This is the earliest in the 20-year history of the program that we have reached this milestone by September. Even last year it took us until mid-October to reach the 2000 mark.

Our next goal is to break the record for a 12-month period. It stands at 2848 requests, set in 2014. We are well on our way with more than three months to go.

Saturday Night Jukebox will be back again this week, of course, between 6pm and 10pm with host Jeff Cox and you can phone up with your request on 6331 0092. Just remember, requests need to have been a charting hit from the jukebox era covering the 50s to the late 80s.

2MCE is part of an Australia-wide organisation known as the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) and is among 360 not-for-profit community stations from the west to the east coast of this diverse country.

Not all of those stations are members of the CBAA, but a vast majority are, and the association provides leadership, advocacy and support for its members to help facilitate independent broadcasting services and to build and strengthen local communities. Lobbying government bodies to give assistance is a vital part of the CBAA role, to assist in keeping the sector viable.

There are battles for a bigger slice of the spectrum (the amount of broadcast signal space available) and for funding from major broadcast projects to simply keep many of the smaller stations on air with equipment and support services.

The CBAA also operates the Community Radio Network (CRN) satellite radio distribution service, providing programming 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and is a partner in the National Radio News service, the fully independent national news provider that operates out of Charles Sturt University here in Bathurst.

Other CBAA services include sector policy advice, reviews into improving the community radio and television services, listener surveys, training opportunities and CBonline services.