Radio History

[SydneyCityTV]

@Radiohead

Reminiscent of the Wesgo style logos eg. for 2WS from that era.

Wow, that’s a gem. Think it dates back to the Early 1980s? Going by the old TV commercials I received from the Frankster a while back, possibly around 1982-ish but I’d have to check:

I swear “1224” is there in red! Maybe it looked better on TV at the time, but you can understand why the logo/endtag of those ads was eventually changed to this:

The yellow “stereo” sticker posted by TVAU is probably from the mid-1980s? Pretty sure by 1988, 2WS had moved onto the “jukebox” logo (I think most would agree that was probably the best ever 2WS logo, the fact it lasted around a decade and survived the FM conversion has to say something) but in any case, it was great to see both of those!

[TelevisionAU]

@SydneyCityTV

The yellow “stereo” sticker posted by TVAU is probably from the mid-1980s?

I had it dated as July 1987.

I had a “jukebox” style sticker for 2WS dated December 1988.

[crankymedia]

@Brianc68

4SS also wasn’t bad into Brisbane

Yes, I remember that too and often in AM stereo in the car in Brisbane (I think car radio was the only stereo AM tuner my family had).

What I forgot to add to my 4SS post was that 4SS also had great coverage on the Gold Coast, yes the Gold Coast!

As the null was further SW to protect Sale and Glen Innes, there was a lot of power bounding SSE/SE towards the Gold Coast. I can recall confusing my parents tuning in 828 on the car radio whilst they were driving around the Gold Coast. Coverage was superb.

It is always a great shame that the allocation wasn’t at a 0.4 MHz offset to Bris/GC freqs so coverage to the Gold Coast wasn’t interference limited. The Audi Q7 has great selectivity and with Hot 91 directing closer to the 750w ERP spec south, you can receive it in parts of the Gold Coast and atop Mt Tamborine near the local blowtorches.

What was interesting was that on the sand island of Bribie, coverage of 4SS was susceptible to electrical interference of the power network. Perhaps it was just our car? There was some raised noise floor there too and from Caboolture town centre (not a regular visitor!) and east on the road to Bribie. The FM conversion did fix this with great coverage to the shire boundary with Redcliffe at Rothwell and well beyond.

@Brianc68

I remember driving past the studios in the main street of Nambour before the Bruce Highway bypassed

The good ol Currie Street studios. Great for their time. Shame about their move to Maroochydore. Sea FM Ltd were very stingy with fitout and size there. Thankfully rectified by the Wheatley/Williams/OCP era of EON Broadcasting who have moved the station to a better designed and size floorplan.

@Brianc68

4GY, again in the mid 80s. I remember they had a billboard on the old Bruce Highway between Cooroy and Yandina which had a large dial displayed showing where 4GY was (right down the end at ‘56’ AM) relative to a couple of other stations.

Yes! I remember that and was always excited to see it as a little one as it was an indicator we were making good ground on travel north.

The usual conversation was why was the sign there when we could tune it in from Caboolture northwards, of course, later when I could do my own research, I discovered licence area boundary maps and the Maroochy River is around the boundary out the back of the coast there. Interestingly, when I visited the sales office in Noosa or at at Geordie Road, the maps they’d give me were sales maps with a much greater sweep of colour gradient south and west of there.

I wonder if the billboard was a Wesgo initiative or prior to their ownership?

@Brianc68

Also briefly as Stereo 56 when they went AM stereo.

I wonder where the stereo exciter ended up? Any ideas engineer readers?

@TV.Cynic

think it would have probably been around the time that 4WK moved to 960.

What was WK on prior to 960?

@Radiohead

Reminiscent of the Wesgo style logos eg. for 2WS from that era. Did they own 4GY then

Wesgo indeed.

@TelevisionAU

a later version from 4GY, circa 1993

This was their predominant logo throughout the 90’s before content from the 2SM hub went into full swing.

Fantastic discussion here, really appreciate the many compliments re 4SS recollections and the conversation that has ensued.

[TV.Cynic]

@crankymedia

What was WK on prior to 960?

Colour Radio 4WK used to be on 880 (surprisingly close to 4GR) and before 4BH moved.

Announcement of change of frequency for 4WK. Also included 4BH move at 10:57

- YouTube

[crankymedia]

@TV.Cynic

Colour Radio 4WK used to be on 880 (surprisingly close to 4GR)

I was wondering what freq that was, had a quick search and discovered you’d already answered that question to me some years ago!

4GR were on 1000, so a swap of sorts with WK? Where was IP or was this before their time?

Radio History

Try these links AM dial in 1931 http://www.radioheritage.net/story133.asp 4GR was on 1000KHz or was it 1000 Kcs at the time running 50w ABA Planning for radio in metropolitan markets

Great history there. In the ABA booklet, it lists Greg Cupitt as a contact, he was working for them then, now he works for Bill and Pam, writing their submissions to ACMA for their ‘Super Radio Network’.

[littlegezzybear]

2GB dumping the Australian Traffic Network had me thinking of their late and great traffic reporter of the 1980s and 1990s, Wayne Hutchings. He started the traffic reports on 2GB when he was with RSL Cabs, then later moved to Taxis Combined. All of his reports were live, as all traffic reports were back then. He sadly passed away on-air on 2GB as he was doing a report on Clive Robertson’s then breakfast program. I can’t exactly remember when Wayne died, but it was sometime after Mike Carlton had returned from his stint on LBC in London as he was at the funeral, so it was sometime in the late 1990s I think.

From the SMH, 5 September 1983.

[crankymedia]

@littlegezzybear

had me thinking of their late and great traffic reporter of the 1980s and 1990s, Wayne Hutchings

You’re fantastic @littlegezzybear researching these gems.

Journo Jason Dasey is right, Wayne does look like Brenno, amazing similarity.

[TV.Cynic]

@crankymedia

4GR were on 1000, so a swap of sorts with WK? Where was IP or was this before their time?

4GR were on 860 - quite close to 4WK. 4IP was on 1010 (since 1948).

[SydneyCityTV]

@SydneyCityTV

the 2004 TV commercial for Gold 104.3 which used “The Real Thing” by Russell Morris

As it turns out, that ad was originally produced for Gold 104.3 and going by the press release about it (from an old version of the ARN website, via Archive.org), the TVC first aired on Melbourne commercial television in Early 2004. Presumably it was liked so much that ARN decided to commission versions of the ad for WSFM and 4KQ.

While I was at it, I came across press releases which reference a couple of mid-2000s Mix Network ad campaigns.

19/7/2004: Launch of the-then new logos and “Feel Good” branding for all five stations, supplemented by a TVC campaign in the three largest markets which used images of several artists played on Mix and a George Michael track.
28/6/2005: Launch of ad campaign for Mix 106.5 Sydney and 97.3 Brisbane which included TVCs along with outdoor & taxi advertising. Who knows if images of the outdoor/taxi ads still exist, but going by the press release it seems there were two different versions of the TV commercials - a 15 Second graphic based commercial and another (which presumably, ran for 30 seconds) which featured lifestyle imagery and images of core female artists on Mix 106.5/97.3. Both ads had “She Will Be Loved” by Maroon 5 as the soundtrack.

There doesn’t seem to be any video of either TVC campaign online at the present time, so hopefully it (along with a whole bunch of other good stuff) will surface at some point in the future.

Yes I know I’ve talked about old Mix 106.5 branding a fair bit of late, but I have done my research so (hopefully) know what I’m talking about with some credibility. TBH, I probably want to again see the TV commercials and hear the station branding from WSFM during the Early-Mid 2000s moreso than what Mix was doing back then. But beggars can’t be choosers so any radio history from a relatively recent but scarcely documented (well some might’ve been on pre-Discourse era Media Spy, but that’s all gone now) compared to TV branding from the same period, I’ll lap up!

[Radiohead]

@TV.Cynic

4GR were on 860 - quite close to 4WK

Even with the change to 9 kHz spacing in the late 70s, there were still a few examples of stations in adjacent or nearby markets where they were only 9 or 18 kHz apart. That should have been an opportunity to restack to minimise adjacent channel interference for those in between both.

The prime example for me was 1341 2NX Newcastle near 1323 2GO Gosford. The latter couldn’t clearly be received until you were well inside its licence area. This did get resolved in 1986 however.

[TV.Cynic]

4GG 1197 was on the adjacent frequency to 2GF 1206

2ML with 400w on 720 is still close to the 50kw 2NR on 738

[TV-Expert]

@SydneyCityTV

19/7/2004: Launch of the-then new logos and “Feel Good” branding for all five stations, supplemented by a TVC campaign in the three largest markets which used images of several artists played on Mix and a George Michael track.

That George Michael track would’ve been “Amazing”, which was a hit of his released that year (peaked at #6).

George Michael - Amazing (Official Video)

@Radiohead

Even with the change to 9 kHz spacing in the late 70s, there were still a few examples of stations in adjacent or nearby markets where they were only 9 or 18 kHz apart. That should have been an opportunity to restack to minimise adjacent channel interference for those in between both.

The prime example for me was 1341 2NX Newcastle near 1323 2GO Gosford. The latter couldn’t clearly be received until you were well inside its licence area. This did get resolved in 1986 however.

In 2GO’s case, I think 2WL from Wollongong would’ve also caused it some grief in parts of the Central Coast prior to 1986, considering that the latter station put out a good signal up & down the NSW coast.

Also, when 2GO moved to 801, as well as moved its transmitter from Ourimbah to Chittaway Point, this allowed it to boom in into Newcastle, also making it their unofficial 4th (later 5th after NEW FM’s arrival) commercial station in the latter location.

[TV.Cynic]

Not to mention 4QO and 4QB that were on the same frequency of 850kHz. There was an audible ‘whistle’ caused by this - presumably because there was a very slight difference in their frequencies.

It disappeared after frequency change to 855.

[SydneyCityTV]

@TV-Expert

That George Michael track would’ve been “Amazing”, which was a hit of his released that year (peaked at #6).

I definitely remembered “Amazing” being used in a Sydney radio station’s TV commercial during the mid-2000s, but thought it might’ve been 2DayFM (for their first commercials with the “spiral” logo) rather than Mix!

[Radiohead]

What was reception like in between Pialba and Eidsvold on 855?

Were there any issues of the signals interfering with the other? (given they were only about 170 kms apart)?

[TV.Cynic]

There are no problems with 855 that I am aware of but when the stations were on 850 they were not quite on the same frequency and there was a whistle heard permanently on both stations.

[Radiohead]

Thanks, didn’t realise that your earlier comment related to in between as opposed to those elsewhere eg. say down in Gympie.

Interesting that the change of frequency solved the issue entirely… can only think that an engineering change would have been needed to fix the whistling issue regardless of frequency?

[TV.Cynic]

Yes - the whistle was heard throughout the broadcast area. It was a major annoyance. When the frequency change came the announcer said something like “now without the whistle”.

[Rossco]

@littlegezzybear

He sadly passed away on-air on 2GB as he was doing a report on Clive Robertson’s then

I’m not exactly certain but I think Malcolm T Elliott was doing breakfast when Wayne passed away in an adjoining studio

[Laoma]

@TV.Cynic

on 850 they were not quite on the same frequency and there was a whistle heard permanently on both stations.

I got a flash back on when I was kid. What has happened to whistle? Was the common issue the old crt TV? My age is too young for the frequency swap (only just).