The heavy duty matchsticks have been dragged out ready for AIR News senior newsreader Artie Stevens’ commencement of 6am news bulletins, which began this week.

The fledgling news service is going “from strength to strength” with the addition of latest outlet, 99.9 SWR-FM in Sydney’s west. That means that AIR News is now presenting a fresh national/International news bulletin hourly from 6am – 6pm Monday to Friday and from 7am – 6pm on the weekends.

Stevens, who is also the operator of the service, says it has been a struggle to get to this stage, but has been worth it:

“Our Virtual Newsdesk is now fully operational and we now have news presenters working from their home studios in such diverse locations as Perth, Murray Bridge, Beaudesert in Queensland and from suburban locations in Melbourne and Sydney.”

He has told radioinfo a headlines service is available for Monday – Friday breakfast and the team is working on a couple of other new projects for delivery through the network, including “Five minutes of fame” and “One minute in business.”

Stations taking the AIR news service are currently a mix of Community Radio Stations in Sydney, Geelong, Wagga Wagga, Richmond Valley and soon Blacktown, and a blackspot commercial operator Freshstream FM across Sth Australia and into the Yarra Valley and Melbourne’s north-east on 106.3FM.

The website has been updated at www.air-news.net and the team can be contacted via [email protected] or on the phone 0400 278 430.