Triple M Darling Downs
4GR is an Australian commercial radio station located in Toowoomba, Queensland, and was the first commercial radio station to broadcast in Queensland.
4GR was the brainchild of Edward Gold[1] 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.[2]
In 2015, 4GR celebrated its 90th birthday.[3]
The station is currently broadcasting as its callsign 4GR but is expected to change its on-air branding to Triple M in December 2016 as part of Southern Cross Austereo's planned branding overhaul of its regional radio networks.[4]
4GR's planned name to change has come 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.[5]
References
- ^ 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.