ABC NewsRadio today celebrates 10 years on air, with the best kind of birthday present a radio station could wish for – a new studio.
ABC Managing Director, Russell Balding, officially launched the new studio by remembering the efforts of its founding Manager, Ian Woolfe, and the original broadcast team, many of which are still with the network.
When NewsRadio first began it had a budget of $800,000 and a staff of 10 people. David Hill, then Managing Director, read the first news bulletin.
In his speech, Balding outlined the moves that to get Parliament off the ABC’s metro stations to Radio National, then from that network to a network of its own, using the RN standby transmitters. In the downtime between Parliament’s 120 days on air, NewsRadio filled the silence and the network was born. 
Other speakers at the launch praised NewsRadio. Network Head Mark Collier (pictured) told the crowd of journalists and invited guests: “With the birth of NewsRadio, gone were the days when news interrupted the programs. News IS the program!”
Collier acknowledged the expertise of the NewsRadio staff and praised them for their spirit of commitment to the station’s programming. 
Director of Radio Sue Howard (pictured) also paid tribute to the staff of NewsRadio, saying it is “about time they got a facility they deserve for the magnificent work they do.”
Howard said NewsRadio and Triple J have the smallest budgets in ABC Radio, but “put out some of our greatest output.”
NewsRadio’s Russell Powell was master of ceremonies at the launch event and remembered the original facilities for the station, which was housed in a corridor with a studio that was a converted cupboard. “We had to do a two step shuffle to change position in front of the mic, and in summer the computers got incredibly hot in the studio…”
NewsRadio now has a studio worth $700,000, about $1 for every listener nationally. All the computers are equipped with internal mixers which can allow presenters to put audio to air from any terminal.
The studio desk is Klotz, and it is located on a raised platform in the middle of a round studio with two doors.
NewRadio’s new studios
Control Room
Ian Woolfe and Russell Powell
Today’s NewsRadio Team
Click Below to hear David Hill’s launch of NewsRadio 10 years ago.