And or MVQ when talking about Mackay, now long forgotten.
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Lots of networks use internal call letters for stations, apparently “GCQ” is the Nine Gold Coast internal identifier to distinguish it from QTQ.
Perhaps in this case, assuming they were intentional, STN as the wider Sunshine Television Network, and then changing the end letter for specific stations, like STW for Sunshine Television Wide Bay? That’s just speculating though.
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TV callsigns date back to the 1950’s: the last letter denotes the State W=WA, N=NSW, Q=Qld etc. Callsigns are still shown in the ACMA databases - where they still get used widely is for interchange circuits between the stations. If you see a test pattern with QTQ on it you know its coming from Nine Brisbane etc. The staff still refer to the studios by their callsigns too - STQ Seven in Maroochydore and BTQ Seven on Mt Coot-tha.
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At one stage shortly after aggregation took place, the Sunshine Television Network briefly used a logo that was modelled on the 7 logo of the time, with STN and a 7 over the top.
The people that owned Sunshine Television made a lot of money out of it: the Sunshine Coast was a TV no man’s land and by moving the old Maryborough TV station there they massively increased its value. After that happened the Brisbane stations suddenly got interested in the Gold Coast to stop the same thing happening there - they both opened studios there. Prior to all this they just had a journo and camo each on the Gold Coast and only Seven had a journo/camo on the Sunshine Coast - the camo had to drive up to Bald Knob and link his video back to Mt Coot-tha via a portable link. There was no TV or FM there back then and the Caloundra Council just had a two-way radio hut there.
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Broadcaster Callsigns.pdf (156.7 KB)
Above is the short list of TV callsigns
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I can rattle most of those off without thinking about them. The Solus variants carrying other networks in non-aggregated markets stump me sometimes.
An esoteric question only, thought ITQ was absorbed into QQQ? As far as I am aware, there is no Mt Isa only station/feed for Seven Central, they get QQQ 24/7? Do Mt Isa only variant callsigns for Imparja and TEN Central exist?
IDQ is the Ten Central call sign for Mt Isa
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Central and Mt Isa had common ownership pre-aggregation and were officially merged post-aggregation, but IIRC Mt Isa technically gets a separate terrestrial feed from the rest of Central??
Seven (QQQ/ITQ) and Ten (CDT/IDQ) are licences that officially segregate Mt Isa from the rest of Central, but Imparja has a region-wide version of the same licence. Like how GWN and WDT technically has separate regions in south-west WA (i.e. Kalgoorlie) but WIN WA doesn’t.
It’s an oddity rooted in the history of TV in those areas that is completely redundant today, but jumping through all the legal hoops to officially redraw the boundaries when the current system makes no difference would be pointless.
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There was a stand alone TV station ITQ8 pre aggregation that used a 500W transmitter to cover the town - it was at one stage the smallest TV station in Australia and was owned by a bloke from Sydney. It only had one tech, a couple of operators and a sales rep. VEW8 in Kalgoorlie was the other micro TV station of that era.
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And 4LM announcers reading the local news.
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Made sense as co-owned by Christopher Skase at the time. Once Qintex went bust and Seven and Sunshine went different ways for a few years, that Seven in the logo ended up removed quite quickly.
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Sunshine has been affiliated with 7 since aggregation in 1991-ish I’m pretty sure. They’ve always carried 7 programs.
I recall Skase being associated with them back when they were affiliated with TV0 I think?
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Yes, aggregation started in regional QLD on 31 December 1990. Sunshine has been affiliated with 7 since then.
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Yes, he owned TV0 and SEQ8 Maryborough, and had just bought MVQ6 Mackay when he took over the Seven Network. Then had to sell TV0.
MVQ and SEQ merged operations to become Sunshine Television Network (STQ) during 1990 ahead of aggregation.
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Yep. That’s exactly how I remember it.
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Correct, but then Skase’s company went bankrupt, Sunshine was not part of the deal that created the modern (Kerry Stokes-headed) Seven Network company, and they didn’t become a Seven O&O again until 1995 roughly.
They certainly remained a Seven affiliate, but it’s why there was an intervening period where they used the map of Queensland instead of the Seven logo - for instance such as this promo in 1992 ("Love You Queensland" Promo (Sunshine Television Network) - YouTube).
The company that owned Sunshine in the interim was apparently a company called Gosford Communications? Who was involved with 2GO and Coast Rock FM in Gosford (at some point?)* as the name suggested, but apparently was the remnants of Country Television Services - who originally owned the “8-6” of the Midstate network in the central west, prior to those being bought by Paul Ramsay and folded into Prime. So not a complete stranger to the TV market, it seems.
* Which Seven then had to divest once they bought Sunshine, as they were breaching cross-media laws on the NSW Central Coast… which saw 2GO and Coast Rock/Sea FM sold off to what became RG Capital Radio. What a strange web cross-media laws created sometimes.
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Is CDT the official call sign for Ten Central? I can’t see any mention of the station in the list shared by @dutymainttech. I’m surprised it doesn’t have a call sign ending in a D (for Darwin/NT) or Q (for Queensland), though doesn’t the final letter indicate where the station is licensed, rather then where it broadcasts to?
IMP would be another anomaly - do the south and north variants of Seven Central and Imparja share the same callsign?
Here’s a more detailed list that includes CDT.
Same callsign, just like how WIN SNSW/ACT has the same callsign across that licence area whether you’re in Canberra or Wollongong.
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There are quite a few other cross border TV callsigns. Apart from WIN and QQQ/IMP/CDT there are:
ABC outside the ACT,
SBS outside South Australia,
AMV, BCV, GLV and VTV in Southern NSW,
CBN in the ACT,
CTC in Southern NSW,
NBN, NRN and NEN in Southeast Queensland,
ACT in the Northern Territory.
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