Hitchhike TV was a

community television Community television is a form of mass media in which a television station is owned, operated or programmed by a community group to provide television programs of local interest known as local programming. Community television stations are most ...

station based in

Brisbane, Australia Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

. Originally known as Briz 31, the station existed in various forms from 1992 until its closure in 2019.

History

1994–2017: Brisbane community television

Brisbane's first community television channel was formed by Wes Tatters, Ric Adams, Simon Bunker, Ben Morrisson and Cait Spreadborough. The station began broadcasting a two-week test transmission in 1992 during the opening of

South Bank Parklands The South Bank Parklands are located at South Bank within the suburb of South Brisbane in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The parkland, on the transformed site of Brisbane's World Expo 88, was officially opened to the public on 20 June 1992 ...

, under the name Briz TV. During the broadcast week many different formats produced by the members went to air. Along with live footage from the opening of South Bank, member-produced formats included a variety show ''On the Bed with Simon and Karen'' where guests were invited to a studio in their

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and be interviewed by the hosts. The following two years were spent lobbying the

Australian Broadcasting Authority The Australian Broadcasting Authority was an Australian government agency whose main roles were to regulate broadcasting, radio communications and telecommunications. The Authority took over the functions of the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal ...

(ABA) for permission to broadcast on a full-time basis and developing a draft funding model for the organisation. At that time, there were no licence categories available except the experimental broadcasting category. The station began broadcasting in the Brisbane area from Vulture Street Studios on 31 July 1994 as Briz 31 on analogue channel 31 (callsign CTQ-31) after an arrangement was struck with

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets related products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 stock index, and is Australia's largest telecomm ...

to provide broadcasting facilities at the ABQ-2 transmitter tower on

Mount Coot-tha Mount Coot-tha is a mountain and a suburb of the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Visible from much of the city, Mount Coot-tha is a popular bushland tourist destination including the Mount Coot-tha Lookout, Brisbane Botanic Garden ...

. With the lack of a marketing campaign to drive brand awareness at the time, many people confusingly called it "Bruce 31". During Briz 31's early years daily programming consisted of ''Community Billboard'', a text-based information service consisting of weather, local news and classifieds. Regular programming would begin from 4pm usually consisting of locally-produced content and public domain films. Notable programmes from this era included ''Crazy Crosswords'', a crossword puzzle game show interlaced with self-aware humour and ''Tamara Tonite'', a long-running variety show hosted by titular Brisbane drag queen which continued into 2004. As Briz 31 moved into the 2000s, regular programming eventually took up the channel's daytime slot and the station was successfully given a permanent broadcasting license by the ABA in 2004. A nightly news bulletin produced by the

Queensland University of Technology The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It has two major campuses, a modern city campus in Gardens Point, Brisbane, Gardens Point ...

's journalism school was broadcast on the channel, as well as current affairs programmes by

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. To reflect its expansion into other parts of Queensland outside of Brisbane, the station was renamed Channel 31 in October 2006. In 2007 the station had a major transmitter upgrade, which allowed it to reach another 40% of viewers mainly in

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and the surrounding areas. In July 2008 the station was renamed QCTV for "Queensland Community Television". In November 2009 the station announced their intent return to the "31" name and was renamed 31 QCTV before being renamed simply 31 in April 2010. The station had announced in March 2010 that after a long period of uncertainty it would begin broadcasting in

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by 7 June 2010, and upon launching on digital channel 44 (broadcast on 529.500 MH) on 7 June 2010, the station was renamed 31 Digital. The station's analogue broadcast later ceased on 15 May 2011. In September 2014, Australian federal communications minister

Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party an ...

announced that licensing for community television stations would end in December 2015. In September 2015, Turnbull, now

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

, announced an extension of the deadline to 31 December 2016. The deadline was again extended to 30 June 2017 by Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield in December 2016. Leading up to the various deadlines, 31 Digital, like other community television stations, moved operations online, and streamed its channel live on their website which allows access to viewers outside of its traditional broadcast area. 31 Digital ceased broadcasting on television at 11:59 pm on 28 February 2017. Days before 30 June 2017, the deadline was again extended to 31 December 2017 by Fifield, but 31 Digital had already ceased broadcasting.

2017–2019: Online service

With the close of terrestrial broadcasting, the channel shifted its focus to online

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

and reinvented itself as Queensland Online TV (also known as Q Online TV). Sports discussion program ''The Commentary Box'' was released via Facebook on 27 February 2017 as the inaugural show under the new re-branding. The show featured three fans discussing the highlights of the previous week, with a Queensland focus. In June 2018, the service was rebranded as Hitchhike TV, returning to a linear streaming service with the video on demand element removed. Hitchhike TV streamed legacy 31 Digital content from their website in short two-hour programming blocks with an announcement it would eventually become a 24-hour streaming service. However, the service was discontinued in 2019 with no official statement.

Legacy

On 31 July 2024, marking the 30th anniversary of when Briz 31 went to air, Brisbane YouTuber "IBIS Channel 32" released a documentary about the TV station.

Programming

Produced in-house

* ''Crazy Crosswords'' (1994–1996) * ''The Bike Show'' * ''Clips 31'' * ''Tamara Tonite'' * ''Art Studio'' * ''The Boat Show'' * ''The Late Nite Show with Scott Black'' * ''This Town Brisbane'' * ''The Storyteller'' (1995–1996) * ''Community Billboard'' (1994–2002) * ''The Commentary Box'' (2017)

Other programming

* ''

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'' *

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* ''Underground Sounds'' * ''4WDTV'' * ''Queensland

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'' * ''QUT News'' – a news bulletin produced by

* ''My

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Identity history

31 Digital * 1994–1999: ''Getting Together'' * 2006–2008: ''Your local television'' * 2008–2009: ''Queensland's Only Community Television Station'' * 2010–2017: ''Your stories... Your station'' Queensland Online TV * 2017–2018: ''Q Online. Local. Always.'' Hitchhike TV * 2018–2020: ''Locally Sourced. Crafted with Love.''