Koori Radio was set up to give a voice to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities in Sydney - at 38,000 people, the home of Australia's largest Indigenous population.
Koori Radio is Sydney's only exclusively black music station, with a mix of one-third Australian Indigenous, one-third world Indigenous and one-third other "black" music. The station has a large musical collection of artists from the Pacific Region and Indigenous Australia.
The station's flagship program is "Blackchat" - a daily current affairs program on weekday mornings. This program highlights the station's commitment to discussing news, issues and events from an Indigenous perspective.
A secondary role of the station is to promote greater understanding between Indigenous and other Sydney-siders.
On May 25, 2001, after six years of hard work, Gadigal Information Service was issued a full-time, Sydney-wide licence for Koori Radio by the Australian Broadcasting Authority.
Koori Radio grew out of Radio Redfern which was established in the early 1980s and had program time on inner-city community station Radio Skid Row. The impact of this service, broadcasting only 30 hours per week, was incredible.
During Australia's Bicentennial in 1988, Radio Redfern played a pivotal role in informing and educating the public about Indigenous responses to this celebration. It was also a vital communication channel for the thousands of Indigenous people from around Australia who had gathered in Sydney for large protests.
In 1993, Koori Radio came under the umbrella of Gadigal Information Service, moved in to its own premises in Redfern and focussed on getting a full-time community radio licence.
In 1995, African American rapper Ice Cube opened the Koori Radio studios.
From its new temporary home in Marrickville, Koori Radio was also part of a national Indigenous radio broadcast during the Sydney 2000 Olympics. With a huge influx of overseas and interstate visitors for the games Koori Radio was the focus of daily national programming.
Indigenous radio stations around Australia received regular updates from Sydney during the games via the National Indigenous Radio Service. Stations from Broome, to the Torres Strait to Perth broadcast into Sydney through Koori Radio.
In all, Koori Radio completed nineteen "test" broadcast of four-to-six weeks in the six years it was trying for a licence.
Koori Radio began its new on air status on 93.7FM in December 2002 on a 1kW transmitter and switched to its new 50kW transmitter in December 2003. Koori Radio is now one of Sydney's largest community radio stations.