QTQ
Brisbane, Queensland | |
---|---|
Branding | Nine |
Channels |
Digital: 8 (VHF) Virtual: 9 |
Affiliations | Nine (O&O) |
Owner |
Nine Entertainment Co. (Queensland Television Ltd) |
First air date | 16 August 1959 |
Call letters' meaning |
Quality Television for Queensland |
Former channel number(s) | Analog: 9 (VHF)(1959-2013) |
Transmitter power |
200 kW (analog) 50 kW (digital) |
Height | 327 m (analog)[1] |
Transmitter coordinates | 27°28′17″S 152°56′31″E / 27.47139°S 152.94194°E |
Website | 9now.com.au |
QTQ is an Australian television station, licensed to, and serving Brisbane, Queensland. It is owned by the Nine Entertainment Co., and is part of the Nine Network. It broadcasts on VHF channel 9 (analog) and VHF channel 8 (digital). QTQ began broadcasting on 16 August 1959, the first of the Brisbane stations to launch. 2009 marked the 50 year anniversary for the station.
The station was an independent member of the network before Alan Bond purchased the station, and integrated it into the Nine Network when he had control of it in the 1980s.
News
QTQ-9's nightly news program is Nine News Queensland, presented on weeknights by Andrew Lofthouse and Melissa Downes, with Wally Lewis presenting sport, and Garry Youngberry presenting the weather. Darren Curtis and Alison Ariotti are the weekend presenters, with Sam Squiers presenting sport and Luke Bradnam presenting weather. Luke Bradnam also presents Beach and Fishing reports each Friday and Saturday evening.
Regular fill-in presenters for the bulletins include news presenters Darren Curtis, Alison Ariotti ad Eva Milic and sports presenters Sam Squiers and Tom Mitchell.
The bulletin is simulcast in Brisbane on commercial radio station River 94.9, across regional Queensland on Southern Cross Nine and throughout remote eastern and central Australia on Imparja Television.
Since 2014, QTQ-9 has produced local editions of Nine Morning News and Nine Afternoon News on weekdays. These are presented by Eva Milic (Monday – Thursday) and Alison Ariotti (Friday), sport is presented by Sam Squiers or Tom Mitchell and Garry Youngberry on weather.
Presenter history
Wally Lewis was the weekday sports presenter until December 2006, when following an on-air incident, it was publicly revealed he had epilepsy. He returned to presenting sport during the 2007/2008 summer period, and also files sports reports.[2] Chris Bombolas was the weekend sports presenter who preceded Steve Haddan, before resigning to become a politician. John Schluter was the weather presenter until his resignation in September 2006, to join rival Seven News Brisbane as the weekday weather presenter; his departure indirectly resulted in Nine News Brisbane losing its long-time ratings lead to Seven News Brisbane in 2007;[3] it was not until 2013 that they would regain the ratings lead.[4]
Mike London formerly presented alongside Heather Foord until he resigned in June 2003, following allegations that he had arrangements for a female fan to complain about weeknight presenter Bruce Paige, who was co-presenting with Jillian Whiting at the time. London had swapped roles with Paige in the mid 1990s following the latter's return to the Nine Network.[5]
Paige and Foord presented on weekdays between 2004 and 2008. In December 2008, Foord announced that she would step down from presenting weeknights to spend more time with her family. Weekend news presenter Melissa Downes replaced her with Eva Milic and Andrew Lofthouse replacing Downes as weekend news presenters.
The Brisbane bulletin was the last news program to date in Australia to use the dual-presenter format on weekends (when London was presenting with Foord), until the Perth bulletin revived it in early 2008.
2011 "Choppergate" incident
On the bulletins of Nine News Queensland aired on 20 and 21 August 2011, newsreader Eva Milic conducted two crosses, one on each night, to reporters Melissa Mallet and Cameron Price, respectively, in the station's helicopter which was claimed to be "near Beerwah", where the remains of murdered schoolboy Daniel Morcombe had been found earlier that month. The crosses were revealed to be fake when, on the second night, rival station Channel Seven filmed footage of the Nine helicopter sitting on the helipad outside their studios at Mount Coot-tha at the time of the broadcast. Both Mallet and Price, as well as news producer Aaron Wakeley, were sacked by the Nine Network following the incident, while news director Lee Anderson resigned in protest over the faked crossings.[6] Despite the scandal, Nine experienced a spike in its 6:00 pm news ratings in the weeks that followed,[7][8] managed to win more weeks than it did in the previous three years combined (winning seven of the 32 ratings weeks up to the first week of October),[9] and recovered to reclaim its mantle as Queensland's most-watched news service by 2013.[10]
Programming
Current in-house productions
- Nine News Queensland
- Nine Gold Coast News (Gold Coast transmitters only)
- Nine Morning News (Queensland Edition)
- Nine Live: Queensland
- Big Brother Australia (2012–present) Queensland Production
- Riverfire (1998–2006) (2010–present)
- Maroon Zone (2013–present)
- Broncos Insider (2013–present)
- QRL Intrust Super Cup Rugby League (2014–present)
Former in-house productions
- Now You See It (1998–2002)
- The Shak (2006–2010)
- The Brisbane Footy Show (1994–2002)
- Extra (1991–2009)
- Australia's Funniest Home Video Show (Late 1990-1991) (production moved to Sydney: 1992-1999; Melbourne 2000-2004; Sydney again: 2005–2014)
- Cash Bonanza (2001)
- Lab Rats Challenge (2008)
Notable presenters
News presenters
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Sports presenters
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Fill-ins
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Former news presenters
- Bruce Paige (1985–1990, 1993–2009; Gold Coast News: 2012–present)
- Heather Foord (1988–2011)
- Mike London (1986–2003)
- Jillian Whiting (1998–2008)
Former sports presenters
- Chris Bombolas (1985–2006)
- Rob Brough
- Steve Haddan
Reporters
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Notable former reporters
- Melissa Mallet (2009–2011) – sacked following the "Choppergate" scandal mentioned above
- Cameron Price (2008–2011) – sacked following the "Choppergate" scandal mentioned above, now with Seven News Sydney
- Sophie Walsh (2011–2016) – now with Nine News Sydney
Weather presenters
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See also
References
- ↑ HAAT estimated from http://www.itu.int/SRTM3/ using EHAAT.
- ↑ "Lewis making good progress, says wife". AAP. ninemsn. 22 February 2007. Retrieved 29 April 2007.
- ↑ Schulter shaft Cummins Australian-media.com.au, retrieved 26 February 2007.
- ↑ Cooper, Nathanael (10 September 2013). "Channel 7 News poach fishing and surf presenter Paul Burt from Nine". The Courier Mail. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
- ↑ Miles, Janelle; Connolly, Steve (4 June 2003). "Newsreader quits after complaint scandal". The Age. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
- ↑ "Channel 9 sacks three, news director resigns over 'Choppergate' scandal". News.com.au. August 26, 2011. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
- ↑ Baumgart, Sean (30 August 2011). "Nine ratings rise despite choppergate". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
- ↑ Cooper, Nathanael (3 September 2011). "Nine's choppergate scandal impacts worst on network that broke story, ratings leader Seven". The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
- ↑ Hunter, Clare (3 October 2011). "Seven dominates Nine in TV ratings". Queensland University of Technology. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
- ↑ Knox, David (19 November 2013). "Nail biter in Brisbane news battle". TV Tonight. Retrieved 11 May 2017.