On Friday night, the Central Coast’s Star 104.5 celebrated its 20th anniversary, which saw 250 guests party in the ballroom of the Mercure Kooindah Waters Resort in Wyong.
DMG Radio chief executive Paul Thompson bought the licence for a new FM station on the Central Coast in 2002. The licence was acquired shortly after the initial Nova licences were purchased at auction.
The station launched in 2004 after missing an original deadline of June 2003. The price for the Central Coast licence which became Star 104.5 was $13.5m.
After DMG sold its stake in the Australian radio business the company’s name was changed to Nova Entertainment.
Nova Entertainment’s Donna Lalor, Peter Charlton, Lauren Montgomery and Peter Colosimo
Party night for Star 104.5
To mark the anniversary of the Gosford-based station, Nova Entertainment organised a celebration to thank Star 104.5 staff, clients and partners for their support.
Hosting the evening were Star 104.5 breakfast announcer Gina Jeffreys and program director Shayne Sinclair. New breakfast co-host Matt Baseley was a late withdrawal after a positive Covid test.
Gina Jeffreys
The evening also featured an acoustic performance by Samantha Jade and her band.
Speaking about the broadcast milestone at the function were Paul Moltzen and Peter Charlton. Moltzen is the station’s long-serving general manager who has worked on the Central Coast at Star for 17 years. Charlton is the chief executive of Nova Entertainment, one of several guests who made the trip from head office.
Kath and Paul Moltzen
Nova’s A-team send video messages
Nova Network evening host Smallzy started his radio career at Star 104.5. He was one of several Nova announcers who sent video messages to the station. Also sending birthday greetings were Sydney breakfast hosts Fitzy and Wippa and Kate plus the Nova national drive team Ricki Lee, Tim and Joel.
Star 104.5 operations manager and announcer Adam Price with Shayne Sinclair
Guests at the function included Star 104.5 creative director Matt Lygoe, client executive Donna Lalor and audience engagement manager Lauren Montgomery. Nova Entertainment COO Peter Colosimo, chief people officer Amanda Bollans, Nova Sydney workday announcer Adam Price and TV presenter Nathan Foley.
See also: Nova FM founder Paul Thompson on 20th anniversary of radio disruptor