Bay City Radio 3MP
That Summer Feeling 3MP
3KZ IS Football (now ripped off by 3AW)
That’s Melbourne 3KZ
4AY (Ayr!!!) had that jingle as well with the tag The Rhythm of Townsville.
I still don’t get the inside joke on Ayr.
I don’t get the 3AK one about wrinkles? What does it mean?
Read the FAQ
I found some info on this topic…
When the station was acquired by South Queensland Broadcasters Pty Ltd
The station was operating at a new site off Hanlon St at Bundamba on the banks of the Bremer River.
the coverage was greatly improved, not only in Ipswich and the west, but in the southern suburbs of Brisbane .
At that time the station was permitted a power of 2000 watts .
1974
Unfortunately the floods in December inundated the site.
Despite valiant efforts by the 4IP management and staff the transmitters were well and truly flooded .
In the true spirit of broadcasting , those that were rivals “ON AIR” were all part of the club when disaster happened .
Frank More approached Keith McDonald , Managing Director of Queensland Press the owners’ of 4BK . He at once agreed to make 4BK’s old transmitter site on Jesmond Rd Figtree Pocket available.
4IP Chief Engineer, Ainsley Judge, was able get the station back on air as the managing director Frank Moore(FT) and the General Manager Alan Brandt (AB) had rescued the vital 1010Khz crystals by wading through the flood waters with them above their heads.
The water came up so fast that they could not get the car out and it was swept away. The last part of their journey was by a small boat that just happned along and took them to the railway bridge - AB was very alarmed that the boat was floating above the power lines.
Ainsley Judge “Juddie” as he was known had built Australia’s first directional AM Transmission array at 4BH on 1390 Khz at Landers Pocket - now part of Brisbane airport.
The aerial feed system at the 4BK site was under water as it was on the banks of the Brisbane river. A long wire aerial was strung to a nearby pole as a temporary measure .
The old 4BK transmitters were tuned to 1300Khz and were very inefficient at 1010Khz. The electricity supply was very intermittent and a generator was supplied by the Army for when the power went off .
A new STC Su105 Transmitter and co-axial cable were delivered by Fred Hoe & Sons in record time.
As the water receded the cable was installed by the 4IP announcers rowing a boat from the Transmitter building out to the base of the tower , towing the cable behind.
4IP was back on the air.
The Broadcasting Control Board required that the station move back to Bundamba but it was quite obvious that the Bundamba site was not the place to be.
1975.
It turned out that 4KQ was looking for new transmission site and an accord was struck and both stations moved to St Helena Island in Moreton Bay and share the facilities.
4KQ was owned by the Labor Party at that time.
It was unfortunate that Ainsley Judge ( Network Chief Engineer) died at the start of the project and the project was progressed to fruition by Van Richards-Smith ( Chief Engineer 4IP) with assistance from Al Price (Chief Engineer 4KQ).
To obtain an increase in power to 5000 watts , both stations were required to operate in directional mode . Two 400 foot towers were erected on the island. This project was contracted out to Fred Hoe & Sons
The towers were designed by Noel Medlin and constructed by Good Engineering Pty Ltd. The ” Medlin Towers” were unusual in that they have four loading coils that increased their electrical height to 5/8 of a wavelength for 4IP and ½ wave for 4KQ. The 5/8 towers gave the maximum coverage for 4IP (1010Khz) and 4KQ’s lower frequency (700Khz ) gave both stations fantastic coverage. The final tuning was conducted by Ye Chen (STC).
This was Australia’s 1st duplexed –directional antenna array for AM stations.
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“Where No Wrinkles Fly” appears to be a famous slogan from 3AK. I have heard it mentioned before. I also have never quite understood what it means. I know it refers to the period of time when 3AK targeted a younger audience. I get “No Wrinkles” although it’s bizarre. But why would they fly?
Maybe it was slang at the time?
Love “That Summer Feeling” from 3MP. It is sweltering in Sydney today yet few stations make use of the season as a positioner unless they are just adding it to their normal slogan - for example Pure Gold Summer.
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Wrinklys = old farts. 3AK was very Top 40 then.
3KZ is Football was also picked up by 3EE when it launched in 1992. They adopted the slogan as their main football caller Ian Major was the main caller at 3KZ.
And I remember those “I Love Melbourne” bumper stickers that were everywhere for 3KZ. I was doing work experience at 3TT in 1988 and they’d just received their supply of black and white “Classic Hits 3TT” stickers and one staffer lamented “well it’s hardly ‘I Love Melbourne’, is it?”
Fantastic background. Thanks for getting this to us.
It seemed that all commercial stations that the ABA approved to upgrade to 5kw were required to have directional antennas.
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Wrinkles- counter programming to Smooth FM?
I think “fly” is used in the sense of “that won’t fly with me”. Thanks dude, will check the FAQ :).
3DB had so many revamps and slogans. It was such a ratings powerhouse pre-TV but never really found its niche once TV arrived.
Other slogans for them included The Big DB, 3DB The Happy Medium, and a big relaunch in 1975 with “DB Music” (although I’m sure they still crossed to the races!).
At one point around 1984 it was “The Friendly Alternative: Radio 1026” but its last revamp was “Melbourne’s Own 3DB: The New Beginning”. The “Melbourne’s Own” reference was timely as it was around the time 3AK had gone to networked talkback from Sydney.
Although one media reporter wryly commented that despite the slogan 3DB’s new logo was red and white, the colours of the Sydney Swans.
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The Edge. Live Sexy.
That was one of the best. Think of everything that surrounds the word “sexy” (eg young, female, edgy, etc.). A great way to describe the station feel.
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It doesn’t tell me much about their music though,
'Old School 'is any song that’s about 4-5 years old but not older than 10 years old
See i would have “old school” would go back to the 90s
Fox FM’s Old School 9@9 frequently plays songs that are 15 or so years old.
I don’t think that’s John Farnham.
Bloody brilliant, brings all the facts together. Good on you for sharing it with us.
old skool is 90s to 2010.