For those who're interested, these are the books I cited from:

Harte, Bernard: When Radio Was the Cat's Whiskers
Kenthurst: Rosenberg Publishing, 2002

Barnard, Alan: AWA, the Radio Traders And the Government in Early Radio. In: Moran, Albert (ed.): Stay Tuned. An Australian Broadcast Reader
Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1992

Also useful:

Counihan, Mick: Official History and the B-Class Stations. In: Moran, Albert (ed.): Stay Tuned. An Australian Broadcast Reader
Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1992

Walker, R.R.: The Magic Spark. The Story of the First Fifty Years of Radio In Australia
Melbourne: The Hawthorn Press, 1973

and the standard work...

Inglis, Kenneth Stanley: This is the ABC. The Australian Broadcasting Commission 1932-1983 (2nd edition)
Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2006

Hi there,

thanks for your interest in my post.

Hey, since when are bad business ideas and DRM mutually exclusive?!

#2: Radio did have a tough time in Australia, mainly because stations kept to the most populous areas, and country listeners were neglected. This is actually the reason why the ABC came into existence: The government was determined to maximise the capacity of the new medium to bind the new nation together. In 1928, in large part as a result of pressure from rural areas, it announced its intention to "nationalise" the "A" stations and turn them into a broadcast section. The Postmaster-General's department assumed responsibility for the "A" stations when their licences expired, with programming conducted, firstly, by a commercial consortium (which sucked) and then, in 1932, by the ABC