Slogan Nothing But Hits | ||
City Mount Tassie
Mount Taylor (repeater) Broadcast area Traralgon, Sale, Latrobe Valley
Bairnsdale and East Gippsland (repeater) Frequency 99.5 MHz FM (Traralgon, Sale, Latrobe Valley) Repeater(s) 99.9 MHz FM (Bairnsdale and East Gippsland) First air date 29 April 1939 (1939-04-29) (as 3TR)
26 April 2002 (2002-04-26) (as 3TRFM)
September 2008 (2008-09) (as TRFM) | ||
TRFM (formerly 3TRFM) is an Australian radio station operating west of Traralgon, Victoria. It is owned by Ace Radio and shares studios with sister station Gold 1242, formerly 1242 3GV. The station broadcasts on 99.5 MHz from Mount Tassie near Traralgon into Sale and the Latrobe Valley and FM 99.9 MHz from Mount Taylor into Bairnsdale and East Gippsland.
History
The station began life in Trafalgar as 3TR, being an abbreviation for 3 Trafalgar Radio. It has since moved studio locations several times and has been based in Trafalgar, Sale, and Traralgon. The station was founded by Frank Berkery, and later from 1934 to 1938 was owned by Archibald Gilchrist.
The original 3TR studios in Sale are now used by ABC Gippsland. These studios were officially opened by then Prime Minister Robert Menzies on Saturday 29 April 1939 and the program was then relayed across the Victorian Broadcast Network (made up of 3SH and 3HA at the time) to which it then belonged.
For the majority of the station's life it operated on the AM band at 1242 kHz. On Friday 26 April 2002 at midday the station officially became 3TR FM. For the previous week it was simulcasting on both AM and FM after test transmissions. Also at midday, sister station 3GV (now known as Gold 1242) commenced on 1242 kHz.
In other markets where Ace Radio have set up supplementary FM stations they have launched a new FM station (generally under the Mixx FM brand) and kept the existing AM station broadcasting as usual with its existing name. However it was decided to transfer the 3TR brand name to FM in an attempt to retain 3TR's existing listener base and instead start a new station on 1242 kHz. Also the format of 1242 3TR in the years prior to the transfer to FM was very similar to the format 3TR FM carried making more sense to keep the 3TR brand name on the new FM station.
In September 2008 the station dropped the "3" from its name and is now known as TRFM. The breakfast show The TR Morning Crew is currently hosted by former Big Brother contestant Mikkayla Mossop, Dan and former AFL player Justin Koschitzke (Kosi).