Hit Central Queensland

hit Central Queensland is a radio station in Central Queensland part of the Hit Network. The station is owned by Southern Cross Austereo.[1]

History

In the late 1990s, DMG Regional Radio successfully bid for an FM broadcasting license for a radio station in the Rockhampton/Gladstone market in Central Queensland.

In October 2000, Hot FM was launched. The station was a new addition to the existing Hot FM network of stations, also owned by DMG Regional Radio. The Central Queensland Hot FM station was originally created to attract the younger demographics that didn't listen to DMG's established classic hits station, Gladstone's 4CC which also broadcast to Rockhampton.

The station originally broadcast its local breakfast program from a studio in Rockhampton, and sourced its daytime and overnight programming from Hot FM Townsville. Since its inception, Hot FM has broadcast on two separate frequencies in Rockhampton and Gladstone.

When Hot FM was launched, RG Capital also launched an FM station in Rockhampton, Sea FM to attract a younger demographics that didn't find RG Capital's established AM station 4RO appealing. For the first few years, Sea FM and Hot FM were fierce rivals, battling for the same demographic of listeners.

In 2004, DMG Regional Radio merged with RG Capital to form Macquarie Regional RadioWorks, which saw all four local Central Queensland stations owned by the same company. Macquarie Regional Radioworks were legally obligated to offload at least two stations, and decided to sell their two AM stations, 4RO and 4CC to Prime Media Group.

This meant the two FM stations that were once rivals found themselves as sister stations.

In 2005, Hot FM decided to cease broadcasting content from Rockhampton. While the local Hot FM sales office was moved into the existing 4RO and Sea FM studio complex, the local breakfast program began being broadcast from the existing 4CC building in Gladstone. When this occurred, the breakfast announcer that had been with Hot FM since its inception moved over to Hot FM's new stablmate, Sea FM so he continue working in Rockhampton in 2005, while his Hot FM co-host moved to the afternoon shift on Sea FM. Hot FM began broadcasting its local breakfast show from the Gladstone studio on 24 January 2005.[2][3][4]

Although no longer stablemates, 4CC and Hot FM have continued to share the same building in Gladstone since the merger.

Current Programming

Format

Hot FM's format hasn't changed much since it was originally launched in 2000. The format has always been skewed towards the younger demographics, which is attracted by such things as the latest hits, celebrity gossip, pop culture and discussions about the latest television shows and movie releases.

Shows

A local breakfast show is broadcast from a studio in Gladstone between 5am and 9am each weekday. The breakfast show is the only local program on Hot FM in Central Queensland. The breakfast program is also now heard on the Hot FM station (4HIT) in Emerald, which previously took a networked breakfast show especially produced for inland Hot FM stations from Townsville.

After the local breakfast program, the station takes generic Hits & Old School network programming from the Gold Coast, presented by 90.9 Sea FM announcers.[5][6]

National drive, overnight and weekend breakfast programming is sourced from Southern Cross Austereo's metropolitan stations such as 2Day FM and Fox FM. This includes programs such as Hamish & Andy, Hit 30 and The Dan & Maz Show.

Occasionally, local businesses will pay for special outside broadcasts usually held on weekends. As Hot FM only has the two local announcers, they are the presenters that will usually conduct the outside broadcast, regardless of whether the outside broadcast is held in Rockhampton, Gladstone or Emerald.

News

Local news bulletins heard during the Hot FM breakfast program are compiled and presented by a Rockhampton-based journalist at Hot FM's sister station, Sea FM. National bulletins are presented from newsrooms either in Townsville or the Gold Coast.

Ratings

On 29 September 2016, ratings for the Central Queensland radio market were released. It was the first time since 2001 that ratings for the Rockhampton/Gladstone market have been calculated.

According to the ratings, Hot FM performed best in the 10-17 and 18-24 demographics, with 53.2% and 52.5% audience share respectively. The most listened to timeslot was the 4pm-7pm afternoon drive shift with 33.7% audience share. The station's midday-4pm shift also beat all the stations in that timeslot. The station also beat all other local stations in the 10+, 10-17, 18-24, and 25-39 age demographics. Hot FM's breakfast program was the highest rating breakfast show out of all commercial and ABC stations.[7]

Rebranding

On 26 September 2016, Southern Cross Austereo announced that Hot FM in Central Queensland will be renamed Hit as part of a major rebranding of the radio network. As part of the rebranding, Hot FM stations in Queensland and Western Australia, Star FM stations in New South Wales and some Sea FM stations will be renamed, to reflect the look and feel of the metropolitan Hit Network. As the Sea FM station in Central Queensland is a Triple M LocalWorks station, it will be renamed Triple M as part of the network's rebranding of regional stations.[8]

Past Breakfast Announcers

There have been twelve duo that have presented Hot FM's breakfast show since its inception in October 2000 to its rebranding to Hit in December 2016. Most notably, these have included former Big Brother Australia contestants, Rebecca Dent and Ben Norris. Norris was sacked from his position as breakfast announcer.

References

  1. ↑ Hot FM CQ website
  2. ↑ Smithy will move to Sea FM, Evan Schwarten, The Morning Bulletin, 29 December 2004
  3. ↑ Sea change for radio's Smithy, The Morning Bulletin, 17 January 2005
  4. ↑ , radioinfo.com.au, 29 January 2005
  5. ↑ Alo Baker, Hot FM CQ website
  6. ↑ Alo Baker, 90.9 Sea FM Gold Coast website
  7. ↑ Radio ratings for Central Queensland, radioinfo.com.au, 29 September 2016
  8. ↑ SCA's Hit and Triple M to become the two largest commercial radio networks in Australia, Media Release, Southern Cross Austereo website, 26 September 2016.

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