About Nova 106.9

Nova 106.9

Nova 106.9 is a commercial contemporary-hits radio station broadcasting in Brisbane on 106.9 MHz FM. Operating under the callsign 4BNE and owned by Nova Entertainment, it is Brisbane's Nova Network station — CHR programming built around fresh hits and personality-driven breakfast radio. It launched on 4 April 2005, after its licence was sold in April 2004 for a reported $80 million, and quickly became one of Brisbane's leading FM stations on the strength of its breakfast show. Its current breakfast lineup is Nick Allen-Ducat, David "Luttsy" Lutteral and Susie O'Neill.

Overview

Nova 106.9 transmits on 106.9 MHz FM across Brisbane, with the Nova Network's CHR format: current chart hits, entertainment and pop-culture content aimed at a young adult audience. The callsign 4BNE combines Queensland's "4" with BNE, the airport code for Brisbane. The transmitter is on Mount Coot-tha (12,000 watts, 289 metres HAAT), and the station is simulcast on DAB+ digital radio alongside Nova's Brisbane digital channels Nova Fresh Country and Nova Throwbacks. Studios are at 130 Commercial Road, Teneriffe. As the Brisbane outlet of the Nova Network, it carries network programming alongside local shifts. The station is part of Nova Entertainment's national Nova Network, which launched in Sydney in 2001 and expanded to the mainland capitals.

History

Brisbane's last commercial FM licence was one of the most valuable in Australian radio history. Sold in April 2004 for a reported $80 million, it was won by the DMG Radio Australia group behind the Nova brand, and Nova 106.9 launched on 4 April 2005 — 21 years after Brisbane's first commercial FM station, and immediately reshaping the market. The purchase completed DMG's national Nova network: the brand had launched in Sydney with Nova 96.9 in 2001, and Brisbane was the final mainland-capital piece, alongside Nova 100 Melbourne, Nova 91.9 Adelaide and Nova 93.7 Perth (the Perth station a joint venture with ARN). The Nova Network's model — local breakfast in each city, networked workdays, drive, nights and weekends — was in place from the start, and Brisbane adopted it wholesale. From the start, breakfast was the station's engine room. The launch lineup was Meshel, Ash, Kip & Luttsy (2005–2009), followed by Meshel, Ash & Tim (2009), Ash, Kip & Luttsy (2012–2016), Ash, Kip & Luttsy with Susie O'Neill (2017–2021) and Ash, Luttsy & Susie O'Neill (2022–2025). Ash Bradnam co-hosted the breakfast show from the station's first day, making him the constant across every era.

The station celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2025 with a gathering of team members past and present — a roll-call of the voices that had defined Brisbane hit radio for a generation, from the Meshel Laurie and Kip Wightman eras to the long Susie O'Neill years. That celebration of continuity made what followed all the more startling: within months, the show that had been number one in the city farewelled the co-host who had been there since the first day, and the station began the delicate work of rebuilding breakfast without him. Few Australian radio stations have ever been so identified with a single on-air partnership — or faced so public a test of what remains when it ends. On 28 November 2025, Ash Bradnam delivered his final show after two decades, departing the station in circumstances he made clear were not his choice. The show was number one in Brisbane in that week's GfK Survey 7. Co-host David "Luttsy" Lutteral paid tribute on air, saying nobody had had a greater impact on Nova Brisbane in its history. In December 2025 Nova announced the 2026 lineup: Nick Allen-Ducat — formerly "Ducko" of Hit breakfast in Newcastle, returning to Brisbane and the station where his radio journey began — joining Luttsy, with Olympic swimmer Susie O'Neill returning to replace the departing Nikki Osborne. Osborne, who had joined after O'Neill stepped away at the end of 2024, moved to national network shows with Nova.

Programming

Nova 106.9's schedule is built on the Nova Network formula: fresh hits in heavy rotation, high-energy presentation and personality breakfast radio. The 2026 breakfast show — Nick, Luttsy and Susie O'Neill — carries the weight of the station's two-decade breakfast heritage into a new era, with Luttsy the remaining link to the 2005 launch team. Each Nova FM station keeps its own local breakfast; workdays, drive, nights and weekends are shared across the network. That means Brisbane days flow into national shows: Mel Tracina on weekday mornings, The Joel Creasey Show, The Chrissie Swan Show in afternoons, the national drive show (currently Fitzy, Wippa & Kate, 4–6pm), Ricki-Lee & Tim, and nights with Smallzy's Surgery — long the country's number-one night show — plus the Maddy Rowe show and weekend specialists. The station competes directly with B105 for Brisbane's under-40 audience.

The breakfast transition has been the station's defining recent story. The October 2026 ratings survey found Nova still struggling to recover from Bradnam's departure: the station sat at 8.6 per cent overall (down from 9.3) with breakfast on 10 per cent (down from 11.5) — a reminder of how much of Nova 106.9's identity was bound up in a twenty-year on-air partnership.

Coverage & Audience

Nova 106.9 broadcasts on 106.9 FM across Brisbane, targeting the city's young adult audience with contemporary hits. Its audience is the under-40 demographic at the heart of the Brisbane FM contest — listeners who grew up with the Nova brand's "fresh hits" positioning. The station's ratings strength has historically peaked with its breakfast show's dominance; rebuilding that dominance with the new lineup is the station's central challenge. The peaks show what is possible: in the 2016 survey the station was Brisbane's number one overall with a 13.5 per cent share, topping breakfast, drive, workdays and nights with a cumulative audience of 575,000; in 2021 it was again number one in Brisbane with an 11.5 per cent share and 614,000 listeners, with Ash, Luttsy & Susie the city's top breakfast show at 13.1 per cent. The October 2026 survey, by contrast, had the station at 8.6 per cent overall with breakfast on 10 — the cost of losing a twenty-year institution.

Ownership

Nova 106.9 is owned by Nova Entertainment and is part of the Nova Network. Its Brisbane history is tied to DMG Radio Australia, which won the licence and launched the station in 2005. The station's commercial model is standard metropolitan CHR: advertising-led, with premium breakfast inventory driving revenue — which is why the breakfast show's two decades of dominance, and its 2026 rebuilding, matter so much to the business. The Nova Network sits alongside Nova Entertainment's smoothfm stations and its 50/50 joint venture in Brisbane's KIIS 97.3, giving the company a formidable position in the Brisbane market across formats.

Digital Presence

The station streams live and publishes show content through Nova Entertainment's online platforms, with podcasts and social content extending its breakfast show beyond the broadcast signal. Wikipedia lists www.novafm.com.au/station/nova1069 as the station's website; because the inventory flags the domain as unverified, no website URL is asserted in this profile's frontmatter. From its record-priced licence in 2004 to twenty years of breakfast dominance and the turbulent rebirth of 2026, Nova 106.9 remains one of Brisbane's defining hit-music stations — and the industry will be watching whether the new breakfast team can restore its mornings to the top.