About Star 104.5

Star 104.5

Star 104.5 (callsign 2GOS) is a commercial radio station broadcasting to the Central Coast of New South Wales from Gosford on 104.5 MHz FM. Owned by Nova Entertainment, it is the Central Coast's number-one station — a Top 40/CHR outlet playing "More Music Variety," produced entirely locally from studios in Erina. Launched in March 2004 with Enrique Iglesias flown in by helicopter, it has evolved through adult contemporary, rock and adult-hits formats to become the coast's dominant commercial station, the exclusive media partner of A-League side the Central Coast Mariners, and the launching pad of some of Australian radio's best-known names.

Overview

Star 104.5 broadcasts on 104.5 MHz FM at 16 kW ERP (transmitter at Somersby) to the Central Coast licence area, stretching from Brooklyn in the south to Morisset in the north — with fortuitous coverage into most of Sydney, parts of the Blue Mountains and Newcastle. The format is Top 40/CHR under the "More Music Variety" positioner, with a strong focus on pop from the 1980s to today. All content is produced locally from the station's Erina studios — a point of pride captured in its "made on the coast for the coast" identity. Sister stations under Nova Entertainment include Nova 96.9 and Smooth 95.3 in Sydney.

History

The $13.5 million licence

Star 104.5's story begins in 2002, when DMG Radio Australia chief executive Paul Thompson bought the licence for a new FM station on the Central Coast — acquired shortly after the initial Nova licences were purchased at auction. The price for the Central Coast licence was $13.5 million. The station missed its original launch deadline of June 2003, but on 16 March 2004 at 17:15, "104.5 Star FM" went to air with an Adult Contemporary format of "80's, 90's and Today."

The launch was pure showmanship. Enrique Iglesias was flown into the Erina studios by helicopter, alongside the inaugural breakfast team of Meshel Laurie and Todd Widdicombe. The first song played on the station was Iglesias's "Not In Love." The station was commercial-free for its first week before implementing a "Never more than 4 ads in a row" promise — a listener-friendly pledge that set its tone.

The ownership shuffle: DMG, Macquarie and the two-station rule

Shortly after Star 104.5's launch, the ownership landscape shifted dramatically. In September 2004, DMG Radio Australia sold most of its regional radio stations to Macquarie Bank, keeping only Hot 91 on the Sunshine Coast (sold in early 2005) and Star 104.5 in Gosford. This left Macquarie owning all three commercial stations in Gosford — Sea FM, 2GO FM and Star 104.5. Under the "two-station rule," DMG remained the owner of Star 104.5. The 2004 ownership episode remains a defining part of the station's identity. When Macquarie Bank bought DMG's regional stations, it briefly owned all three commercial stations in Gosford — Sea FM, 2GO FM and Star 104.5 — before the two-station rule left DMG holding Star 104.5 alone. The station has kept its Star name ever since, while the other Star FM stations in the former DMG regional group are licensed to the name under Southern Cross Austereo. Competing against both local rivals and fortuitous Sydney spill, Star 104.5's answer was localism: every program produced in Erina, every campaign aimed at the coast.

Format evolution: from AC to rockstars to variety

In 2006, Star 104.5 changed format from Adult Contemporary to Rock Variety with the position statement "Star 104.5 Plays Rockstars." The breakfast team changed too: Meshel Laurie left, and Vic Davies and Kim Czosnek joined Todd Widdicombe. The "Rockstars" format continued through to 2011, when the station moved away from pure rock to Adult Hits, adopting the position statement "The Music We All Love" — though rock music remained part of the mix. In 2015 the current "More Music Variety" format launched, with a strong focus on pop music from the 1980s to today.

Twenty years on the coast: 2024

In March 2024, Star 104.5 celebrated its 20th anniversary — by then firmly established as the Central Coast's number-one station, a position it had held for the previous four years. Nova Entertainment marked the milestone with a 250-guest celebration in the ballroom of the Mercure Kooindah Waters Resort in Wyong, hosted by breakfast duo Gina Jeffreys and Matt Baseley (Baseley a late withdrawal from the hosting lineup after a positive Covid test, with Jeffreys carrying the evening) and featuring an acoustic performance by Samantha Jade. Nova Entertainment executives including Donna Lalor, Peter Charlton, Lauren Montgomery and Peter Colosimo made the trip from head office. Long-serving general manager and market lead Paul Moltzen — 17 years on the Central Coast — told the gathering: "From day one, our ambition has been to make a difference to our community, businesses, and our audience and every day our objective remains same," adding the station's credo: "we take what we do seriously, but we don't take ourselves too seriously." The anniversary was also a reminder of the station's role as a talent incubator: Nova's own Smallzy hosted his first radio show at Star — the Star Nights Show, which ran for three years.

Programming and Content

Star 104.5's "More Music Variety" format centres on pop from the 1980s to today, with a weekday lineup built around local personalities: the best bits of Fitzy & Wippa in the early morning, Rabbit & Julie Goodwin at breakfast, Jo Turner through mid-mornings, Phil Brandel in the afternoons and Hayden Else in drive — with 40 minutes of non-stop music variety each morning and the Star Lounge on Sunday evenings. All content is produced locally from the Erina studios. The station is the exclusive media partner of the Central Coast Mariners, the region's only national sporting team — a partnership that anchors its local identity. Technologically, Star 104.5 and the wider Nova Entertainment network use the Zetta playout system from Radio Computing Services, programmed with the G-Selector music scheduling system, drawing on a shared network music library stored in lossless audio format.

Coverage and Audience

Licensed to the Gosford RA1 area, Star 104.5's 104.5 MHz signal covers the Central Coast from Brooklyn to Morisset, with fortuitous spill into Sydney, the Blue Mountains and Newcastle. The station has been the Central Coast's number-one radio station for four consecutive years, with directory sources crediting it with over 300,000 loyal local listeners. The audience is the coast's broad mainstream: families, commuters and workers served by a locally produced station that positions itself as "made on the coast for the coast."

Ownership

The ACMA callsign is 2GOS — the "2" prefix denoting New South Wales and "GOS" for Gosford. Star 104.5 (Star 1045 Pty Ltd) is owned by Nova Entertainment, the Lachlan Murdoch-controlled (Illyria Pty Ltd) radio group formed as DMG Radio Australia in 1996 and rebranded in February 2014. The ACMA licenses the station as a commercial FM service. Its Sydney sister stations are Nova 96.9 and Smooth 95.3.

Digital Presence

The station's website, star1045.com.au, hosts the live stream, program and presenter information, and local news and events coverage. Star 104.5 streams online and maintains active social media channels built around its breakfast team, local events and the Central Coast Mariners partnership. The digital platforms extend the "made on the coast for the coast" promise beyond the FM signal — twenty years after a helicopter delivered Enrique Iglesias to Erina, the station remains the coast's own.