QTQ 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 ea ...

, licensed to, and serving

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

. It is owned by the

Nine Entertainment Co. 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 brand ...

, and is part of the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, 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 five main free-to-air television netw ...

. It broadcasts on

VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...

Channel 8 (

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals ** Digital camera, which captures and stores digital ...

). QTQ began broadcasting on 16 August 1959 as the first commercial television station in Queensland. QTQ-9 is the home of the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

coverage.

News

QTQ-9's nightly news program is ''Nine News Queensland'', presented on weeknights by Andrew Lofthouse and Melissa Downes, with

Wally Lewis Walter James Lewis AM (born 1 December 1959) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 1980s and 1990s. He became a commentator for television coverage of the sp ...

presenting sport, and Garry Youngberry presenting the weather. Jonathan Uptin is the weekend presenter, with Michael Atkinson presenting sport and Luke Bradnam presenting weather. Luke Bradnam also presents Beach and Fishing reports each Friday and Saturday evening. Regular fill-in presenters for the bulletins include news presenters Jonathan Uptin, Paul Taylor and

Alison Ariotti Alison Ariotti (nee Fletcher, born 1980) is an Australian journalist and news presenter. Career Ariotti's media career began at NBN in Northern New South Wales where she worked casually as a reporter. In 2000, she was appointed to ''WIN News ...

. The bulletin is simulcast in Brisbane on commercial radio station River 94.9, across regional Queensland on

WIN Television WIN Television is an Australian television network owned by WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single television station covering the Wollongong region. The WIN Netw ...

and throughout remote eastern and central Australia on

Imparja Television Imparja Television (IMP) is an independent Australian television station servicing over , across six states and territories: Northern Territory, South Australia, Tasmania, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. It is based in Alice Spring ...

. As of September 2017, weekend bulletins also air in Darwin. Since 2014, QTQ-9 has produced local editions of ''Nine Live Queensland'' (as well as the ''Morning News'' until it was axed in October 2017) on weekdays. The bulletin is presented by Paul Taylor (Monday - Wednesday) and

(Thursday - Friday) with sport presenters

(weeknights) and weather presenters Garry Youngberry (Monday – Thursday) and Luke Bradnam (Friday).

Presenter history

was the weekday sports presenter until December 2006, when following an on-air incident, it was publicly revealed he had epilepsy. He returned to presenting weeknight sport during the 2007–2008 summer period, and also files sports reports. Chris Bombolas was the weekend sports presenter who preceded Steve Haddan, before resigning to become a politician. John Schluter was the weather presenter until his resignation in September 2006, to join rival '' Seven News Brisbane'' as the weekday weather presenter; his departure indirectly resulted in ''Nine News Queensland'' losing its long-time ratings lead to ''Seven News Brisbane'' in 2007; it was not until 2013 that they would regain the ratings lead. Mike London formerly presented alongside

Heather Foord Heather Foord (born 1965) is an Australian television journalist. Foord was a news presenter for the Nine Network in Brisbane for over 20 years, presenting the weekday edition of ''Nine News Queensland'' with Bruce Paige between 1995–2001, and ...

until he resigned in June 2003, following allegations that he had arrangements for a female fan to complain about weeknight presenter

Bruce Paige Bruce Paige (born 10 November 1948) is a former newsreader in Brisbane, Australia. He previously presented '' Nine Gold Coast News'' alongside Eva Milic. He previously co-presented ''Nine News Queensland'' alongside Melissa Downes, having pai ...

, who was co-presenting with Jillian Whiting at the time. London had swapped roles with Paige in the mid 1990s following the latter's return to the Nine Network.

2011 "Choppergate" incident

On the bulletins of ''Nine News Queensland'' aired on 20 and 21 August 2011, newsreader Eva Milic conducted two crosses, one on each night, to reporters Melissa Mallet and Cameron Price, respectively, in the station's helicopter which claimed to be "near Beerwah", where the remains of murdered schoolboy

Daniel Morcombe Daniel James Morcombe (19 December 1989 – 7 December 2003) was an Australian boy who was abducted from the Sunshine Coast, Queensland on 7 December 2003 when he was 13 years old. Eight years later, Brett Peter Cowan (born 18 September 1969), ...

had been found earlier that month. The crosses were revealed to be fake when, on the second night, rival station Channel Seven filmed footage of the Nine helicopter sitting on the helipad outside their studios at Mount Coot-tha at the time of the broadcast. Radar footage also revealed that, on the first night, the helicopter was actually hovering over

Chapel Hill Chapel Hill or Chapelhill may refer to: Places Antarctica * Chapel Hill (Antarctica) Australia *Chapel Hill, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane *Chapel Hill, South Australia, in the Mount Barker council area Canada *Chapel Hill, Ottawa, a neighbou ...

, 70 km away from Beerwah. Both Mallet and Price, as well as news producer Aaron Wakeley, were sacked by the

following the incident, while news director Lee Anderson resigned in protest over the faked crossings. Despite the scandal, Nine experienced a spike in its 6:00 pm news ratings in the weeks that followed, managed to win more weeks than it did in the previous three years combined (winning seven of the 32 ratings weeks up to the first week of October), and recovered to reclaim its mantle as Queensland's most-watched news service by 2013.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Qtq Nine Network Television stations in Brisbane Television channels and stations established in 1959

News

Presenter history

2011 "Choppergate" incident

See also

References

External links