SINCE the early days of radio with 4IP broadcasting from town in 1935, Ipswich has been a powerhouse in radio.
It comes as no surprise that as community radio station 4ZZZ celebrates 50 years of broadcasting this year, events pop up in Ipswich.
4ZZZ show Heyday is hosting a tribute to the Ipswich bands and songs that have been a part of the station with The Bremer Beat at Banshees Bar & Artspace on November 15 (Story P10).
The station has a strong association with the city, with current announcers such as Kristin Black from Heyday, Bill Storey-Smith from Workers Power, Bryant Strong from To Infinity and former station manager Grace Lousie all from Ipswich and River 949 journalist and newsreader Toni Thompson and fellow River journalist Michael Hudson both starting out at 4ZZZ.
Ms Thompson was an announcer at 4ZZZ during the time when the station was taken off air and forcibly evicted from its University of Queensland studio.
It was in the early hours of December 14, 1988, when security guards joined executive members of the University of Queensland Student Council to serve an immediate eviction notice on a volunteer announcer doing the graveyard shift for 4ZZZ from its studios under the Refectory.
“I remember that one of the other volunteer announcers had been kicked out doing midnight to dawn,” Ms Thompson said.
“At the time I was thankful it wasn’t me because I really didn’t understand what was going on, why were they getting kicked out, what was behind all of that, until that emerged much later.”
4ZZZ was soon back on the air, operating emergency broadcasts from a caravan on Mt Coot-tha.
“I turned up and they told me your shift is going to be at Mt Coot-tha tonight. I got a taxi there and I did my midnight to dawn shift,” Ms Thompson said.
“It was quite amazing. It was fitted out with all of the radio equipment and there were records there.
“It was about the passion of keeping the radio station going. It was very important for them to keep going and keep the station alive. You could never pull a radio station off air, stop it from broadcasting, it was just unheard of.”
Thanks to that passion from volunteers, the station celebrates 50 years of broadcasting next month.
Raceview’s Mr Storey- Smith founded the successful 4ZZZ program Workers Power program with fellow Ipswich presenter Feargal McGovern in 2019.
“I grew up down south but when I moved here, and being a bit of an activist, I found 4ZZZ and I subscribed straight away,” he said.
“After 50 years 4ZZZ has become an institution in the music community, the activist community, the workers community and through the diversity of all of our unique shows on air.”
