The station began in 1998 from a community project put together by a local youth worker and a group of young people who wanted something different to put their energies into other than sport and regular small town activities. For two years it operated out of a donga in Bacon Street as 87.6 Rock FM. The diversity of its set up appealed to the local youth and community as a whole.

This energy and interest attracted more youth and in turn their parents. So with adults wanting to be volunteer radio announcers as well as youth, the nature of the radio station changed to meet this need.

The popularity of this initiative increased to the point where there was a demand for an extension to the licence. BMA and the CFMEU were both instrumental in the permanent licence being granted because CFMEU members and BMA employees expressed a desire to hear the radio not just at home in Moranbah, the initial broadcast area, but while they were at work on the mine sites.

Radio 4RFM