There are more than 1200 magazine titles and several national, metropolitan and regional daily newspapers. The oldest daily newspaper in the southern hemisphere is the Sydney Morning Herald, founded in 1831 and together with the venerable Melbourne newspaper, The Age, is sold widely across the country. The national daily is The Australian. The first radio transmitting and receiving station in Australia started operating in 1912, while the first television station, TCN Channel 9, opened in 1956 in Sydney. The ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), funded by the federal government provides nation-wide commercial-free radio and television services. The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) delivers multicultural and multilingual television and radio services nation-wide. There are 41 commercial television stations and three satellite stations across the country, while the pay television service, Galaxy Pay Television was launched in 1995. There are four ABC radio networks, 108 commercial stations on the AM band, 51 commercial FM stations and 100 community radio stations and seven Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander licensed broadcasters in Australia. Resources and Energy
Australia is a major producer and exporter of energy resources and is one of the world's biggest producers of minerals and metals. More than 60 different minerals are mined such as bauxite, mineral sands, diamonds, black and brown coal as well as ores containing gold, silver, lead, zinc, iron, copper, nickel, tin, manganese and uranium. Although Australia imports heavy crude, it exports light crude oil and liquefied natural gas. Australia is also an important producer of precious and semiprecious stones such as diamonds, sapphire, opal and pearls. Most electricity is produced using coal fired power plants and the large coal deposits enable Australia to produce electricity at a relatively low cost.