RTQ-7
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

RTQ is an Australian
television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...
broadcasting in regional
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
in Australia. The network was owned by Star Television, before being purchased by the
WIN Corporation WIN Corporation is a private Australian media company, that owns assets including the WIN Television network, Crawford Productions and several local radio stations. The company is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. History Founding The WIN b ...
on 5 October 1988.


Network history

WIN Television Queensland started out as Darling Downs Television Limited in 1959, which was launched as a television network in 1962 as Queensland's first regional TV station, DDQ-10, broadcasting to the Darling Downs area for the first time. SDQ-4 for the Southern Downs soon launched in 1964, and DDQ-5 was next to air later (it would later change frequencies to 5A) for Toowoomba viewers. Rockhampton station, RTQ-7, was launched by Rockhampton Television Ltd on 7 September 1963 to serve viewers in Rockhampton and its suburbs. Between 1968 and 1971, RTQ's viewing audience across Central Queensland considerably increased with the installation of transmitters at Cracow, Blackwater and Gladstone. RTQ-7 began colour transmissions on 1 March 1975. Prior to aggregation, RTQ-7 produced a considerable amount of local content with programs such as ''The Morning Show'', ''Feminine Touch'', ''Claire's Corner'', ''Wedmaier's Walkabout'', ''Seven Days'', ''Holiday Fun & Games'', ''Racing Roundup'' and its local news service all being presented from the studio in North Rockhampton. The other programming aired by RTQ-7 was "cherry-picked" by station management from all three metropolitan networks. Until the 1980s, Darling Downs TV sometimes supported the
Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...
and
QTQ 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 8 (digital). QTQ began broadcasting on 16 August 1 ...
-9, its Brisbane station, by broadcasting its newscasts on relay. However, the station switched sympathies to
Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...
and TVQ-0 in the early part of the decade, supporting its programs and broadcasting TVQ-0's ''Eyewitness News'' on relay. It was part of the
Great Eastland Television Great Eastland Television (GET) was a network of affiliated country television stations servicing northern New South Wales and South East Queensland from 1975 to 1987. The system combined three pairs of television stations in the Darling and ...
network in 1975–1987, together with
NRN NRN is a television station originating in Coffs Harbour, Australia. The station is owned by Network 10 and relays the network's content into the northern New South Wales broadcast market. The station was formally a partnership between NRN-11 Co ...
NRTV 11-8 Television and NEN 9-8 Television (both in
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
) as GET 10-4-5a. In 1976, Darling Downs TV became the first regional TV network in Australia to adopt
electronic news gathering Electronic news gathering (ENG) or electronic journalism (EJ) is usage of electronic video and audio technologies by reporters to gather and present news instead of using film cameras. The term was coined during the rise of videotape techno ...
for its news service within a year after it became a colour station. This was the same case for RTQ during those years as after having been a ''Nine News'' broadcaster, switched news affiliations with the Seven Network and BTQ's local newscasts via microwave relay. Due to its purchase of Ten Brisbane (TVQ-0) in 1987 and its move to Channel 0 the next year (as Vision TV) to give way to the new Brisbane Ten (TVQ-10), it suddenly became Queensland's strongest regional TV network, even after its TVQ selloff, bringing Ten programs and ''Eyewitness News'' (later ''Brisbane Ten News'') to the Darling Downs and Southern Downs. DDQ-10 became DDQ-0 on 10 September 1988 and its network name became Vision TV. Reflecting this was a reformat of its newscasts and news studio to that of Ten's. RTQ-7 also by then began broadcasting Ten programs in Rockhampton, after its previous commitment to BTQ-7's programs, ''Seven National News'' and ''State Affair''. By 1989, DDQ/SDQ joined the aggregation race, becoming Star Television. RTQ joined the network in mid-1990 and thus merged it with the Darling Downs stations. Star Television was then purchased by WIN Television, then as a Ten affiliate for the state as it had already been decided that
TNQ TNQ is an Australian television station, licensed to, and serving the regional areas of Queensland. The station is Owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by Network 10. History Southern Cross 10 in Queensland began in 1978 as ''North Qu ...
/FNQ (QTV 7-10) would be the Nine affiliate. However, prior to aggregation, a deal with Nine was reached with Star TV's owners WIN Television which aligned Star TV Queensland with WIN's existing affiliation with Nine in southern NSW. This decision effectively overturned Nine's prior arrangements with QTV, which struggled with complexity of the last minute decision, but eventually joined
Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...
as its affiliate in Nine's place. The shock exchange of affiliation came within a week before aggregation took effect. On New Year's Eve 1990, it became WIN Television Queensland on the first day of statewide aggregation, with the network's Rockhampton facilities used to produce local editions of '' WIN News'' newscasts across some markets every day, including the Toowoomba edition. New transmitting stations were also built in Townsville, Mt. Stuart, Cairns, Mackay and Maryborough in time for statewide broadcasts even before Star TV turned to the Nine Network as its affiliate, even as parts of the news service were done in Coffs Harbour in NSW, part of a failed plan to bring both Star TV and NRTV, the Ten partner for Northern NSW, together as one network for viewers in their respective areas. In 1998, when WIN Television decided to introduce a Sunshine Coast edition of ''WIN News'', the network decided to once again use the DDQ studio at the Toowoomba station to produce news bulletins. From then on, the studio was used by Toowoomba-based newsreaders to read bulletins for both Toowoomba and the Sunshine Coast, while the RTQ studio in Rockhampton continued to produce bulletins for the Rockhampton, Townsville and Cairns regions. Those arrangements continued until WIN Television introduced additional bulletins for both the Wide Bay-Burnett and Mackay regions in 2010. The RTQ studio in Rockhampton was then used to produce bulletins for the Rockhampton, Mackay, Cairns and Sunshine Coast regions, while the DDQ studio in Toowoomba was used for the presentation of the local Toowoomba, Wide Bay-Burnett and Townsville bulletins. In December 2011, RTQ's analogue signals in regional Queensland were turned off as part of the switchover to digital television. In May 2012, WIN Television closed its news production studios in Rockhampton and once again ceased using the Toowoomba station for news production, making Rockhampton-based weather presenter Peter Byrne and Toowoomba sports presenter Pat O'Shea redundant. WIN Television centralised all news production to its new Sunshine Coast studio facilities. After relocating the remaining staff to an office in the Rockhampton CBD, WIN Television abandoned the former RTQ site in North Rockhampton in late 2012, a site which was once WIN Television's administrative and technical headquarters for the network in Queensland. As the old building lays dormant, it has succumbed to vandals with a quarter of the building sustaining damage when a suspicious fire broke out at the site in June 2016. In 2015, the local news service RTQ provided for the
Mackay Mackay may refer to: *Clan Mackay, the Scottish clan from which the surname "MacKay" derives Mackay may also refer to: Places Australia * Mackay Region, a local government area ** Mackay, Queensland, a city in the above region *** Mackay Airport ...
region was axed. In 2016, WIN Television switched to Network Ten after strained affiliation relations with Nine which ended WIN and Nine's 27-year partnership and their 25-year partnership for regional Queensland. With RTQ returning to Ten affiliation after 25 years on 1 July 2016, the switch effectively reversed the 1990 decision as TNQ returned to being the Nine Network regional partner for regional viewers in Queensland. Due to the affiliation switch, WIN Television's news service was required to be rescheduled from 7p.m. where it previously aired following ''Nine News Queensland'', to its more traditional timeslot of 6p.m. where it was sandwiched between ''Ten Eyewitness News'' and ''The Project''. in 2021, WIN Television switched back to the Nine Network, having signed a new agreement with the network. From 2021 onwards, RTQ alongside the other WIN stations in Queensland are now once more Nine Network affiliates.


Programming

WIN Television broadcasts its programming from
Nine 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Hindu–Arabic digit Circa 300 BC, as part of the Brahmi numerals, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bot ...
including their regional signals. WIN also broadcasts news, current affairs and sport programs such as ''
Today Extra ''Today Extra'' is an Australian morning talk show, with an infotainment base, hosted by David Campbell and Sylvia Jeffreys. The show airs between 9:00 am and 11:30 am weekdays and follows the Nine Network's breakfast news program ' ...
'', ''
Nine News Nine News (stylized as 9News) is a national News agency, news service on the Nine Network in Australia. Its flagship program is an hour-long ''9News'' bulletin at 6:00 pm, with editions produced by Nine's owned-and-operated stations in TCN, S ...
'', ''
A Current Affair ''A Current Affair'' may refer to: * ''A Current Affair'' (Australian TV program), 1971–present Australian current affairs program that airs on Nine Network * ''A Current Affair'' (American TV program), a 1986–1998 American television news ...
'', ''
Nine's Wide World of Sports ''Nine's Wide World of Sports'' is a long running sports anthology brand on Australian television that airs on the Nine Network and streaming service Stan. All major sports, events and series covered by the network are broadcast under this br ...
'', '' The NRL Sunday Footy Show'', ''
Sports Sunday ''Sports Sunday'' was an Australian sports television program that was broadcast on the Nine Network at 10.00am Sunday mornings. The show was hosted by journalist Roz Kelly, with a roster of rotating panelists including former Australian cricket c ...
'' and
Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...
throughout this region. RTQ simulcasts the nightly and weekday afternoon Melbourne editions of ''
Nine News Nine News (stylized as 9News) is a national News agency, news service on the Nine Network in Australia. Its flagship program is an hour-long ''9News'' bulletin at 6:00 pm, with editions produced by Nine's owned-and-operated stations in TCN, S ...
'' from QTQ 9 in
Brisbane 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 ...
, along with the national bulletins and current affairs programs from TCN 9 in Sydney and STW 9 in Perth.


WIN News

''
WIN News ''WIN News'' is a local television news service in parts of regional Australia, produced by WIN Television. 14 regional bulletins and news update services are presented from WIN's headquarters in Wollongong, and until 2021 included production ...
'' produces regional news bulletins for five of the seven regional markets covered by RTQ – (
Sunshine Coast Sunshine Coast may refer to: * Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia **Sunshine Coast Region, a local government area of Queensland named after the region **Sunshine Coast Stadium * Sunshine Coast (British Columbia), geographic subregion of the Br ...
&
Maroochydore Maroochydore ( ) is a coastal town in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the urban area of Maroochydore had a population of 63,673 people. The city was subdivided from the Cotton Tree reserve by Surveyor Thomas O'Conno ...
), (
Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. In the , the population of Rockhampton was 79,293. A common nickname for Rockhampton is "Rocky", and the demonym of Rockhampton is Rockhamptonite. The Scottish- ...
&
Central Queensland Central Queensland is an imprecisely-defined geographical division of Queensland ( a state in Australia) that centres on the eastern coast, around the Tropic of Capricorn. Its major regional centre is Rockhampton. The region extends from the Cap ...
), (
Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...
&
Far North Queensland Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns, Queensland, Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stret ...
), (
Toowoomba Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...
) and (
Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...
&
North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its Tropical North Queensland, trop ...
). Reporters and camera crews are based in newsrooms throughout the regions of the Sunshine Coast, Rockhampton, Cairns, Wide Bay, Toowoomba and Townsville. All bulletins were produced from WIN's studios in Maroochydore, however production has moved to WIN's Wollongong headquarters in July 2017. Between April 2009 and May 2015, the network also produced a local news service for Mackay and the Whitsundays.WIN TV Mackay, Mildura in shock closures
tvtonight.com.au, 22 May 2015 In June 2019, The Network also axed the Wide Bay-Burnett Bulletin.


Main anchors

Sunshine Coast, Rockhampton, Cairns, Toowoomba, Townsville *Lincoln Humphries


Sports presenters

Sunshine Coast, Rockhampton, Cairns, Toowoomba, Townsville *Melissa Russell


Weather presenter

*Sarah Cawte


Reporters

Sunshine Coast *Corinne May (Chief of Staff) *Hayley Francis *Hayley Wright *Sam Okely * Prentakosta (Sport) Rockhampton/Central Queensland *Andrea Crothers (Chief of Staff) *Lily Greer * *Tim Klinger (Sport) Cairns/Far North Queensland *Laura Gardiner (Chief of Staff) *Cameron Tragardh (Sport) Bundaberg/Wide Bay *Eve Sharpe (Chief of Staff) *Katie Wong Hoy *Paige Ashby *Tom Adam (Sport) Toowoomba/Darling Downs *Caitlin Crowley (Chief of Staff) *Stacey Silver *Maggie Raworth *Martin Bunyard *Keiran Wagstaff (Sport) Townsville/North Queensland * * *Madison Williams *Tim Morgan (Sport)


Main transmitters

Notes: *1.
HAAT Haat Bazaar () is an open-air market that serves as a trading venue for local people in rural areas and towns mainly in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and India. Haat bazaars are conducted on a regular basis, usually once, twice or thrice a week, a ...
estimated from http://www.itu.int/SRTM3/ using EHAAT. *2. The Darling Downs station was an independent station with the callsign DDQ from its 1962 sign-on until aggregation in 1990. *3. The Darling Downs station was on VHF channel 10 from its 1962 sign-on until 1988, swapping frequencies with TVQ Brisbane. *4. The Southern Downs station was a relay of DDQ Darling Downs/Toowoomba (with the callsign SDQ) from its 1966 sign-on until aggregation in 1990. *5. The Southern Downs station was on VHF channel 4 from its 1966 sign-on until 1991, moving to its current channel in order to accommodate FM radio. *6. Analogue transmissions ceased on 6 December 2011 as part of the national shutdown of analogue television.


References


External links


Official Site

Corporate Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rtq Television stations in Queensland WIN Television Television channels and stations established in 1963