Media in Townsville
Townsville is the media centre for North Queensland, with 4 commercial radio stations, 4 narrowcast radio stations, 3 community radio stations, 5 ABC radio stations, 3 commercial television stations, one regional daily newspaper and one community weekly newspaper. There are no local Sunday papers although the Sunday Mail (based in Brisbane) publishes a North Queensland edition, which is printed and distributed from Townsville (throughout Northern Queensland). Townsville also has extensive outdoor and indoor advertising media, ranging from taxi advertising to large-format billboards.
Print media
The Townsville Bulletin is the dominant newspaper in North Queensland with daily coverage on local, state, national and world news, plus a wide range of sections and liftouts covering health, real estate, youth, beauty, cars and lifestyle. The Bulletin has a $1.40 cover price on weekdays, increasing to $2.40 for the weekend edition, and is in tabloid format. In 2006 the Bulletin had a readership (average) Monday to Friday of 84,000 (up 15.5% on 2005) and weekend readership (average) of 104,000 (up 1.96% on 2005)[1] and circulation (avg) of 27 187 Monday to Friday, weekend circulation (avg) of 41 814.[2] The Townsville Bulletin is owned by News Limited, a subsidiary of News Corporation, and employs over 100 people.
DUO Magazine is a complimentary lifestyle magazine published bi-monthly for men and women aged 25–54 years. DUO is the region's most popular magazine with 45,000+ readers of the printed edition and 33,000+ online readers. 12,000 copies of DUO are distributed to over 450 outlets throughout Townsville, Ingham, Ayr, Charters Towers, and Mt Isa and is carried on all Alliance Airlines flights to the major mines. It is also available from the Qantas Club at Townsville Airport and all leading hotels and accommodation.
Success Business Magazine is a bi-monthly corporate magazine that is distributed free to locals (10,000 copies and a readership exceeding 25,000) in Townsville City, Ayr, Burdekin, and Charters Towers. It is targeted at businesspeople aged between 25–55 years. Success Business Magazine is a glossy magazine that features local businesses through to national brands. It is also distributed at various businesses throughout the North Queensland region such as hotels, coffee shops and shopping centres.
HUXLEY Press is the region's bi-monthly music, Arts and creative culture street press. 5,000 copies (with a readership of approx. 15,000) are distributed via galleries, theatres, performing arts groups, cafes, eateries, major shopping centres, hotels, secondary and tertiary education campuses and more across Townsville, Hinchinbrook, Charters Towers and the Burdekin. Between print issues, the HUXLEY Press website is updated consistently with Arts and Culture stories, interviews and reviews.
Magnetic Island has two competing small publications; Magnetic Island Community News is printed weekly and Magnetic Times is published online.
The North Queensland Register is based in Townsville. However, it services the Queensland rural community from Rockhampton North. Owned by Rural Press Limited, it has a distribution of about 5,000.
Northern Services Courier is an independent newspaper for Defence Force personnel stationed in Townsville.
The Hack (formerly known as The Bullsheet) is the student community newspaper at James Cook University, published by the JCU Student Association. Outlook is the academic community newspaper at James Cook University and it is published by the University.
Radio
| Station | Frequency | |
|---|---|---|
| ABC North Queensland | 630 AM | Government funded |
| RadioTAB | 891 AM | Racing/Narrowcast |
| Classic Gold FM | 87.6 FM | Oldies/Narrowcast |
| Vision Radio Network | 88.0 FM | Christian/Narrowcast |
| ABC News Radio | 94.3 FM and 93.5 FM | Government funded |
| Hot Country | 98.9 FM | Country/Narrowcast |
| Live FM | 99.9 FM | Community |
| Power 100 | 100.7 FM | Commercial |
| ABC Classic FM | 101.5 FM and 95.9 FM | Government funded |
| MMM | 102.3 FM | Commercial |
| Hit 103.1 | 103.1 FM | Commercial |
| 4TTT | 103.9 FM | Community |
| ABC Radio National | 104.7 FM and 96.7 FM | Government funded |
| Triple J | 105.5 FM and 97.5 FM | Government funded |
| Star 106.3 | 106.3 FM | Commercial |
| 4K1G | 107.1 FM | Indigenous/Community |
| Townsvillerocks.com [3] | townsvillerocks.com | Online |
Television
All three main commercial networks produce local news coverage - Seven Queensland and WIN Television both air 30-minute local news bulletins at 6pm each weeknight, produced from newsrooms in the city but broadcast from studios in Maroochydore and Wollongong respectively. Southern Cross Nine airs a regional Queensland edition of Nine News from Brisbane each weeknight at 6pm, featuring local opt-outs for Townsville and North Queensland.
National and international news bulletins are shown on each respective network in place of or following local news - four are produced in Brisbane, with a Queensland focus (ABC, Seven, Nine and Ten). The Brisbane edition of 10 News First also employs a North Queensland reporter based in Townsville, covering roughly from the tip of Cape York South to Mackay.
| Official Name | Name | Other Info |
|---|---|---|
| ABQ | ABC Queensland | Known as the ABC |
| STQ | Seven Queensland | Owned and Operated by Seven Network |
| RTQ | WIN Television | Network Ten affiliate |
| TNQ | Southern Cross Nine | Nine Network affiliate |
| SBS | SBS Television | Known as SBS |
New channels broadcast by all the networks in addition to the ones listed above are available on the digital service called Freeview Australia to viewers in Townsville and the surrounding region. These channels include ABC2, ABC3, ABC News 24, SBS Two, One, Eleven, 7Two, 7mate, 9Gem and 9Go!.
Pay TV
| Company | Satellite/IPTV |
|---|---|
| Foxtel | Satellite |
| Fetch TV (iiNet) | IPTV |
| BigPondTV (BigPond) | IPTV |
Internet
Currently the only major local producer of online journalism is ABC North Queensland. CityLife Magazine reproduces their full content online. The Townsville Bulletin publishes a small quantity of its content on the internet and WIN Television publish local news headlines online. There is also one specialty (Magnetic Island) news website called Magnetic Times. It is run by chief operating officer Jamie Cunningham. There is also a monthly Community magazine called The Townsville 'Zine produced by a Work for the Dole group it can be read at https://issuu.com/townsville.workways
References
- "Roy Morgan Research cited by Australian Press Council State of the News Print Media in Australia Report 2006". Archived from the original on 13 January 2007. Retrieved 12 January 2007.
- "Audit Bureau of Circulation, Jan-June 2006 cited by Townsville Bulletin - Advertising". Archived from the original on 11 January 2007. Retrieved 12 January 2007.
- http://www.townsvillerocks.com