RTQ

RTQ is an Australian television station broadcasting in regional Queensland in Australia. The network was owned by Star Television, before being purchased by the WIN Corporation on 5 October 1988.^[2]

Network history

WIN TV Queensland started out as Darling Downs Television Limited in 1959, and was launched as a television network in 1962, with Queensland's first regional TV station, DDQ-10, being broadcast to the Darling Downs area for the first time. SDQ-4 for the Southern Downs soon launched in 1964, and DDQ 5 was next to air later (it would later be renamed as DDQ 5a) for Toowoomba viewers. The main Rockhampton station, RTQ-7, was launched in 1963 to serve viewers in Rockhampton and its suburbs.

Until the 1980s, Darling Downs TV was sometimes supporting the Nine Network and QTQ-9, its Brisbane station, by broadcasting its newscasts on relay before switching sympathies to Network Ten and TVQ-0 in the early part of the decade, supporting its programs and broadcasting TVQ-0's Eyewitness News on relay. It was part of the Great Eastland Television network in 1975-1987, together with NRN NRTV 11-8 Television and NEN 9-10 Television (both in New South Wales) as GET 10-4-5a. It became, in 1976-77, the first regional TV network in Australia to switch to videotape recordings for its news service within a year after it became a color station. This was the same case for RTQ during those years as after having been a Nine News broadcaster switched news affiliations with the Seven Network and BTQ's local newscasts via satellite relay since they share the same channel number.

Due to its purchase of Ten Brisbane (TVQ-0) in 1987 and its move to Channel 0 the next year (as Vision TV) to give way to the new Brisbane Ten (TVQ-10), it suddenly became Queensland's strongest regional TV network, even after its TVQ selloff, bringing Ten programs and Eyewitness News (later Brisbane Ten News) to the Darling Downs and Southern Downs. Reflecting this was a reformat of its newscasts and news studio to that of Ten's. RTQ-7 also by then began broadcasting Ten programs in Rockhampton, after its previous commitment to BTQ-7's programs, Seven National News and State Affair.

By 1990, DDQ/SDQ and RTQ joined the aggregation race, merging and becoming Star Television in 1990. It was then purchased by Win Television, then as a Ten affiliate for the state (the Nine affiliation was then by TNQ/FNQ QTV 7-10). But before aggregation would begin, Star TV joined Nine instead (due to WIN, its new owners, being the 9 affiliate for southern NSW), and QTV joined Ten as its affiliate in its place, reflecting the "affiliation wars" 9 and 10 fought for regional network affiliation in Queensland. The shock exchange of affiliation came within a week before aggregration took effect.

On New Year's Eve 1990, it became Win Television Queensland on the first day of statewide aggregation, with Toowomba and Rockhampton facilities to air statewide WIN News newscasts every day. New transmitting stations were also built in Townsville, Mt. Stuart, Cairns, Mackay and Maryborough in time for statewide broadcasts even before Star TV turned to the Nine Network as its affiliate, even as parts of the news service were done in Coffs Harbour in NSW, part of a failed plan to bring both Star TV and NRTV, the Ten partner for Northern NSW, together as one network for viewers in their respective areas.

Regional news bulletins broadcast from the Rockhampton and Toowoomba studios have now moved production to WIN's facilities at Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast.

WIN News

WIN News produces regional news bulletins for six of the seven regional markets covered by RTQ – (Sunshine Coast & Maroochydore), (Rockhampton & Central Queensland), (Cairns & Far North Queensland), (Wide Bay, Bundaberg, Maryborough & Hervey Bay), (Toowoomba) and (Townsville & North Queensland).

Reporters and camera crews are based in newsrooms throughout the regions of the Sunshine Coast, Rockhampton, Cairns, Wide Bay, Toowoomba and Townsville. All bulletins are produced from WIN's studios in Maroochydore.

Between April 2009 and May 2015, the network also produced a local news service for Mackay and the Whitsundays.^[3]

Main anchors

Sports presenters

Weather presenter

• Hannah McEwan

Reporters

Main transmitters

Notes:

• 1. HAAT estimated from http://www.itu.int/SRTM3/ using EHAAT.
• 2. The Darling Downs station was an independent station with the callsign DDQ from its 1962 sign-on until aggregation in 1990.
• 3. The Darling Downs station was on VHF channel 10 from its 1962 sign-on until 1988, swapping frequencies with TVQ Brisbane.
• 4. The Southern Downs station was a relay of DDQ Darling Downs/Toowoomba (with the callsign SDQ) from its 1966 sign-on until aggregation in 1990.
• 5. The Southern Downs station was on VHF channel 4 from its 1966 sign-on until 1991, moving to its current channel in order to accommodate FM radio.
• 6. Analogue transmissions ceased on 6 December 2011 as part of the national shutdown of analogue television.

References

External links

• Official Site
• Corporate Site