That’s what radio should be doing. Connecting and pleasing audiences. Quality radio which achieves that is timeless as evidence by the historical tapes you enjoyed.
3 Likes
With discussions on the “Nova Network” thread about how the Sydney CHR stations are not playing much new music compared to the fringe & regional CHR stations, this is almost reminiscent to the situation about 30 years ago after 2SM dropped its Top 40 format in favour of Light & Easy 1269.
From the SMH The Guide on 2nd May 1988:
Of Sydney’s seven music stations, five - 2UW, 2CH, 2WS, 2SM and 2DAY - now play a high proportion of material over five years old, and often much older than that.
With the recent demise of 2SM’s pop/rock format, there is no longer any station in Sydney dedicated to the 10- to 17-year-old bracket - the “demographic" that created rock ‘n’ roll by buying millions of records in the '60s and '70s.
2MMM played a mix of old & new music with a favourable rock skew, but started playing a bit of Top 40 after 2SM’s demise.
This meant that the best station in Sydney to hear new music was JJJ, which was only available in Sydney at the time or by tuning into nearby regional stations (all on AM at the time) such as 2KA from Penrith/Blue Mountains, 2WL from Wollongong & possibly also 2NX from Newcastle (until it went “Classic Hits” the following year after New FM went to air). And if one had expensive equipment to pick up FM stations from far away, Kix 106 from Canberra was also a better option.
Fast forward 30 years and after changes with 2Day & Nova this year, the fringe/regional stations are once again the best commercial stations to hear new music rather than the Sydney FM stations, such as The Edge, the Hit regional stations (inc. Sea FM Central Coast & Hit 104.7 Canberra), and Eagle/Snow.
4 Likes
To borrow a line from a Bob Seger classic, “today’s music ain’t got the same soul”.
I had a look at the top selling songs on iTunes yesterday, and more than half the Top 20 were songs by the same band, one I’ve never heard of (BST or something I think?). Now that is saying something.
4 Likes
I never listen to Nova, what are they playing? 00s music?
Mostly, yes.
You can see their playlist here: http://onlineradiobox.com/au/nova969/playlist/
2 Likes
ARN took over the Wesgo stations in October 1994, followed by the Albert Family stations in March 1995.
The Wesgo stations were as follows:
- 2WS
- 2SM (IDed as ‘Gold 1269’ back then & bought by Kick Media by the end of 1995)
- 2GO
- Magic 693
- 3MP
- 4KQ
- 2AY
- B104.9
The Albert Family stations were:
- Mix 106.5 (formerly 2UW)
- TTFM
- Canberra FM (now Mix 106.3)
- 2CC (sold off to what is now the Capital Radio Network in December 1994)
- 4GR
- 4MB
- 4RO
In June 1995, 2GO was bought by Sunshine Broadcasting, who had already owned Coast Rock FM & therefore became sister stations. After Sunshine was taken over by Seven, 2GO/Coast Rock had to be sold off, in which RG Capital bought them in May 1996.
ARN sold its QLD regional stations in June 1995 to what is now RG Capital, whilst it continued to own 2AY/B104.9 until it was bought by DMG by the end of 1996. In December 1995, Magic & 3MP were sold off to Southern Cross Broadcasting, who had already owned 3AW & 3AK. This meant that by the middle of 1996, they sold off 3MP & 3AK, with the former bought by Goulburn Valley Broadcasters (owner of 3SR & Sun FM), whilst the latter was bought by Fusion Media.
5 Likes
And 4BC had already been sold sadly, thus beginning its decline.
2 Likes
Replying in the history thread
4GY - Radio Sunshine - do you recall the Fox FM simulcast weekends? “At 9 o’clock, it’s 21 degrees in Noosa and 13 degrees in Melbourne” 
3DB - also used Sunshine Radio at one point.
4 Likes
4GY simulcast with Fox FM? What an odd combination. What year was this?
1 Like
Definitely 1983 and a couple of other years around then - it used to be for the Easter long weekend.
1 Like
I guess it’s a little odd, but didn’t they used to call Noosa “little Toorak”? Basically the majority of interstate tourists to Noosa (as opposed to the rest of the Sunshine Coast) used to come from Melbourne, particularly at Easter.
1 Like
I bet people in Melbourne would’ve got sick of hearing Noosa’s weather! (For me, it would be the other way around).
People in Melbourne would have been thinking “Stop teasing us with Noosa’s warm weather” and people in Noosa would have just laughed at Melbourne’s cold weather
1 Like
Going through my garage I found some old air checks from 2GO back onthe 28th of June 1996. It’s amazing how much the station has changed.
28-6-96 12:05 ~ 20:50 (483MB)
3 Likes
Judging by the date, this would’ve been just after 2GO had been bought by RG Capital, along with Coast Rock FM, in which it then rebranded to Sea FM by the end of the year.
1 Like
Thanks for the 8 and a half hours of 2GO.
Interesting that 2GO promoted itself as being on 108 FM instead of 107.7, was this an attempt to hold on to the familiarly of the previous 801 AM?
Also promoting a 60s and 70s playlist is different to the “80s, 90s and now” that I grew up with.
If I was a fairly serious radio geek back then (I was 9-10 years old at the time), I would’ve listened to 2GO quite a bit, as it would’ve been a decent alternative to 2WS. Wave FM from Wollongong was another decent alternative back then too, which had a similar format to 2GO.
Listening to bits of the above clip, they did “Lunchtime Legends” at 12-1pm, playing the best of the 60s & 70s, whilst its primary music positioner was “A Better Music Mix”. Other programs, judging by the promos, included “Six O’Clock Rock” on Saturday nights, “Love Songs” on weeknights, and “Lost in the 70s” on Sunday nights.
As for the news theme, back in 1996, 2GO used the same news theme as 2WS. More than 20 years later, 2GO now uses the same news theme as Triple M.
I miss the 2GO of the 90s & 00s. It’s not really the same now, especially with competition from Star 104.5, as well as its SCA ownership.
3 Likes
I’m going through a HEAP of my old air checks, nothing that long but will post more soon.
1 Like
Yeah, I always found that FM108 positioner to be quite weird.
Nothing new. You’d have AM stations refer to themselves by rounding up the frequency. 2UE referred to themselves as channel 95 instead of 954.
1 Like