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6PR, known as 882 6PR, is a commercial
radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
based in
Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
, Western Australia. Owned by
Nine Entertainment Nine Entertainment (registered as Nine Entertainment Co. Pty Ltd) is an Australian publicly listed media company with holdings in radio and television broadcasting, newspaper publications and digital media. It uses Nine as its corporate brandi ...
, its focus is on news, talk and sport, and is Perth's only commercial
talkback Talkback or talk back may refer to: * ''Talkback'' (album), a 1983 album by the Canadian band the Spoons * ''Talk Back'' (Kembe X album), 2016 *Talkback, an alternate name for Marvel Comics superhero Chase Stein * Talkback (recording), an audio ...
radio station. It commenced broadcasting on 14 October 1931.


History

Radio in Australia was just twelve years old when 6PR commenced broadcasting on 14 October 1931. 6PR was founded by Electrical and Music warehouse company Nicholson's Limited, which operated the station from a studio above its music showroom at 86
Barrack Street Barrack Street is one of two major cross-streets in the Perth central business district, central business district of Perth, Western Australia. Together with St Georges Terrace, Wellington Street, Perth, Wellington Street and William Street, Pe ...
. The signal was broadcast from the
Applecross Wireless Station Applecross ( gd, A' Chomraich) is a peninsula north-west of Kyle of Lochalsh in the council area of Highland, Scotland. The name Applecross is at least 1,300 years old and is ''not'' used locally to refer to the 19th century village (which is ...
. In October 1939 its first relay station 6TZ came on air at Waterloo, 108 miles from Perth, using overhead landlines. This station had to generate its own power, so the on-site technicians had to be familiar with diesel power generating plants. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
6PR set up a triple diversity receiving station at the home of George Moss, its only studio technician at
Mount Lawley Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...
. This was to receive the
BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...
nine o'clock news from
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. George would record this via a landline to the studio on to an acetate disk for replay first on 6PR and then it was taken by bike to
6WF ABC Radio Perth (call sign: 6WF) is the on-air identifier of a radio station located in Perth, Western Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and broadcasting at 720 hertz, kHz amplitude modulation, AM. It is the flags ...
for rebroadcast on the ABC at 9.30pm. After
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, AWA's first Broadcast Transmitter was installed at
Collie Collies form a distinctive type of herding dogs, including many related landraces and standardized breeds. The type originated in Scotland and Northern England. Collies are medium-sized, fairly lightly-built dogs, with pointed snouts. Man ...
with 6CI relaying the 6PR programme. In 1955 new studios opened at 340 Hay Street East with three studios. This enabled the station to programme the country radio stations separately. In June 1960 6TZ-CI began broadcasting from a Studio built at back the Nicholson's Shop in Bunbury, Local programming was from 6.00 AM until 2:00 PM weekdays and 6PR's programmes for the duration of the weekend. In 1963 the Victorian Broadcasting Network purchased Nicholson's and Nicholson's Broadcasting Services, selling off the electrical and Music Warehouse divisions of the organisation to Vox Adeon. The broadcasting business was retained and operated under the name Nicholson's Broadcasting Service Pty Ltd.


340 Hay St

Throughout the 1960s 6PR was consistently the top rating station in Perth with personalities including
Garry Meadows Garrett Seaton "Garry" Meadows (15 April 1939 – 22 July 1982) was an Australian television presenter, radio announcer, and actor. Career Stage Meadows began acting in Perth during his youth in the 1950s when he appeared in a number of local ...
, Barry Martin, Gordon O'Byrne and Trevor Smith but lost its dominance in 1972. The image of the station changed from rock n roll to
beautiful music Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator musi ...
with the "Gentle on Your Mind" promotion in 1973. This boosted 6PR's ratings to a consistent number two with a number one position on several occasions. In 1977 an agreement was made with the TAB by the station's owners to broadcast races in conjunction with a personality/sport format. In the early eighties the station commenced a more comprehensive news and current affairs format with the introduction of regular programs by
Howard Sattler Howard Sattler (23 February 1945 – 11 June 2021) was an Australian talk back radio host. Sattler began his career as a cadet journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald before performing national service during the Vietnam War, during which he co ...
,
Bob Maumill Walter Robert Maumill (born 10 March 1938) is a Western Australian radio presenter and writer. Early life Maumill was born in Bunbury, Western Australia. His father was Walter William Maumill (Wharf labourer) and his mother Elsie (barmaid). He m ...
and Graham Mabury, which proved extremely popular with listeners.


169 Hay St

The 6PR studio remained at 340 Hay Street for 22 years before it was demolished to make way for the expansion of Mercedes College. In 1985 the station relocated to its current premises at 169 Hay Street,
East Perth East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sunrise, Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from ...
. In the station's early days there were only four people on the payroll. Now there are around one hundred. The limited hours of broadcasting in the beginning have gradually been increased to a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week service. In 1987 the TAB purchased 6PR to secure the future of race broadcasts in Western Australia and races were broadcast across the station during popular talkback programs. During the early nineties the station's current affairs/talkback program hosted by Sattler, Maumill, Mabury, Peter Newman, Gary Carvolth and Rob Broadfield achieved considerable success in spite of the ever-increasing level of racing broadcasts on the station. In 1994 6PR, in conjunction with the TAB, was able to secure a special narrowcast broadcast licence which allowed racing broadcasts to be moved from 6PR to the narrowcast broadcaster called Racing Radio. This move allowed 6PR to serve its two distinct audiences, those who listened purely for a talkback/news/current affairs format and those who listened just for racing information, in a more comprehensive manner. In December 1994 6PR was purchased by
Southern Cross Broadcasting Southern Cross Broadcasting (Australia) Limited was a diversified Australian media company, that owned and operated a variety of media businesses, primarily in radio and television. History Tony Bell was managing director of the business betwe ...
which also owned
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
's number one rating talk station
3AW 3AW is a talkback radio station based in Melbourne. It broadcasts on 693  kHz AM. It began transmission on 22 February 1932 as Melbourne's fifth commercial radio station. The station is owned and operated by Nine Entertainment Co. Hist ...
and television stations in
Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
,
Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
and other places. During the 1990s, 6PR continued its dominance in the talk format arena with personalities such as David Christison & Lee Tate, Howard Sattler, Jenny Seaton & Gary Carvolth,
Liam Bartlett Liam Bartlett (born 30 June 1961) is an Australian journalist and reporter, best known for his career in radio and television. Career Born in Perth, Western Australia, previously, Bartlett had a six-year stint with ABC radio station 720 ABC Pe ...
, Harvey Deegan and Graham Mabury.


Recent years

On 11 July 2007,
Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The Sydney Morning Herald' ...
acquired the former radio assets of
Southern Cross Broadcasting Southern Cross Broadcasting (Australia) Limited was a diversified Australian media company, that owned and operated a variety of media businesses, primarily in radio and television. History Tony Bell was managing director of the business betwe ...
(on-sold from
Macquarie Media Group Southern Cross Media Group (formerly Macquarie Media Group) is one of Australia's major media companies, as the parent company of Southern Cross Austereo. Its headquarters are in South Melbourne. History On 3 July 2007 Southern Cross Broadca ...
's purchase of SCB) this included 6PR along with 96fm who also broadcast from 169 Hay Street. Fairfax also acquired Sydney station 2UE, Melbourne stations
3AW 3AW is a talkback radio station based in Melbourne. It broadcasts on 693  kHz AM. It began transmission on 22 February 1932 as Melbourne's fifth commercial radio station. The station is owned and operated by Nine Entertainment Co. Hist ...
,
Magic 1278 Magic 1278 (official callsign: 3EE) is a commercial radio station in Melbourne, Australia owned by Nine Entertainment Co, and run under a lease agreement by Ace Radio. History 1935–1991: 3XY 1935–1967 3XY began broadcasting on 8 Sept ...
, and Brisbane stations 4BC, 4BH, as well. Graham Mott general manager at Southern Cross continued in his role as general manager of the broadcast radio group under Fairfax. Mott indicated at the time of the acquisition that national syndication of programming (such as that of the since-retired
John Laws Richard John Sinclair Laws CBE (born 8 August 1935) is a Papua New Guinean-born Australian radio announcer. For 50 years, until 2007, he was the host of an Australian morning radio program combining music with interviews, opinion, live adverti ...
) would largely be replaced on the network with more localised syndication at a state level. In 2013,
Howard Sattler Howard Sattler (23 February 1945 – 11 June 2021) was an Australian talk back radio host. Sattler began his career as a cadet journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald before performing national service during the Vietnam War, during which he co ...
was sacked following a controversial interview with Prime Minister
Julia Gillard Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013, holding office as leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). She is the first and only ...
where Sattler asked Gillard about her husband’s sexuality. He later sued the station for unlawful termination of his contract. At the end of 2014
Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The Sydney Morning Herald' ...
announced a proposal to merge its radio assets including 6PR, with the
Macquarie Radio Network Nine Radio (formerly Macquarie Media Limited) is an Australian media company, owned by parent company Nine Entertainment Co. and headquartered in North Sydney, New South Wales, the company operates radio stations nationally in the capital cit ...
(MRN) and as of 2020, 6PR is owned by
Nine Entertainment Nine Entertainment (registered as Nine Entertainment Co. Pty Ltd) is an Australian publicly listed media company with holdings in radio and television broadcasting, newspaper publications and digital media. It uses Nine as its corporate brandi ...
. In recent years, the station has transition into a mainstay of newstalk radio in Perth and in recent changed it line-up considerably. The station occurred major changes in the end of both 2013, 2017 and 2020. Gary Adshead replaced Paul Murray in mornings who was at 6PR on and off from the previous 15 years who later moved to the afternoon slot. But Adshead only lasted in the role for three years before returning to ''
The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...
'' as it’s State Political Reporter, he replaced Gareth Parker in the role who replaced Adshead as mornings host. Simon Beaumont became afternoon host following Peter Bell's move to ABC Perth radio who filled the afternoon role by Jane Marwick and Tony McManus. Beaumont previously was host of the stations morning program before being replaced as host in 2010 in the role by Murray. Oliver Peterson joined 6PR to host it’s drive program replacing Adam Shand, Peterson program became known as Perth Live. Steve Mills was a mainstay in the breakfast slot since arriving at the station in 2004 working with the likes of Tony ‘Mac’ McManus until 2008 when a on-air falling saw McManus moved to another shift, Channel 7 broadcaster
Basil Zempilas Basil Anthony Zempilas (born 30 July 1971) is an Australian television and radio presenter, sports commentator and politician based in Perth, Western Australia. Zempilas presented sport until 2022 on '' Seven News Perth'', Monday to Thursday and ...
joined Mills from 2014 after previously working in the time slot in the early 2000s. Mills and Zempilas combined until 2020 when Zempilas when the station conflicted with his work at 7 while also becoming the Perth Lord Mayor, Mills was moved to the afternoon slot in 2021 when mornings host Gareth Parker replaced the pair in the earlier time slot with 60 Minutes reporter
Liam Bartlett Liam Bartlett (born 30 June 1961) is an Australian journalist and reporter, best known for his career in radio and television. Career Born in Perth, Western Australia, previously, Bartlett had a six-year stint with ABC radio station 720 ABC Pe ...
replacing Parker after returning to the station following a short stint in 2006. Graham Mabury retired in 2014 who was replaced by overnight host Chris Illsley with weekend overnight host Jon Lewis becoming host of the weekday slot. Bob Maumill also had a retirement in 2016 after working in most slots on the station. Illsley was then controversial dump at the end of 2020 replaced by singer Tod Johnson. Currently the station is one of the major AM radio stations in Perth, along with
ABC Radio Perth ABC Radio Perth (call sign: 6WF) is the on-air identifier of a radio station located in Perth, Western Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and broadcasting at 720 kHz AM. It is the flagship ABC Local Radio station ...
, and 6IX. As of 8 December 2020 the ratings show that ABC leads in all time slots, with 6PR second except on weekends where 6IX leads.


News format

6PR provides hourly news (half-hour during breakfast), traffic and weather bulletins. Its newscasts often run around five minutes. The traffic report can also be heard every 15 minutes throughout morning and afternoon drive.


Sports programming


Australian rules football

The station is one of three radio outlets (the others being
ABC Radio Perth ABC Radio Perth (call sign: 6WF) is the on-air identifier of a radio station located in Perth, Western Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and broadcasting at 720 kHz AM. It is the flagship ABC Local Radio station ...
and
Triple M Perth Triple M Perth (official List of radio station callsigns in Western Australia, callsign: 6MMM) is a commercial radio station owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo as part of the Triple M (radio network), Triple M network. The station is b ...
) contracted to cover
Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...
matches in the Perth area. The station has also covered matches from the
West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting from March to September, ...
. Some matches are broadcast on-relay from sister stations
3AW 3AW is a talkback radio station based in Melbourne. It broadcasts on 693  kHz AM. It began transmission on 22 February 1932 as Melbourne's fifth commercial radio station. The station is owned and operated by Nine Entertainment Co. Hist ...
in
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
,
FIVEaa FIVEaa (pronounced ''Five Double A'') is Adelaide's only commercial talkback radio station. The station has a range of programs including news, sports, current affairs, social issues, football calls, gardening, lifestyle, cars, travel and heal ...
in
Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
and AFL Nation from
Sports Entertainment Network Sports Entertainment Network (SEN), formerly Crocmedia, is an Australian radio and television distribution company established in 2006 by journalists James Swanwick and Craig Hutchison. SEN's parent company is Sports Entertainment Group (SE ...
. The station currently commentates every home and away and finals matches the
West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football ...
and
Fremantle Dockers The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers, is a professional Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represent the port city of Fr ...
involved in and “blockbusters” matches including finals and the
grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...
from Melbourne. Former commentators include
George Grljusich George Ned Grljusich (15 January 1939 – 6 November 2007) was an Australian sports journalist, commentator and former Australian rules footballer. Born in Wiluna, Western Australia, he played 12 games of football for the South Fremantle Foot ...
,
Percy Johnson Percy John Johnson (28 January 1933 – 4 December 2021) was an Australian rules footballer and coach, who played 13 state matches for Western Australia and 228 games in the Western Australian National Football League (WANFL). He is a member ...
,
Frank Sparrow Francis Valentine Sparrow (1 July 1927 – 31 December 2000) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the East Perth Football Club, Swan Districts Football Club and the West Perth Football Club in the West Australian National Football ...
,
Tim Gossage Tim Gossage (born 27 February 1965, in Perth) is an Australian sports commentator and Australian rules football coach based in Perth, Western Australia. Media Gossage joined Network 10 in Perth in 1990. During his time at Ten, he'd featured on ...
, Peter Bell, Drew Morphett, Peter Vlahos and Graham ‘Smokey’ Dawson.


Football (soccer)

6PR has broadcast almost all
Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...
Home and Away matches for the Australian national
soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
competition since 1996 (known then as the
National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...
). 6PR's coverage started in Glory's debut 1996/97 Season and the coverage continued until the demise of the NSL in 2003/2004. In 2005 the
A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...
was created and Perth Glory was announced as one of the eight franchise teams. 6PR broadcast Perth Glory's home matches only. However, after the A-League's inaugural season in 2005/2006 6PR announced it would stop broadcasting the Perth Glory, the takeover of Perth Glory by
Football Federation Australia Football Australia is the governing body of soccer, futsal, and beach soccer within Australia, headquartered in Sydney. Although the first governing body of the sport was founded in 1911, Football Australia in its current form was only esta ...
is believed to have contributed to 6PR's decision. In 2007 Perth Glory was back in private ownership and 6PR came back on board as the official Radio Broadcast partner of the Perth Glory until 2012 when the station stopped broadcasting due to cricket rights. Since 2019 6PR returned to broadcasting Perth Glory through Crocmedia, games are broadcast subject to the cricket rights.


Cricket

Since the 2013/14 Ashes, 6PR has broadcast most test matches that is played in Australia mainly the Perth Test Boxing Day test in Melbourne and the New Year's test in Sydney. Also since 2013/14 summer , 6PR has broadcast every
Perth Scorchers The Perth Scorchers is an Australian domestic Twenty20 franchise cricket team representing the Western Australian city of Perth in the Big Bash League (BBL). The Scorchers are the current BBL Champions, having defeated the Sydney Sixers in the ...
game in the
BBL A barrel is one of several units of volume applied in various contexts; there are dry barrels, fluid barrels (such as the U.K. beer barrel and U.S. beer barrel), oil barrels, and so forth. For historical reasons the volumes of some barrel units ...
, home and away and finals game involved.


See also

*
List of radio stations in Australia This is a list of radio stations that broadcast in Australia. The first digit of the callsign represents the state or territory: 1 – ACT, 2 – NSW and ACT, 3 – VIC, 4 – QLD, 5 – SA, 6 – WA, 7 – TAS, 8 – NT. Australian Capit ...


References


External links


6PR website
{{DEFAULTSORT:6PR Radio stations in Perth, Western Australia News and talk radio stations in Australia Radio stations established in 1931 Nine Radio 1931 establishments in Australia