The logo design of that old “Opera House-style” 2SM logo looks OK, but it would’ve been better in sky blue (being the colour of Sydney/NSW) rather than red/yellow/orange.
Another ‘best’ and ‘worst’ from me… also both from the same station.
On the ‘best’ side
And the ‘worst’… the logo that came immediately next…
The new “XY” font was probably on trend for the late '80s, and would probably have looked good as a boutique fashion label or something, but for a radio station coming from such an iconic look beforehand it just looked like something whacked up in five minutes
From 1975 until 1981 this was 2SM’s iconic logo. It was actually developed by 4IP in Brisbane and used by 3XY, 2NX and 2SM. It can be easy to forget why the logo was such a classic. Obviously it included a record and 2SM was a music station. Back in 1975 denim was very much a symbol of youth and to some extent it represented rebellion. Denim jeans were not allowed into most nightclubs - they were considered too casual.
The most daring part of the logo was the zipper being undone. Today you would not even notice it but back in 1975 it was a daring image - it was pushing the limits.
The logo was designed within a circle for the record- giving it symmetry and wholeness.
The logo was dumped in 1982 when the station adopted its “More Music” positioner, although they kept the 2SM font from the zipper logo.
In 1983 it was a brand new logo for “The Power” branding. Any resemblance to the denim logo was gone.
The 1984 “Rock fo the 80s” logo was ripped off from several American radio stations:
And any clarity had completely disappeared when the 1986 logo was adopted!
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Great logos. But I’m not sure the zipper was that daring in 1975. Do you remember what was on TV back in the mid-70s? No. 96, The Box. Full frontal nudity on network television was pretty full on, along with lots of sexually charged themes
I think a lot of the stuff on TV back then they wouldn’t get away with now, at least on free to air. I also suspect the zipper logo would get more backlash today than back then too… I remember vaguely (although I was of course very, very young LOL) people did a double take and maybe an eye roll.
I agree that the world was changing in the 70s but remember that No.96 and the like was restricted to late night TV. Society was still fairly conservative. It was illegal to be gay in every state and condoms were sold behind the counter in chemists. Sydney’s first Mardi Gras was in 1978 and the marchers were arrested and beaten by the police.
Australian TV was still editing film clips from artists like Madonna a decade later. For example, her “Express Yourself” was too sexual to be played on Video Hits without editing out the part where she grabs at her crotch or is chained to a bed. And that was in 1989.
You are right though Brianc68 - the logo was not controversial - but it did imply a certain freedom that caught attention and was definitely orientated at a younger audience.
I liked the 4IP logo from back then(Late 1989) but no one was listening going by the ratings.(Only 3% of listeners)They played mainly pop music,latest hits.I still remember the B52s hit ‘Love Shack’ being played frequently
Of course they had no hope of great ratings with the ‘juggernaut ‘ of radio in those days ,that was FM 104 aka Triple M
LOL, I actually remember them playing Love Shack a lot too. I didn’t mind the relaunch of 4IP but remember thinking at the time it didn’t stand much chance. I actually thought they stood a better chance sticking with Lite & Easy a bit longer or going back to Stereo 10 and playing Top 40 plus 80s. If I recall correctly 4BK hadn’t quite converted to B105, or maybe it just had.
I’m pretty sure this one used to be quite common as car stickers around Launceston back in the day, may have been a comp where you won if it was spotted on your car
With the 20th anniversary of this station coming up in a few days, unfortunately I have to say that C91.3 has never had a particularly great logo:
…although if I really had to pick one, the original was probably the “best” saved by a vaguely local (well black, white and orange are used by a certain football team…) colour scheme.
Meanwhile in Melbourne, I found this from about Early 2001 during a recent look at old radio station websites via the archive.org Wayback Machine. Not 100% sure if 3AK actually used it as their logo or just as a website thing, but poorly designed either way IMO:
3AK had a number of logos during that time. They seemed to change often, probably every time a new CEO, owner, investor, program director, etc, came along or when there was the slightest format change… which happened a lot! I think it was only once it became “Talk 1116 3AK” that they settled on one logo but even then that was only for about 1-2 years before SEN took over.