Mobil Quest 1949
Australian commercial radio
Australian commercial radio · 1949–1950
26 EpisodesFortnightlyPGSince 1949
The run
- Network
- Australian commercial radio
- Years active
- 1949–1950
- Surviving broadcasts
- 26
- Genre
- music
A Collection of Aussie Radio Shows No 33 “Mobil Quest” was an important classical music talent quest produced by 3DB in the post-World War II era and relayed to over 50 stations across Australia. It discovered many musicians who went on to have prestigious careers, including the 1949 Mobil Quest winner Ronal Jackson. Dame Joan Sutherland was second-placed in 1949 and was the winner in 1950. Recorded in Melbourne by 3DB. Hector Crawford was the conductor of the Australian Symphony Orchestra & director of the Quest. Comperes were Eric Pearce and Curteis Crawford (using the pseudonym John Curtis). The results of each heat and the semi finals must have been read live to the audience in the theat Public-domain transfers from the Internet Archive.
Source collection
Internet Archive audio collections
Rights
Public domain — no renewed US copyright
Cataloguing
Air dates and notes from the Archive item record
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
7 dated broadcasts across 78 years on the air, with 77 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 2026, in original transmission order.
- 1. The Long Silence · 10 Feb 2026
- 2. A Room Above the Street · 17 Feb 2026
- 3. Signal at Midnight · 24 Feb 2026
A Room Above the Street
4 Aug 2026 · 34 min
The one everybody argues about.
The Long Silence
28 Jul 2026 · 49 min
Short, complete and unexpectedly devastating.
Dead Air
21 Jul 2026 · 1h 4m
The episode listeners keep sending to people who never listen to podcasts.
Sign Off
14 Jul 2026 · 27 min
A quiet beginning that turns, halfway through, into something else entirely.
The Case of the Missing Hour
7 Jul 2026 · 42 min
The one everybody argues about.
Night Broadcast
30 Jun 2026 · 57 min
Recorded on location, with the room left in.
The Last Train Out
23 Jun 2026 · 20 min
New tape, a reluctant witness, and a timeline that finally stops making sense.
Signal at Midnight
16 Jun 2026 · 35 min
We go back to the beginning and read everything again.
Also on Australian commercial radio
Australian commercial radio in 1949–1950
Other series the network carried while Mobil Quest 1949 was on the air.
Same seasons
music on the air then
Series in the same genre whose runs overlapped this one.
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