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To be fair FM radio wasn't really a thing when the channels were allocated. It's just whoever was in charge at the time was rather stubborn about changing it. There was a proposal in the 70s to put FM radio broadcasting somewhere around 400MHz rather than give up those TV channels.
Our lack of FM in the 70s meant we sometimes got our own special versions of receivers. A Sansui 210A has SW and supposedly a better AM section than a standard 210.
Some rural areas did go without FM until the early 90s as they still had those channels in use.
I spent a year or so in country Victoria around 1992. At the time there were 2 TV channels - ABC (the national broadcaster) on channel 4 and Southern Cross TV on channel 8. Southern cross TV played a mixture of programs sourced from the 3 commercial networks in Melbourne along with some local programming.
I had the highest gain antenna I could find and a booster amp to get barely watchable reception of Melbourne channels. Others stacked several antennas on higher masts and got better than what I got. Hotels with such a setup proudly boasted "Melbourne TV" on their signs.
One local commerical radio station and an ABC radio station on AM. At night things opened up and I could get stations from all over the country (I think the DX was about the only thing I miss). The only FM was a low power tourist information broadcast that barely reached beyond the car park it was located in.
I was there for the change over. ABC moved off channel 4 onto UHF. Southern cross stayed on channel 8, but became a TEN affiliate. Affiliates for the other Melbourne commerical networks appeared on UHF along with SBS. A community station was first to appear on FM, followed later by commerical and ABC stations.
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