Actually, Caralis bought 2HD/NEW FM first in February 1999, before he acquired 2SM in October the same year.
6 Likes
I’ve been wondering what had happened to Dave Wright, formerly of MIX 106.5 drive and former court announcer for the Sydney Kings, since he appeared to leave the NSW Transport Management Centre and doing traffic reports on Sydney radio.
Well, I discovered that late year he created an Instagram page. He lives in the Camden area on the outskirts of Sydney. He has posted that he does voice work for the US, and does promos for 2CC and 2CA. I admit that I didn’t realise that he is the voice of the Capital Radio Network.
One of his recent posts:
3 Likes
Yep!
If you scroll down his Instagram page he has a few older photos there.
4 Likes
Heads up for those in Sydney.
2RRR 88.5 in Ryde will broadcast a documentary about Sydney radio in the 1950s, as part of the program “There Goes That Song Again”, to be aired next Tuesday (21st July) at 3pm & repeated on Friday 24th July at 11am. It will also be available as a podcast after the program has aired.
Source: Radioinfo
4 Likes
It’s to my understanding that the “Hits & Memories” positioner was launched with the jukebox logo in 1988, while “Greatest Memories, Latest Hits” was used prior to that for several years in the 1980s - possibly as far back as 1982/83.
Yeah, I guess that makes sense because the FM 101.7 variant of the “Jukebox” logo was still in-use for the “Doug Mulray Drive Launch” TV commercial in April 1998:
Fast forwarding a few years, while trawling through old webpages on archive.org I managed to find a low resolution copy of an old TV commercial for WSFM (that appeared to be dubbed to VHS before making it to the web) which was on their website in Late 2003/Early 2004, although going by the “calendar” scene at the start it likely dates back to July 2002:
Link to the video file, for what it’s worth. Animation wise, it’s very safe to say this one is very much a product of its time when viewed with modern eyes!
I’m pretty sure WSFM (and more likely than not, other Classic Hits stations) also had a TV commercial or two during the Early 2000s which used the same logo animations to those seen at the start/end of the Classic Hits Network Sales Reel from September 2002, although I can’t seem to find any evidence of those ads on the internet at the present time.
3 Likes
WIN/Nine News coverage of the Jolimont Siege that occurred in 1993 at the Jolimont centre that at the time hosted FM104.7 and 2CA’s studios, features interviews with Greg Robson (Now a real estate agent) and Sheridan Stewart (now at ABC Sunshine Coast) of FM104.7 and Mike Larkan (Now at 10 News Melbourne) of 2CA:
3 Likes
Actually, it goes as far back as September 1981, as this SMH article from that time revealed:
SMH, Monday 7th September 1981
From my personal memory, 2WS changed their logo in late 1998 in the lead-up to the change from “The Best Songs Of All Time” to “Classic Hits”.
During 1998 & into early 1999, 2WS’s ratings were falling for 8 consecutive surveys, with Doug Mulray on drive apparently to blame for the station’s falling ratings. However, by mid-1999, the station did have a bit of a ratings boost, peaking at 9.6% (3rd FM; 4th overall) in S5/1999, but then it fell again, dropping to as low as 5% in S2/2000, beaten by the likes of JJJ, 2CH & 2GB (which was rating low back then)! 
After that, the ratings started to recover towards the end of 2000 & into 2001.
Speaking of which, here’s the song list for 2WS’s “Favourite 500” countdown that was held over the Easter long weekend in April 2001: https://web.archive.org/web/20010416231540/http://www.2ws.com.au/fav500/fav500.htm
It’s worth noting that back then, FM104.7 & 2CA were both under common ownership of Austereo. 2CA was sold to Capital Radio Network in 1997 after Austereo bought 50% of Mix 106.3 from ARN, in which they also bought 50% of FM104.7 from Austereo.
4 Likes
From TRV, an aircheck of Mix 101.1 (now KIIS 101.1) in Melbourne from June 2004.
Some familiar voices there, including Vanessa O’Hanlon doing traffic reports & David Brown (was Seven News Melbourne weather presenter at the time, now weather presenter at Seven News Sydney) doing weather.
Musically, by that point, Mix 101.1 remained sounding more upbeat than that of its Sydney sister station, who had softened its music format with its “Smooth Variety” positioner in anticipation of the arrival of the new DMG station on 95.3 (initally Vega, now Smooth). Some of the songs played on Mix 101.1 in 2004 wouldn’t be too out of place on Gold 104.3 these days.
6 Likes
Great clip.
…and from an overall branding perspective, the “Feel Good” relaunch wasn’t far away. Wonder if the sound of any Mix stations changed as much as the look did that July? 
I was going to say that similar could probably be said about songs played on the Mix 106.5 of 2004 and the WSFM of 2020, but then realised that current day 101.7 is at times more like the KIIS of a few years ago! 
2 Likes
I’d say from the moment KIIS launched, was when WSFM began sounding more like the old Mix.
4 Likes
Does any video or audio of Uncle Doug, live on air, exist of his time on 2WS FM?
1 Like
A video exists at the NFSA of Mulray interviewing Mental as Anything’s Martin Plaza on 2WS in 1999, but unfortunately no access copies are available. Details:
4 Likes
Who remembers count the cash? I remember hearing it on 2ws FM stereo during the test transmission. It sounded great. As I mentioned before I wish 2ws and 2uw stayed a similar format as I use to listen to both on Am, in today’s world I rarely listen. Apart to some great 80s on ws FM from time to time. 2uw FM 106.5 FM would of been fine.
4 Likes
The opening of 3EE The Breeze in Melbourne on 2nd July 1992.
Credit: The Radio Vault (TRV)
6 Likes
A drive show does not bomb an entire music station.
80/90% of revenue and audience done by midday.
What sent WS downhill was ARN having CC enter the JV of ownership. US radio mgmt & budget controldoesn’t work in Australian and 101.1 Melb is still suffering the legacy of bad decisions from that era that killed TTFM.
Look at 2WS’ s history, key leadership staff gone, move physically and content wise away from Western Sydney and reduction of resources. All from the end of the Wesgo era when the Yanks and Irish rolled in.
4 Likes
An interesting article on Radioinfo about EON FM:
Glenn Wheatley sets the record straight on 40 years of Melbourne’s 105.1FM
4 Likes
SMH The Guide had a full page article about the decline of 2WS back in July 1999.
How The West Was Lost - SMH The Guide, July 26 1999 (click on ‘OCR’ to see text).
5 Likes
Out of interest after his stint at 2WS didn’t Doug Mulray do some exclusive online only program in conjunction with some Telstra service or was that later? Can anyone recall the name of it?
2 Likes