2WZD, which is branded as hit93.1 Riverina, is an Australian

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 ...

that transmits on 93.1

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

FM and is owned by

Southern Cross Media 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 Broadcas ...

History

On 14 November 1991 the

Australian Broadcasting Tribunal The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is an Australian government statutory authority within the Communications portfolio. ACMA was formed on 1 July 2005 with the merger of the Australian Broadcasting Authority and the Austr ...

(ABT) granted an FM commercial licence to ''Wagga and Riverina FM Stereo Broadcasters Pty Limited'', which was to be Wagga FM but the incumbent, ''Riverina Broadcasters Pty Limited'', the licensee of

2WG Triple M Riverina (ACMA call sign 2WG) is an Australian radio station which transmits on 1152 kHz on the AM band. It is licensed to the city of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. The station was originally owned by Eric Vernon Roberts BSc and his ...

, successfully appealed in the

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indic ...

in September 1992. The Federal Court found that the decision the ABT made was an error of law. On 5 October 1992, the ABT and '' Broadcasting Act 1942'' were replaced by the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) and the ''Broadcasting Act 1992''. On 2 December 1992, ''South West Media Ltd'' who was also competing for an independent FM licence, advised the ABA it was withdrawing its licence application. The ABA announced that an inquiry into the licence grant would be held on 19 – 20 May 1993 at The Old Wagga Inn. The inquiry would re-examine ''Wagga and Riverina FM Stereo Broadcasters'' application which ''Riverina Broadcasters'' had contested. The inquiry would also look at the application for a supplementary FM commercial licence from Riverina Broadcasters, and at the viability of Riverina Broadcasters if an FM commercial licence was granted to a second independent licensee in the city. On 12 October 1993, ABA announced that the FM commercial licence was granted to ''Riverina Broadcasters'' and it decided not to grant an independent FM licence, as the ABA found that the viability of Riverina Broadcasters would have been jeopardised if an independent FM licence was granted. In July 1994 2WZD began broadcasting on 93.1 MHz as FM93. The station and its sister station

was sold to DMG Radio Australia in 1998 and FM93 was re-branded as Star FM by DMG Radio in 1999. In 2000 the station sacked four of its radio presenters and began networking with the StarFM network hub in

Albury Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – the ...

. On 11 April 2000 Duncan Potts and Leighton Marshall began broadcasting as breakfast announcers on the station. On 6 June 2000, 2WZD relocated from its Fitzmaurice Street studios to the

Prime Television Prime7, formerly Prime Television and other names, was an Australian television network. Prime Television launched on 17 March 1962 as '' CBN-8'' in Orange, and later expanded to cover regional New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capi ...

studios in the suburb of Kooringal. In September 2004, DMG Radio sold the stations to Macquarie Regional RadioWorks. Star FM relocated to its new Forsyth Street studios on 6 October 2015. The stations branding of 93.1 Star FM was rebranded to hit93.1 Riverina as part of Southern Cross Austereo's wide rebranding.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:hit Riverina Radio stations in Wagga Wagga Contemporary hit radio stations in Australia Southern Cross Media Group Radio stations established in 1994 1994 establishments in Australia