I recall getting variable reception of the “All New, All Hits, KIX 106” at North Rocks in Sydney in 1990 (as MIX 106.5 wasn’t on air back then).
I didn’t get to hear that station again until 1994, by which it was “106 KIX FM” and had adopted the “Always Great Rock and Roll” positioner.
That would be just before it rebranded as 106.3 Canberra FM & adopted an AC format. The callsign also changed from 2KIX to 1CBR at around the same time.
Same for me, Kix 106 could be received in certain spots in Oatley, on the old Magna wagon car radio, and also on a portable radio with aircraft scatter.
In 1991 I listened to 2day fm but when I could receive KIX 106, 2day fm did not even compare.
Some of the memorable songs on KIX 106 from trips to Canberra and dxing from Oatley:
Epic - Faith no More
Jump Around - House if Pain
Touch me all night long - Cathy Dennis
something good - Utah Saints
My Hearts on Fire - Mackinations
Better / Stop the World - Scream Jets
Power / last train to tran central KLF
We got a love thing - CeCe Peniston
I feel you - Love Decade 90’s rave dance track released in 91 that I only heard on Kix.
I like it like that - Kylie Minogue
Kix and their announcers had so much energy which made the station sound so great, and is how a CHR station should sound . I never listened to Fm104.7 during that time,
I miss the old KIX 106, and this air check brought back great memories.
3LO in AM stereo from 1991, courtesy once again of The Radio Vault:
Interesting! Did all the metro ABC stations go AM stereo? I have a vague recollection that 4QR wasn’t in AM stereo, at least not at first. My brother had a fancy AM stereo receiver - I think it was a Marantz or Pioneer - and I seem to recall 4BK, Stereo 10 in AM stereo but not 4QR. I’m not even sure about 4KQ at that time.
4QR and 4KQ were in AM stereo I can’t recall when though.
The Majestic Fanfare sting as intro to the news was so good. It made the station sound contemporary. Now we have the dreary old MF in an orchestral form every hour like it’s still the 1930s. Even worse at 7:45 am local with the extended one.
I think they did.
But I don’t think any of the ABC regionals did.
Definitely not 1233 2NC here in Newcastle.
Triple J were still using that sting when I was a regular listener 10 years ago.
Pretty sure they still use it for the bottom of the hour updates during breakfast.
Continuing the discussion from AM and FM DX:
As per @Radiohead question, here’s some information about FM transmissions from Artarmon, Willoughby, Gore Hill & Optus Tower at North Sydney.
The relocation from Willoughby to Gore Hill occurred around July 2006 for SCA. ARN moved Mix around the same time, as there were three stations in the old Willoughby hut which was in a bad state of decay. WSFM moved out of Miller Street North Sydney in about 2008 when their lease was up.
The full history went something like this:
The Willoughby FM antennas were always a massive compromise performance wise. The WS FM one was higher up and on the NW leg so worked a bit better but the MIX/2DAY/2MMM one was half way up on the SW leg. Coverage behind the antenna was always bad as the Willoughby tower is made up from a lot of small steel members and the signal doesn’t pass very well through the structure resulting in multipath.
Both antennas were optimised for forward gain using a 1 wavelength element spacing; this results in about 0.5dB of extra gain but with a downside of a massive lobe on the 88 degree axis, which was so bad that the company car ARN had at the time, a Ford EF wagon, the smart lock would not work when parked in Richmond Ave. alongside the tower.
The best thing for those antennas was the scrap metal. Both were removed in 2015 and cut up for scrap.
Thanks so much.
Great post yet again.
Just one question…
Do you know where the stand by sites that were used around 1999-2001 were at? And what power they were at?
Yeah, it’s in the post, you must have missed it.
Willoughby for 2DAY, Triple M & MIX as they didn’t move totally out of Willoughby until mid-2006.
WSFM would’ve used Miller St (Optus Tower) North Sydney as backup, but during the Artarmon outages 1999-2001 it wouldn’t have effected them, as they would’ve still been using the Willoughby as main not having any transmitter at Artarmon during that time.
Artarmon was always main for 2DAY & Triple M, with Willoughby backup, MIX & WSFM were always main at Willoughby with backup for WS at North Sydney. I don’t think MIX had a backup site until they moved MIX main to Artarmon in 94, then Willoughby became backup site until they moved to Gore Hill in mid-2006.
From TRV:
This above aircheck of the short lived Sydney station was recorded in May 1988, just over a month after it had switched over from 2SM, which had a Top 40 format.
Gee I can really understand why the 2SM listeners were so heartbroken when they changed to this format, some of that music is dreadful.
Thanks again for sharing these clips.
I read on the SMH that the channel 9 tower at Willoughby is to demolished as part of a redevelopment of the site, is this true?
Yes in about 12 months time.
Wow I did not know that, can 9 broadcast from Artarmon at the present time or will an upgrade be required at Artarmon?
Channel 9 have been permanently broadcasting from Artarmon since about 2010 I think?
Willoughby has been backup site only, for years.
Artarmon is main site for 7, 9, 10 & SBS DTV, & backup for ABC DTV.
Ten is permanently at Gore Hill now, backup at Artarmon.