History
The station commenced operations as 2KO, based in the Newcastle suburb of Kotara on August 1, 1931. [1] Founded by Allen Fairhall (later Sir Allen Fairhall) 2KO was licensed to The Newcastle Broadcasting Company. The station operated on 1415 kHz [2] with a transmission strength of 25 watts. The station launched from the backyard of a resident's home, with the licensee's dining room being the only studio the station had at the time. Programs ran from 7 to 10 p.m., later moving into daytime programming. Ten minutes of ad time was sold during the week, selling around 15 pounds ($30 today) of revenue for the station. Chief Engineer was K. N. Greenhalgh AMIRE. Studio & Production Manager was 2KO Chief Announcer Harold Pickhover. Advertising & Merchandising Manager was Keith F. Winser F.O.A.
Two years later in 1933, the station moved its AM transmitter to Sandgate, and was operated from several locations including 72 Hunter Street, Newcastle until January 1937, when new studios and offices in the heart of Newcastle in the CML Building at 110 Hunter Street. In its time on the AM band, the station had its power increased twice, first to 2,000 watts, and then to 5,000 watts, using a directional aerial system.
Sandgate is a suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, located 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) from Newcastle's central business district. It is part of the City of Newcastle local government area.
Hunter Street is a major road in the Newcastle central business district, in New South Wales. The street, formerly three separate thoroughfares, extends from Pacific Street in the city's east, to Selma Street in Newcastle West and since 2008 has been the focus of community-led creative enterprises and projects. Established as the city's main street for commercial and retail activity, Hunter Street entered a period of severe decline after World War II. Since 2008, the eastern end of Hunter Street has emerged as a precinct for niche retail and the night-time economy. In June 2012 it was announced that the pedestrian mall between Perkins and Newcomen Streets will be redeveloped by the public and private sectors to stimulate the city's ongoing revitalisation.
In the days before television, peak listening time was around 8pm, but with television arriving in the country in the late 1950s, the station had to change formats to survive the new medium. This was even more the case when 2KO's owners at the time, United Broadcasting Company (Australia) (who also owned Sydney's 2UE), itself owned by the local Lamb family, was part of the consortium that brought television to Newcastle, launching NBN Television on channel 3 in 1962.
Sydney is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Port Jackson and extends about 70 km (43.5 mi) on its periphery towards the Blue Mountains to the west, Hawkesbury to the north, the Royal National Park to the south and Macarthur to the south-west. Sydney is made up of 658 suburbs, 40 local government areas and 15 contiguous regions. Residents of the city are known as "Sydneysiders". As of June 2017, Sydney's estimated metropolitan population was 5,230,330 and is home to approximately 65% of the state's population.
NBN Television is an Australian television station based in Newcastle, Australia. The station was inaugurated on 4 March 1962 as the first regional commercial television station in New South Wales, and has since expanded to 39 transmitters throughout the northern half of New South Wales and parts of South East Queensland, including Tamworth, Tweed Heads, Lismore, Coffs Harbour, Hunter Region, Central Coast and the Gold Coast. It is owned and operated by the Nine Network.
These changes led to 2KO becoming one of the first, if not the first, Top 40 music radio stations in Australia. This took the audience by storm, and helped re-established radio as the personal medium.
In the music industry, the top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "contemporary hit radio" is also a radio format. Frequent variants of the Top 40 are the Top 10, Top 20, Top 30, Top 50, Top 75, Top 100 and Top 200.
In 1978, as part of a nationwide realignment of radio station frequencies, 2KO moved to 1413 kHz.
In May 1988, 2KO moved to facilities at 252 Pacific Highway Charlestown. KOFM / NXFM use MAESTRO for music play out & Automation after network programs until live assist.
Charlestown is a suburb of the City of Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia, and the largest town within the City. It is approximately 10 kilometres (6 mi) west-south-west of the central business district of Newcastle.
On October 12, 1992, 2KO converted to the FM band, changing its callsign to 2KKO, and branding itself as KOFM 102.9. Four years later, on January 22, 1996, the parent company of KOFM (and of NXFM), Radio Newcastle Pty. Ltd., was purchased by Austereo. A few more years later, Austereo sold 50% to RG Capital Radio Network, whose stake in the station then transferred in 2004 to Macquarie Regional RadioWorks, upon the purchase of RG Capital's stations. On April 2011 Southern Cross Media bought out Austereo for $714 million giving Southern Cross Media full ownership of KOFM.
In late June 2017, the station again moved but this time to state of the art facilities in 18 Honeysuckle Drive.
