{"id":219721,"date":"2025-10-17T07:53:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T07:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/219721\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T07:53:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T07:53:17","slug":"historic-burnie-radio-station-7bu-marks-90-years-on-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/219721\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic Burnie radio station 7BU marks 90 years on air"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of Tasmania\u2019s oldest radio stations is celebrating nine decades of broadcasting, with 7BU marking 90 years on air this month.<\/p>\n

The station first went live on October 19, 1935, becoming the north-west coast\u2019s first radio broadcaster.<\/p>\n

To mark the milestone, Burnie Arts is hosting a free exhibition showcasing the station\u2019s rich history, open until January 17 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s such an ownership of this station in Burnie and in our surrounding market because we don\u2019t have a lot of competition,\u201d Chloe Foster, general manager of 7BU and Sea FM, said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Chloe Foster, general manager of 7BU and Sea FM<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just such an important resource for the community \u2026 I can\u2019t see us going anywhere. Hopefully we\u2019ll be around for another 90 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The exhibition will feature rare recordings, vintage broadcasting equipment and behind-the-scenes photos capturing the station\u2019s journey through the decades.<\/p>\n

\"\"The station first went live on October 19, 1935<\/p>\n

Visitors can experience interactive displays with headphones to hear old commercials and competitions from different eras.<\/p>\n

Foster said 7BU has long been part of the community fabric, with roots reaching back to World War II fundraising efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had real involvement going right back to wartime, when 7BU was on-air raising funds for the community and people injured,\u201d she told Pulse.<\/p>\n

Friday night\u2019s launch will see former announcers flying in from across Australia, including renowned voice-over artist Ian \u2018Lofty\u2019 Fulton.<\/p>\n

\"\"Former announcers are flying in from across Australia for the celebration<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the voice of MasterChef and a \u2026 published author. He\u2019s literally flying in for one night just to come to our 90th birthday celebration,\u201d Foster said.<\/p>\n

Over its 90 years, the station has seen plenty of change \u2013 from its founding Finlay family ownership, to Grant Broadcasters and now the Australian Radio Network (ARN).<\/p>\n

In 2019, 7BU switched from 558AM to 100.9FM \u2013 a move Foster described as crucial for the station\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

\"\"In 2019, 7BU switched from 558AM to 100.9FM. Image \/ Pulse<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really important to give those traditional 7BU listeners a better quality of audio,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Today, the station continues to play the classic hits of the \u201970s, \u201980s and \u201990s, while keeping its playlist fresh for a new generation of listeners.<\/p>\n

The free exhibition runs for a month at Burnie Arts on Wilmot Street, with the official launch at 6pm tonight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of Tasmania\u2019s oldest radio stations is celebrating nine decades of broadcasting, with 7BU marking 90 years on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136],"class_list":["post-219721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}