First song played on the launch of a new station?

Some notes on some of the posts so far:

According to Wikipedia, the first few seconds of the song was intentionally played at the wrong speed, as the DJ’s way of getting back at the studio manager, who had been barking orders at him all day. Unfortunately there’s no grabs of it on YouTube (I would love to hear this)

I thought it was Since I Left You? (also by The Avalanches)

I recall reading at the time it was “For One Day” by Evermore.

According to Wikipedia, it was “Never Before” by Cold Chisel.

And my own contribution:
SAFM’s first song was Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits

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Sultans of swing ~ superb track to start proceedings with…

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Not sure about launch, but 3ZE Ashburton had “Communication Breakdown” queued at the Transmitter for the inevitable breakdown in communications. You could tell when the link to the studio had failed!

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Too much concern for money to burn…

As mentioned on Breeze this morning, Video Killed the Radio Star was the first video played on MTV when it launched in 1981.

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Yes FM104 (although launched as 4MMM before changing to FM104 fairly quickly) was Cool Change/LRB.

I think the prize goes to 96FM though with FM/ Steely Dan. Just my view :slight_smile:

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Considering how much talk there is on MMM these days it’s probably fitting that there was a lot of chatter at their launch…

Not sure… probably a little too ‘predictable’ IMHO…

Not sure what Wiki article you’re reading but the triple J wiki article, plus the doco ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ both mention Gay Guys was the first song on 2JJJ-FM

And I have the audio cassette somewhere where ‘Bevan’ pushed the button to launch 106.9. Evermore were live in the (yet to be finished) studio however.

Frontier Pyschiatrist according to The Age on 4/12/01 (day after launch):

http://newsstore.fairfax.com.au/apps/viewDocument.ac?docID=AGE011204H322K57KSIE

Hitz FM Bundaberg went to air in 1993 with We Built This City/Starship.

I believe SAFM was Sultans of Swing

2DAY FM was Todays the Day by America

The Power - Snap, first song played on 94.9 Power Fm at launch

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How apt…

“Power and The Passion” is the song that I would have gone for!

Cold Chisel’s Wikipedia page says it was “Never Before”… perhaps the Jays are too cool to admit that they ever played Chisel?

First song played on Sun FM Shepparton in 1990: “Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles. It was also the first song after they changed frequency from 107.7 to 96.9 a few years later.

First song on Kix 106 Canberra when it launched in 1988: “Kick” by INXS

Mix 106.5 in Sydney it was I saw the sign by Ace of Base.

It wasn’t really a new station as such, but when 3AK ditched Beautiful Music and became “The New 3AK” the first song was Freeway Of Love by Aretha Franklin

Seeing as we’ve had plenty of “firsts” but how about any “last” songs?

A few have been mentioned already when the same song served as both a first and last on a station… but does anyone have any farewell songs that stand out?

3XY when it became XY Easy Rock went out with We Built This City by Starship.

Then when 3XY went off-air completely their last playlisted song was I’ll Be Gone by Spectrum, but the last song to go to air was ACDC’s It’s A Long Way To The Top which played at the end of a one-hour music tribute hosted by Glenn A Baker apparently as an ‘official’ send-off by the broadcasting authority.

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Last song on 4IP before it closed to reopen as 4TAB was A Hard Day’s Night by The Beatles.

First song on Lite and Easy 1008 was What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong

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