TRFM (Callsign: 3TFM) is a commercial radio station broadcasting from Traralgon, Victoria,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is currently owned by Ace Radio & broadcasts A Contemporary Hits Radio (CHR) format. It features both locally produced content & nationally syndicated content from both NOVA Entertainment & Grant Broadcasters. They have a repeater on Mount Taylor, near Bairnsdale, to better cover East Gippsland.

History

The station began life in Trafalgar as 3TR, being an abbreviation for 3 Trafalgar Radio. It has since moved studio locations several times and has been based in Trafalgar, Sale, and Traralgon. The station was founded by Frank Berkery, and later from 1934 to 1938 was owned by

Archibald Gilchrist Archibald Gilchrist (1878 – 10 March 1955) was an Australian businessman and politician. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1914 to 1917, representing the seat of Gascoyne. Early life Gilchrist was born in Melbo ...

. The original 3TR studios in Sale are now used by ABC Gippsland. These studios were officially opened by then Prime Minister

Robert Menzies The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...

on Saturday 29 April 1939 and the program was then relayed across the Victorian Broadcast Network (made up of 3SH and 3HA at the time) to which it then belonged. For the most of the station's life it operated on the AM band, most recently at 1242 kHz. On Friday 26 April 2002 at midday the station officially became 3TR FM. For the previous week it was simulcasting on both AM and FM after test transmissions. Also at midday, sister station 3GV (now known as Gold 1242) commenced on 1242 kHz. In other markets where Ace Radio have set up supplementary FM stations they have launched a new FM station (generally under the Mixx FM brand) and kept the existing AM station broadcasting as usual with its existing name. However it was decided to transfer the 3TR brand name to FM in an attempt to retain 3TR's existing listener base and instead start a new station on 1242 kHz. Also the format of 1242 3TR in the years prior to the transfer to FM was very similar to the format 3TR FM carried making more sense to keep the 3TR brand name on the new FM station. In September 2008 the station dropped the "3" from its name and is now known as TRFM.

References

External links

*
Ace Radio website
Ace Radio Contemporary hit radio stations in Australia Radio stations established in 1939 Radio stations in Victoria {{Australia-radio-station-stub