LOCAL station West Bremer Radio celebrates its fifth birthday this week.

From its humble beginnings in the spare room of the owners’ house, to its current location in the iconic Top of Town, the station has expanded and grown rapidly to become a recognised source of news, information and entertainment and a voice for the local community.

Station owner Bradley Clarke said the business’s greatest resource was its dedication to sourcing and retaining the best local people to represent Ipswich.

“Our team is 100 percent plugged into the local community,” Bradley said.

“We are consistently focused on sourcing and delivering outstanding local content designed to keep Ipswich locals up to date with the latest in news, sport and special interest stories.

“We engage with representatives from all levels of government as well as businesses, the arts, local music, sports, mental health, wellbeing, animal welfare, financial matters, community groups and charitable organisations to ensure a balanced and interesting line up of news and stories each day.”

Bradley said part of the station’s success was in embracing innovation in broadcast media.

“The way people consume radio, television, and print media is changing dramatically, and we are proud to embrace emerging radio technologies to bring listeners the best local content on a user-friendly website, mobile app and, more recently, smart speakers with skills enabled for Google and Amazon Alexa, enabling our audience to listen to local content at home, work, in their cars or while out and about on their smart phones,” he said.

“We believe all Ipswich locals should have access to quality local news. We are passionate about promoting Ipswich’s thriving arts and local music communities through our weekly interviews with local artists, creatives, musicians, bands and more, and we provide free outside broadcasts for local charities including Goodna Street Life and the Tivoli Drive In, and major community events including the annual Ipswich Show and the 2022 Business Expo, which allows us to give back to the community and help support and grow our city.”

One of the regular segments on The Breakky Club is a run-down of the latest edition of the Ipswich Tribune with editor Brian Bennion as the paper hits the street each Wednesday.

West Bremer Radio recently launched a dedicated sports streaming platform.

“Our commitment to local sport continues to grow as we cover games across a number of sporting codes including the Ipswich Cats, Rugby League Ipswich, and Ipswich Basketball,” Bradley said.

“We provide live streaming from the games with expert commentary, which our listeners can stream free on our platforms.

“West Bremer Radio has invested in the technology, invested in the city and invested in providing 100 percent local content for Ipswich locals.

“It’s been an incredible five-year journey to get here, and we’re excited to see where the next five years will lead us.”