Hot Tomato launched on the Gold Coast of Queensland at 2pm today (Friday 1 August).

The stations is called Hot Tomato and the first official voice on air was listener Nicki Brannaghan, who won a newspaper competition.

She said: “You say tomato [Tom AY tow], I say tomato [Tom are tow], but no matter how you say it, we’re ripe and ready for the picking, so you should pick Hot Tomato.”

Local media were assembled for a 1.30 pm press conference before the launch and were addressed by Jaan Torv, who thanked his brother Hans and saluted the staff.

Simon Mountain was the first announcer on air. PD Rob McCasker and owner Jaan Torv also spoke in the first program.

One staffer summed up the vibe saying: “The TV cameras are everywhere, everyone’s ecstatic… it’s a great feeling to be part of this… I’ve gotta go… bye.”