The Sea FM brand name and logo was created by Gold Coast Broadcasters for one station
90.9 Sea FM after the Gold Coast was granted a new commercial FM licence. 90.9 Sea FM began broadcasting in 1989 with programming consulted by
Austereo. The original Sea FM on-air line-up was a strong team of experienced Announcers, many having made their name previously in capital city radio including - Craig Bruce (FOX FM) & Sammy Power, Ian 'Lofty' Fulton (4IP), Grahame "Durry" Rodgers (2SM & 2NX), Sue Moses (2MMM & Channel 10),
Gregg Easton (2UW & 4BK), Joe Miller (3XY & EON FM), Dean Miller and
Simon Franks. In the same year the Gold Coast's existing AM station 4GG was granted permission to convert to FM as 92.5 4GGG (later KROQ). In the early 1990s Gold Coast Broadcasters purchased KROQ and also Sunshine Coast Broadcasters' 92.7 Mix FM on the Sunshine Coast in 1995. The Sunshine Coast's
91.9 Sea FM was subsequently launched as a supplementary licence. Gold Coast Broadcasters later became known as
RG Capital with financial backing provided by Australian Media Tycoon
Reg Grundy. With the further purchase of existing radio stations and the launch of newly granted supplementary FM licences, RG Capital expanded the Sea FM brand name and logo throughout Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. In 2004, RG Capital sold their regional stations to
Macquarie Regional RadioWorks (now Southern Cross Austereo). Following RG Capital's purchase by Macquarie Regional Radioworks, RG Capital's FM stations in Victoria were rebranded to
Star FM. In 2013, the
Grant Broadcasters owned and operated 99.7 Sea FM in
Scottsdale, Tasmania dropped the Sea FM branding and relaunched as
Chilli FM, bringing it in line with sister station
90.1 Chilli FM Launceston. Also in 2013, Southern Cross Austereo offloaded both Sea FM and Mix FM on the Sunshine Coast to EON Broadcasters who paid $17.7million for the stations in a forced sale following a technical breach which occurred in 2011, when the Austereo and Southern Cross networks merged. The merger resulted in the same company owning too many radio assets in a region where two markets (Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast) overlapped, prompting the Australian Communications and Media Authority to force the company to sell two of its assets. In February 2016,
Southern Cross Austereo owned and operated
100.9 Sea FM in
Hobart, Tasmania dropped the Sea FM branding and relaunched as
Hit 100.9, bringing it inline with other stations to the
Hit Network. It was announced in September 2016, that all Sea FM stations would be rebranded in December 2016 to
hit branding. However, the company decided that the flagship Sea FM station on the
Gold Coast & Sea FM Central Coast in
Gosford would retain the Sea FM name but adopted the brand and feel of the Hit Network, including the elements of the Hit logo (like Fox FM & 2Day FM). the station in Bundaberg retained the name of Sea FM as changing to
Hit Network branding, such as hit93.1, would have been too similar to
Hitz939, the existing
Grant Broadcasters station in Bundaberg which has been broadcasting to the Wide Bay region since 1993. The Sea FM station on the Sunshine Coast also retained the Sea FM branding, as it is no longer part of the Southern Cross Austereo network In August 2021, Hit90.9 was rebranded back to Sea FM. ==Programming==