Triple M Darling Downs
4GR is an Australian commercial radio station located in Toowoomba, Queensland, currently broadcasting as Triple M on 864 AM.[1]
The station was the first commercial radio station to broadcast in Queensland.
4GR was the brainchild of Edward Gold[2] who had conducted test radio broadcasts in a shed from his experimental radio station 4EG prior to obtaining Queensland's first commercial radio licence to establish 4GR, which began broadcasting on 17 August 1925.[3]
Transmitter power is 2 KW.
In 2015, 4GR celebrated its 90th birthday.[4]
Despite the station identifying itself as its original callsign 4GR for more than 90 years, the on-air branding was changed to Triple M in December 2016 as part of Southern Cross Austereo's branding overhaul of its regional radio networks.[5]
4GR's name change came under fire from some quarters. An online reader's poll run by The Chronicle newspaper in Toowoomba found that 74% of respondents were unhappy with 4GR taking on the Triple M brand.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ Triple M Darling Downs website
- ^ The Way We Were: Radio Pioneer, Bruce Elvery, The Chronicle, 12 January 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
- ^ Wireless Station Opened At Toowoomba, The Brisbane Courier, 17 August 1925. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
- ^ 4GR: 90 Years - Queensland's first commercial station, Radio Today, 16 August 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2016
- ^ SCA's Hit and Triple M to become the two largest commercial radio networks in Australia, Southern Cross Austereo website, 26 September 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
- ^ Historic radio station re-brand 'a very poor move', Charlotte Lam, The Chronicle, 29 September 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2016.