Perth: 6PR

Radio was almost a decade old in Australia when Perth received its first commercial radio station – 6PR – in October 1931, although Perth already had an A-class (funded by listener licence fees) radio station – 6WF – that began broadcasting in 1924 and would be a foundation station in the ABC when it was inaugurated in 1932.

6PR’s original broadcast frequency was 880 kHz – a position that it stayed at until 1978 when it moved slightly up the dial to 882 kHz with the advent of 9 kHz spacing on the AM dial.  The station still broadcasts on that frequency today.

6PR broadcast a range of program formats including ‘beautiful music’ during the 1970s, leading to 6PR gaining dominance in the Perth market.

By the late 70s the station carried a format dominated by talkback and racing coverage, as the station was owned by the state’s TAB agency.  By the early 90s, racing broadcasts were removed from 6PR when the station had secured a second frequency – 1206 kHz, formerly assigned to 6KY – to operate a dedicated racing service.

Above: 6PR in the mid-1990s.

In 1994, 6PR was taken over by Southern Cross Broadcasting which also owned the popular 3AW in Melbourne.  In the late ‘90s, Southern Cross bought FM music station 6NOW to run in tandem with 6PR.  Southern Cross re-branded the FM station on-air as 96FM.

6PR and 6NOW are now owned by Fairfax Media which bought the metropolitan radio network in the carve-up of Southern Cross Broadcasting in the late 2000s.

Website: 6PR