98.9 FM (Brisbane)

Background

Murri Country was born in a time of the Aboriginal protest movement in the 1980s and 1990s. Murri Hour aired on another Brisbane radio station, 4ZZZ, from 1984 to 1993, initiated by Gungalu and Birri Gubba coordinator of the Black Protest Committee, Ross Watson. Starting as a daily pre-recorded 20-minute segment, by the end of the second year, it ran for 16 hours a week. Watson was also the founder and editor of the Black Nation newspaper.

In 1988 the Brisbane Indigenous Media Association (BIMA) was founded on the initiative of Watson, to cover radio, publishing, and filmmaking. Also in 1988, BIMA was granted a community radio licence to expand Murri Radio, but plans stalled after competing community groups appealed. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) granted funding to BIMA to defend its licence after BIMA representatives had driven to Sydney to address ATSIC's inaugural board meeting.

In 1991 the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal issued the broadcast licence to 4AAA Murri Country, and BIMA made its first broadcast on 98.9FM as 4AAA Murri Country on Tuesday, 6 April, 1993. Along with other prominent community members and the founding staff, the opening was attended and opened by Senator Neville Bonner.

The studios were located at Rocklea for 18 years, before moving to a new building at West End in April 2011.

Description

98.9 FM, also known as Triple A Murri Country or just Murri Country, is an Australian community radio station that caters to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Brisbane. Focusing on Indigenous and other Australian country music, the station's programs include Breakfast Show, with Jharal Yow Yeh & Tariana Olive; and Drive Show, with Clay Cassar-Daley & Emma MacNeill.

The facilities at the West End studios include three digital and one analogue studio, state-of-the art recording studio and booth, three-camera television studio and control room, a training centre, and more.

98.9 FM is part of the National Indigenous Radio Service, a satellite network of over 120 community radio stations, with which it is co-located.

Exhibition

In 2019,the State Library Of Queensland held an exhibition titled I Heard it on the Radio: 25 years of 98.9fm Murri Country.

Footnotes

References

References

1. [[height above average terrain. HAAT]] estimated from [https://www.itu.int/SRTM3/ Calculation of Effective antenna heights(eff_hgt) using the SRTM3 Terrain Database] (International Communication Union website) using EHAAT.
2. (4 May 2019). "I Heard it on the Radio".
3. (25 February 2013). "Ross Watson speaks about protests of 1982".
4. (22 March 2019). "Ross Watson remembers".
5. (15 May 2013). "Vale Ross Watson".
6. (6 April 1993). "Murri Country".
7. (4 October 2007). "Community Radio Broadcasting Licences".
8. It broadcasts to the Brisbane RA1 area.[https://web.archive.org/web/20160303195057/http://www.acma.gov.au/licplan/defmaps/documents/maps/la_504.pdf Brisbane RA1]
9. (18 February 2020). "Murri Country".