areas. Other problems involve keeping a Christian community that varies in age and denomination happy with the play list, and of course stretching the money further to keep the radio ministry operating.
