STQ
| regional Queensland | |
|---|---|
| Branding | Seven |
| Slogan | Gottaloveit |
| Channels |
Analog: see table below Digital: see table below |
| Affiliations | Seven (O&O) |
| Owner |
Seven West Media Limited (Channel Seven Queensland Pty Limited[1]) |
| First air date | 31 December 1990 |
| Call letters' meaning |
Sunshine Television Queensland |
| Transmitter power | see table below |
| Height | see table below |
| Transmitter coordinates | see table below |
| Website |
7queensland |
STQ is an Australian television station, licensed to, and serving the regional areas of Queensland. The station is owned and operated by the Seven Network from studios located in Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast. The callsign STQ stands for Sunshine Television, Queensland.
History
The station began as two different operators:
- WBQ-8 Wide Bay/Maryborough, starting on 10 April 1965
- MVQ-6 Mackay, starting on 9 August 1968
WBQ later changed its callsign to SEQ (as in South East Queensland), and its on-air name to "Sunshine Television", with its slogan Leading the Way. MVQ also changed its on-air name to "Tropical Television" at the same time. And as a long time broadcaster of Seven Network programs, as well as of the Brisbane Seven News edition on BTQ, as these were then under Christopher Skase's ownership then these two began preparations for aggregation in 1988-89 as the Seven affiliates for viewers in regional Queensland.
When Queensland was aggregated at the end of 1990, SEQ-8 and MVQ-6 operationally merged to become The Sunshine Television Network, and thus became the regional Queensland affiliate of the Seven Network, adopting its new slogan Love You Queensland with a matching jingle based on BTQ's in the 1980s while reformating its news service to its partner network. A new logo also debuted with the logo presentation similar to 7's but with a map of Queensland on the top.
In 1995, Sunshine Television was purchased by Seven, and became Seven Queensland, taking on a generic Seven Network look, adopting the Seven logo of the time. With few exceptions, its schedule since then has been virtually identical to that of its metropolitan counterpart, BTQ in Brisbane. Seven Queensland won the annual audience ratings for the first time in 1998 against WIN and Southern Cross Ten.
As of August 2016, Seven Queensland is the only regional broadcaster to broadcast 7flix. This is due to Seven West Media owning the network.
News
Seven News bulletins are broadcast each weeknight at 6pm in all seven areas of regional Queensland: Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Wide Bay, Toowoomba, the Sunshine Coast, and Rockhampton. They are followed by a shortened 30 minute version of Seven News Brisbane. The bulletins are repeated on a half-hour delay on 7Two at 6.30pm.
The bulletins are presented by Rob Brough, with Joanne Desmond co-anchoring the Cairns, Townsville, Rockhampton and Toowoomba editions. Nathan Spurling presents sport with Livio Regano presenting weather for all seven sub-regions.
In early 2004, Seven News was relaunched in the Townsville and Cairns sub-markets as a result of regulations regarding local content on regional television introduced by the Australian Broadcasting Authority (now the Australian Communications and Media Authority).
The most successful edition of Seven News is broadcast on the Sunshine Coast. In early 1998, WIN Television launched a competing service, publicly stating that it would beat Seven in the ratings within six months. At the end of the 1998 ratings season, after a new station head (Laurie Patton) had overseen a comprehensive revamp of the program and its external promotions, Seven Local News had actually increased its audience share by six ratings points.
Reporters and camera crews are based at newsrooms in each of the seven regions with studio presentation for the Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Darling Downs, Rockhampton, Wide Bay and Toowoomba bulletins pre-recorded at studios in Maroochydore. The Sunshine Coast edition of Seven News is broadcast live. News editing is undertaken by the local newsrooms, and sent to the main Maroochydore studios for transmission.
On 5 March 2007, Seven News bulletins commenced production and broadcasts in a widescreen standard-definition digital format. Seven News was the first regional news service in regional Queensland to convert to widescreen.
On 22 November 2010, Seven Local News launched a sixth edition for the Rockhampton/Gladstone and Central Queensland region.
A seventh edition for Toowoomba and the Darling Downs was introduced on 2 November 2015, making Seven the only television network to provide a full-scale local news service for every part of regional Queensland, since the axing of WIN News in Mackay in May 2015.
Main Transmitters
Notes:
- 1. height above average terrain
- 2. The Mackay station was an independent station with the callsign MVQ from its 1968 sign-on until aggregation in 1990.
- 3. The Wide Bay station was an independent station with the callsign WBQ from its 1968 sign-on until 1978, and then SEQ until aggregation in 1990.
- 4. Analogue transmissions ceased on December 6, 2011 as part of the national shutdown of analogue television.