4BC to move to 882AM in frequency swap with 4BH

Former Editor & Content Director

Nine Radio’s Brisbane stations are swapping frequencies, with talk station 4BC moving up the dial to 882AM, and 4BH replacing it on 1116AM.

An announcement from Nine said the switch would “give the Brisbane audience a clearer and better overall listening experience”, however a large part of the motivation is also about making 4BC easier-to-find.

The switch happens at 8:08am on Friday, October 8.

An awareness campaign about the move kicks off today, with on-air promos featuring Breakfast host Neil Breen, as well as print advertising announcing the change.

Once the switch happens in October, Breen will be giving away $882 a day to listeners in a daily Breakfast competition.

Content manager of 4BC, Max Dudly, told Radio Today that as Nine Radio continues to invest in local content for south-east Queensland, it wants to make sure it gives its audience the best listening experience.

The higher up the dial you go, the more interference there is, especially when commuting in the city, he said.

“We have made the decision to move 4BC down the dial to 882 AM to enhance the listening experience of our loyal talk radio listeners. Whether they’re on the move, at work, or listening from home, audiences right across the south-east will now have better access to our live and local programming throughout the day,” he added in a statement.

“Over the past 18 months we have demonstrated that Brisbane wants and will tune into live and local talk radio. The combination of Neil Breen in Breakfast, the one and only Ray Hadley in Mornings and now Sofie Formica in Afternoons, followed by Scott Emerson in Drive, rounds out our day and gives 4BC a clear local perspective that speaks to Queenslanders.

“We are excited by these changes, which are all about expanding our voice in Brisbane. The change to 882 on the AM dial is an important step to making us easier to find. But equally we recognise that today your smartphone is also a radio, and we are seeing a growing number of people live streaming 4BC from the app.

“In August live streaming was up 10% month on month. Regardless of how people listen, the goal of our 4BC presenters is to speak up for the people of Brisbane and their issues and needs.”

The most recent GfK Survey showed 4BC pulling a 7.2% share of total people in Brisbane, which 4BH had 2.5%. ABC Radio Brisbane, on 612AM had 8.4%, while ARN’s classic hits Am station, 4KQ on 693AM, had 10.2%.

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Digital radio
20 Sep 2021 - 12:09 pm

What about digital radio? BC has been there for over a decade, never hear about it on the station. 4KQ didn’t get to number one without audience finding it on digital.

Josh
20 Sep 2021 - 1:06 pm

Surely it’s time to put talkback on FM in 2021.

Why do we even bother with AM anymore?

Peter
20 Sep 2021 - 1:08 pm

So music station 4BH will go to a frequency more suseptible to interference. That makes sense. Same as 3AW moving from 1278 and moving to 693.

Peter
20 Sep 2021 - 1:14 pm

So let’s just switch this comment. 4BH will now have much more shit reception as a result of this change. It is not a win win. It is a clear win lose with 4BH as the loser.

FM please
20 Sep 2021 - 3:03 pm

Pretty much shows how interested they are in 4BH…

Why don’t they actually promote DAB+? You never hear it mentioned – ever!

The industry needs to either find room for everyone on FM or promote DAB+.
AM is dead. You can barely even buy an AM radio anymore!

Bryce Donaldson
20 Sep 2021 - 3:07 pm

a lot of comments here that are made without knowledge of the coverage.

882khz from Wynnum coverage on the southside and redlands is good but terrible on the northside
1116khz from Nudgee is better on the northside as well as areas like Caboolture but terrible into redlands and the south (it can be received in the US west coast most mornings .. google it)

Its not a lose lose… its just moving the problems around.

even if 882 gets 10kw day/night switching it wont make much of a difference.. and thats if the antenna system can support the increased power

If they want a best case solution they should just move to St Helena @ 10kw… they will then have excellent coverage from the gold coast to the sunshine coast

Laurence Stratton
20 Sep 2021 - 7:06 pm

How about improving your quality of transmission in the Brisbane Valley ABC Or 949 FM need a generous talk back.
Political members have deaf ears.

Jeoffry hale
21 Sep 2021 - 6:05 pm

Why move 4bh from where it is to1116 and move your main station to the top don’t you want4bh on your list

James Carmichael
22 Sep 2021 - 11:24 am

Will 4BH be giving away $1116 per day?
It’s a good music radio station.J

Ross Tester
22 Sep 2021 - 12:28 pm

With the radio wasteland here on the Sunshine Coast, we have made 4BC our station of choice since moving up here from Sydney.
Unfortunately, 4BC at night has been diabolically bad – when they switch to low power you might as well turn them off.
And DAB+ from Brisbane is VERY hit and miss – mainly miss. They really need to sort out the licensing area problems and remove the nulls to the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast.
And now I read that the Wynnum site has poor coverage to the north!
Quelle horreur!
How about a few technical answers, Nine/4BC, (not just advertising hype) – before the big switch.

richard
25 Sep 2021 - 9:28 am

4BH..is a great station..4BC..is boring and satuated with virus news.

Ian
25 Sep 2021 - 7:34 pm

Can’t understand why Australia is still using AM : it was 4 decades ago in the 1980s that moving all existing AM to FM was forecast. There was plenty of spectrum then.

Colin
5 Oct 2021 - 5:44 pm

This decision seems to be based on the assumption that we prefer 4BC to 4BH?
Incorrect….
Never listen to 4BC.

ray casanovas
7 Oct 2021 - 2:14 pm

found where 4bh is going to. bit OF A SHOCK. wHY THE change> weather?

Alanna McDowell
8 Oct 2021 - 8:36 pm

I love 4BH. Great music and radio station. Don’t want the frequency to change. I’m on the Sunshine Coast

Arthur Black
10 Oct 2021 - 3:09 pm

I’d rather go stone deaf than listen to talk radio. I want music. The last thing I wanna hear when I turn the radio on is some opinionated jackass who’s been waiting for ages to get on the air and inflict their opinions on the rest of us.

Russell Diack
17 Oct 2021 - 10:12 am

My 4bc reception is absolutely terrible since moving to 882 AM. so much static it’s not worth listening to. I haven’t moved my radio in 5 years. I feel a big mistake moving from 1116 AM which I still can get quite clearly. I would expect 1000’s of people to find it worse than ever; like me.

Rod Homan
17 Oct 2021 - 11:07 am

The new 4BC bandwidth has resulted in a very degraded signal quality on Brisbane northside.
Together with their endless advertising it just doesn’t seem worth it anymore. This might be an appropriate time to adopt an alternative station.

James
25 Oct 2021 - 2:12 pm

Moving 4BC to 882 has actually made the reception worse here on the Gold Coast. Time to go to FM.

Richard
29 Oct 2021 - 11:14 pm

I listen to 4BH most of the day and now the change has made the reception impossible on 1116 at night. I don’t want talk back radio, I want music all day. You have messed it up, now do you have something to improve our reception

Allan newmarch
10 Nov 2021 - 5:29 pm

Since the change to 882 from 1116 we have poor reception especially at night now the weakest signal compared to other stations ???

John mckenzie
28 Dec 2021 - 11:08 am

4bc on sunshine coast worse than ever.dont bother even listening to it now.

John Kitching
9 Feb 2022 - 7:05 pm

4BH, 882, was more popular than big wigs thought. People are sick of being bombarded with everyone’s opinion on everything. Switch on the morning programmes on TV. Was pleasent to turn on and listen to easy music of a morning, Steve Jacobs did a great job. JK.

R Elliott
11 Dec 2023 - 8:39 pm

How do I get reception for 4BC in Burleigh Heads? I can’t it on AM, what’s its FM signal? Any other ways as it’s needed her on the Gold Coast?- R Elliott

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19 Dec 2023 - 7:32 am

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