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.
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.
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.
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
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)
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.
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.