About Way FM Launceston

Way FM Launceston

Way FM (callsign 7WAY, 105.3 FM and 98.1 FM) is the Christian community radio station of Launceston and Northern Tasmania — "Launceston's Positive Alternative." In July 2026, the station celebrated 40 years on air, marking four decades of serving Greater Launceston and Northern Tasmania with Christian community radio. Volunteers past and present, staff, listeners, supporters and friends gathered for a party hosted by the Blackstone Christian Centre — with Launceston Mayor Matthew Garwood, local MP Michael Ferguson, City Park Radio's Chris Ball, ultra106five's David Wood, former general managers, board members and founding member Colin Ferguson among the guests. The party's details — the cake and cupcakes from Made From Scratch TAS, Jan McKay's countless hours of preparation, Michael Conlon's promotion, Technical Manager Nick Roach's presentation — are the texture of community radio: the celebration made by the community, for the community, in the Christian centre that hosted it. Broadcasting 24 hours a day, seven days a week from its tower on Mount Arthur — the 1,188-metre peak north-east of Launceston — Way FM exists, in its own words, because "we believe that everybody should have the opportunity to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

Overview

Way FM 105.3 (7WAY) is a Christian, not-for-profit, community radio station broadcasting across Launceston and greater Northern Tasmania — stretching as far as Burnie and the surrounding areas, Scottsdale and towards the East Coast. The station broadcasts 24/7: Christian music, teaching, interviews and community content, with the positive, hope-filled positioning its "Positive Alternative" branding promises. The second frequency, 98.1 FM, extends the service; the main tower sits on Mount Arthur (1,188m), one of Launceston's highest peaks, giving the signal its northern reach. Mount Arthur — 1,188 metres, north-east of Launceston near Lilydale, named for Lieutenant-Governor Arthur — has carried radio towers for decades: its summit, close to the city, hosts WayFM's tower alongside amateur repeaters, and the summit cairn (built in the late 1800s as a survey marker) watches over a mountain that was once a timber district and, from 1879, the centre of the Lisle gold-mining valley. The station's signal rides a mountain with its own history. The station is led by General Manager Glenn Hartas — a long-time volunteer and board member who stepped into the GM role in January 2025, describing the move not as a career change but as "a divine calling." Hartas's account of taking the role — the messages he describes receiving, the year of discernment, the insistence on his wife Bron's, his family's, his church's and his board's support — is characteristic of Christian community radio leadership: the general manager as minister, the station as ministry, the 40-year milestone as testimony. Way FM is a member of CMAA (Christian Media and Arts Australia), the national body for Christian media.

History

Way FM went to air in the mid-1980s — 40 years before the July 2026 anniversary celebration. The station was founded by Launceston Christians who saw the new FM band as a mission field: among them Colin Ferguson, one of the founding members, who attended the 40th birthday party four decades later. The 1980s were the pioneering years of Christian FM in Australia — Hobart's ultra106five had gone to air in 1980, and Launceston's believers followed, building a station for the north to match the south's.

For forty years, Way FM has been a fixture of Launceston's Christian community — and, through its "Positive Alternative" positioning, of the broader community. The station has weathered the challenges that face all community broadcasters: funding, volunteers, relevance — with General Manager Hartas noting that "various challenges, including COVID-19, have led to a lower profile in recent years," and making community re-engagement his top priority: "As Launceston's Positive Alternative, we must reconnect with our community and remind them of our purpose and values." The transmitter upgrades — the second transmitter on Mount Arthur being upgraded to full power on 105.3 and 98.1 — are part of the renewal: the 40-year-old station investing in its next forty years.

Programming

Way FM's programming is Christian community radio, 24 hours a day, seven days a week: Christian music, Bible teaching, interviews, community announcements and the positive, encouraging content the "Positive Alternative" brand promises. The station's mission statement quotes 1 Corinthians 9:22 — "Whatever people are like, I try to find common ground with them so that they will let me tell them about Christ" — the outreach ethos in the station's DNA. The volunteers are the programming: the presenters, the producers, the administrators who keep a 24/7 community station on air. The station actively seeks to expand its volunteer base — Hartas's top priority — recognising that community radio lives or dies on community participation. The 40th anniversary celebration itself was programming made visible: the volunteers, the listeners, the donors, the sponsors, the prayers — "every volunteer who has served, every listener who has tuned in, every person who has donated, every business that has sponsored us, and everyone who has faithfully prayed for WayFM over the past 40 years."

Coverage and Audience

Way FM broadcasts on 105.3 FM and 98.1 FM from Mount Arthur (1,188m) across Greater Launceston and Northern Tasmania — from the Tamar Valley to Burnie in the west, Scottsdale in the east, and towards the East Coast. The high-site transmission gives the station one of the broader footprints of any Tasmanian community broadcaster. Its audience is Launceston's Christian community — the churches, the ministries, the believers — and the broader audience drawn by the positive format: families, commuters, anyone seeking the alternative to the commercial dial. In Launceston's radio market — City Park Radio (the community generalist), LAFM and Chilli FM (commercial), ABC Northern Tasmania — Way FM is the Christian voice: the only full-time Christian station for the north, just as ultra106five is for the south (whose David Wood attended the 40th — the north-south Christian radio fellowship made visible). Tasmania's Christian radio landscape is small but long-standing: ultra106five in Hobart (on air since 1980, one of Australia's first Christian stations), Way FM in Launceston (mid-1980s), plus narrowcasters — Vision Christian Radio on 87.6 in Burnie, Faith FM on 87.6 in New Norfolk — filling the gaps. Way FM and ultra106five are the two full-time Christian voices, north and south — the island's Christian airwaves, divided by the midlands and united by the mission.

Ownership

Way FM is a not-for-profit Christian community radio station, community-owned and volunteer-powered, operating under a community broadcasting licence from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (callsign 7WAY). It is led by General Manager Glenn Hartas and a board, with Administration Manager Aileen Harrison and Technical Manager Nick Roach among the staff, and a large volunteer base. The station is a member of CMAA (Christian Media and Arts Australia). Funding comes from donations, sponsorships and memberships — the community sustaining its own broadcaster, as the 40th anniversary tributes acknowledged.

Digital Presence

Way FM streams online, extending the Mount Arthur signal beyond the FM footprint — to northern Tasmanians outside the coverage area, to the mainland, to anyone seeking the positive alternative. The station maintains social channels promoting its programs and community engagement. For a station on air since the mid-1980s — through the FM pioneering years, the decades of volunteer broadcasting, the COVID challenges, the 40th birthday party at Blackstone — the digital present is the mission extended: "empowering people with a message of hope," on 105.3 and 98.1 FM and on the stream, still Launceston's Positive Alternative after forty years.