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Talking Zeds

various hosts

Thursday

10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Talking Zeds features a different 4ZZZ announcer week to week. The key words are: community, interest, variety.

11.12.25

Remembering the (failed) eviction

4ZZZ survived a dramatic eviction attempt in 1988 implemented by a newly elected, conservative student-union executive at University of Queensland.

In the early hours of 14 December that year, union officials entered the station unannounced, served an immediate eviction notice to a volunteer doing the graveyard shift, locked the doors and turned off power — forcing the station off air.

Undeterred, 4ZZZ organisers quickly restarted broadcasting from their transmitter on Mount Coot-tha using a temporary setup, and within hours supporters occupied the union building. 

Although 4ZZZ held on and continued broadcasting from campus for several more months, the pressure eventually forced them to relocate — first to a temporary site in Toowong in 1989, then finally to permanent headquarters in Fortitude Valley. 

The failed eviction became a defining moment in 4ZZZ’s history — galvanising public support, cementing the station’s independence from the university union, and reinforcing its reputation as a voice for alternative culture, dissent and grassroots media.

Former Zedders who were there at the time - Anita Earl, David Lennon and Mike Brown - join Heather to tell us all about it!

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