About Live FM Townsville

Live FM Townsville

99.9 Live FM — callsign 4TCB — is a Christian-based community radio station broadcasting to Townsville and North Queensland, Australia on 99.9 MHz FM. Broadcasting mainstream and Christian contemporary music with the message "It's Good To Be Alive," it is positioned as North Queensland's pro-family station — "...for the family." It was first established as an aspirant community broadcaster in April 1993, and a full-time broadcasting licence was issued in August 1998. Its studios are at 215 Walker Street, Townsville QLD 4810 (PO Box 332, Aitkenvale QLD 4814), with published contacts 07 4725 1299 and admin@livefm.com.au. Directories list livefm.com.au as its website; no website URL is asserted in this profile's frontmatter.

Overview

99.9 Live FM is Townsville's Christian community voice: the volunteer-powered station broadcasting to more than 25,000 North Queenslanders every week (over 42,000 by some accounts) with "100% clean, positive radio, that's safe to play around the kids." Where the commercial dial offers Hit 103.1's youth pop, Triple M's rock, Star 106.3's variety and Power100's active rock, Live FM offers the alternative: mainstream and Christian music, lifestyle segments, news and current affairs, interviews, bible teaching and community focus — everything pro-family. No swearing, no smut, no cynicism: the station's published standards are the format.

History

The licence — 4TCB — is the station's permanent home on the dial: the callsign behind the 99.9 brand. From the aspirant days to the full-time licence, the station has kept its identity: the Christian community's station, the family's station, the positive station.
The aspirant years — April 1993 to August 1998 — were the test: the temporary broadcasts, the community support, the licence application. Five years of proving the demand before the full-time licence arrived. The station that emerged in August 1998 was the community's own: the Christian broadcasters, the volunteers, the donors — the platform for 'a positive message of life, hope, joy, and good things.' More than 25 years later, that mission hasn't changed: it's good to be alive.

99.9 Live FM was first established as an aspirant community broadcaster in April 1993 — the Christian community-radio wave reaching North Queensland. A full-time broadcasting licence was issued in August 1998, and the station has broadcast continuously since — more than a quarter of a century on 99.9 FM. The station broadcasts on Thul Garrie Waja country and Gurrumbilbarra country, in Townsville's CBD at 215 Walker Street.

In 2021/22, the station received a Community Broadcasting Foundation Development & Operations grant for training new volunteer announcers from diverse backgrounds — youth, women and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people — in the Certificate III in Screen and Media. Despite COVID disruptions, the station trained two cohorts: aiming for five new announcers, it trained nine — including two women, four young people and three Pacific Islanders. Trainer and management committee member Rebekah Hoover called the diversity "a big step toward broadening our demographics and meeting the needs of our community of interest." The trainees joined the station's outside broadcasts around the city — the Christmas Festival OB among them — learning the craft on the community's airwaves.

Townsville — the garrison city — is North Queensland's capital: the army base, the university, the port, the gateway to Magnetic Island. The Christian community is strong: the churches, the ministries, the faith schools. Live FM is their station — but the 'mainstream and Christian' music mix and the lifestyle programming reach beyond the churchgoing: the families who want the clean alternative, whatever their faith. The 215 Walker Street studios — in the CBD, on Thul Garrie Waja and Gurrumbilbarra country — put the station at the city's heart.

Programming

Live FM broadcasts mainstream and Christian contemporary music with lifestyle segments, news and current affairs, interviews, bible teaching and community-focused segments. The pro-family positioning is explicit: no swearing, no smut or innuendo, no racist or sexist material, no cynicism, no crude lyrics — "just 100% clean, positive radio." The station believes "the media influences community values" and positions itself as "the only radio station in North Queensland that strengthens families and promotes individual self-worth through 'quality of life' programming." The funding is the community's: as a not-for-profit with no government funding or commercial revenue, the station runs on listeners' donations and limited sponsor advertising — tax-deductible, community-powered.

The outside broadcasts — the Christmas Festival OB, the events around the city — are the station's community face: the volunteers in the street, the listeners meeting the voices, the trainees learning live. Community radio lives in the community: the OBs, the festivals, the church events. The 99.9 signal is the constant; the OBs are the celebration.

Coverage & Audience

99.9 Live FM broadcasts on 99.9 MHz FM to Townsville and North Queensland — the garrison city and its surrounds. Its audience is the Christian community and the family audience: the listeners who want the clean, positive alternative — "safe to play around the kids." The 25,000-to-42,000 weekly reach reflects the station's broad appeal beyond the churchgoing: the mainstream music, the lifestyle content, the family values.

The CBF training program — the 2021/22 Development & Operations grant, the Certificate III in Screen and Media, the nine new announcers from diverse backgrounds — is community radio's future: the youth, the women, the Pacific Islanders, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander trainees, learning the craft at 99.9. The COVID disruptions — the module-based learning, the adapted delivery — didn't stop it: two cohorts, nine announcers, the station's demographics broadened. Rebekah Hoover's pride is the sector's pride: the community's station, training the community's voices.
The volunteer model — the announcers, the trainers, the management committee — is community radio's engine: the people who give their time for the mission. The sponsors and donors — the 'partners' in the station's own language — are the financial engine: the limited on-air advertising, the website sponsorships, the tax-deductible gifts. No government funding, no commercial revenue: just the community, funding the community's station.

Ownership

99.9 Live FM is a community-licensed, not-for-profit broadcaster, run by its team of volunteer staff, partners, sponsors, donors and members — "a platform to speak a positive message of life, hope, joy, and good things in our community." It is based at 215 Walker Street, Townsville QLD 4810 (PO Box 332, Aitkenvale QLD 4814). Published contacts: 07 4725 1299 and admin@livefm.com.au.

The pro-family standards — the published 'NO' list: no swearing, no smut, no cynicism, no crude lyrics — are the station's covenant with its audience: the parents who leave 99.9 on in the car, the families who trust the station around the kids. In a media landscape of shock and sleaze, the clean alternative is the differentiator: the only station in North Queensland with the family guarantee. The tax-deductible donations — the listeners funding the station they trust — close the circle: the community paying for the values it wants on the air.
The 'It's Good To Be Alive' message — the station's slogan, the sign-off, the brand — is the theology in five words: the gratitude, the positivity, the life-affirming faith. Paired with '...for the family,' it's the complete positioning: the joyful station, for the family's sake. On 99.9 in Townsville, for more than 25 years: it's good to be alive.

Digital Presence

Directories list livefm.com.au as the station's website, with the station on social media at @999livefm — the handle matching the 99.9 frequency. From the April 1993 aspirant broadcasts to the August 1998 full-time licence to the 2023 announcer training: 99.9 Live FM — it's good to be alive, for the family, on 99.9 in Townsville, broadcasting a positive message of life, hope, joy, and good things.