Radio listeners concerned by rebranding of heritage station

Three-quarters of Toowoomba Chronicle readers are not happy about Southern Cross Austereo’s Triple M rebrand announced last month arguing they don’t want to lose the historic 91 year-old call sign 4GR.

From December 15, 2016, 25 of SCA’s ‘LocalWorks’ stations, will take on the Triple M brand.

In a poll conducted by the Chronicle, 75% of respondents said they are not happy with the 4GR rebrand.


 
In Steve Ahern’s book, Making Radio, a chapter on the history of the medium in Australia includes the 4GR call sign as being named for founder Ted Gold with GR standing for Gold Radio.
 
Today, 4GR is part of the SCA regional network.
 
Resident Eleanor Stanley told the Chronicle it is a “very poor move.”
 
“Queensland’s longest running commercial station as 4GR, but now the Melbourne-based accountants of 4GR’s owner, Southern Cross Austereo think they know best.”
 
Triple M’s Mike “Fitzy” Fitzpatrick told radioinfo during a recent GfK survey interview listeners have nothing to worry about.
 
“We are not going to be changing any of the programming,” says Fitzy.
 
 “ …it’s just not going to happen.”

Building on its existing seven Hit branded stations, the Hit Network will also expand from December to encompass an additional 34 regional stations, all of whom are currently branded as either, SeaHot or Star.

Hobart’s Heart 107.3 is another station that will undergo a rebrand and it also has listeners concerned.
 

Not so says Fitzy.

“We haven’t become Australia’s biggest and most successful radio network by going in a killing everything that is important about local radio,” says Fitzy.

“We believe in regional radio and all we are doing is giving it a fresh coat of paint and a bit of a re-furb so we can continue to deliver the great local content that we always have in those markets with a strong heritage brand around the country like Triple M.”
 

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