I’d say from the moment KIIS launched, was when WSFM began sounding more like the old Mix.
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Does any video or audio of Uncle Doug, live on air, exist of his time on 2WS FM?
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A video exists at the NFSA of Mulray interviewing Mental as Anything’s Martin Plaza on 2WS in 1999, but unfortunately no access copies are available. Details:
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Who remembers count the cash? I remember hearing it on 2ws FM stereo during the test transmission. It sounded great. As I mentioned before I wish 2ws and 2uw stayed a similar format as I use to listen to both on Am, in today’s world I rarely listen. Apart to some great 80s on ws FM from time to time. 2uw FM 106.5 FM would of been fine.
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The opening of 3EE The Breeze in Melbourne on 2nd July 1992.
Credit: The Radio Vault (TRV)
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Was just popping in here to post this, but as usual @TV-Expert beats me to it!
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A drive show does not bomb an entire music station.
80/90% of revenue and audience done by midday.
What sent WS downhill was ARN having CC enter the JV of ownership. US radio mgmt & budget controldoesn’t work in Australian and 101.1 Melb is still suffering the legacy of bad decisions from that era that killed TTFM.
Look at 2WS’ s history, key leadership staff gone, move physically and content wise away from Western Sydney and reduction of resources. All from the end of the Wesgo era when the Yanks and Irish rolled in.
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An interesting article on Radioinfo about EON FM:
Glenn Wheatley sets the record straight on 40 years of Melbourne’s 105.1FM
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SMH The Guide had a full page article about the decline of 2WS back in July 1999.
How The West Was Lost - SMH The Guide, July 26 1999 (click on ‘OCR’ to see text).
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Out of interest after his stint at 2WS didn’t Doug Mulray do some exclusive online only program in conjunction with some Telstra service or was that later? Can anyone recall the name of it?
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I didn’t want subscribe so didn’t read (as I didn’t want to give credit card details), but yes we lost 2WS as a western Sydney station. I wish they did broadcasted from Hawkesbury Heights or/ Horsley Park / Wentworth Falls and stayed as a western Sydney station. But these days I am not listening to The edge 96.1 I am not sure how western sydney the content is (does anyone in this forum regularly listen?) it probably doesn’t matter anymore where the transmitter is 
. I’d love to see the coverage from a radio nerd point of view if they pushed it out from Wentworth Falls at 25k (directional), I’d say 150k would not be needed at that elevation to cover the Western Sydney Heartland.
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It isn’t really Western Sydney either… there’s a few ads for Western Sydney businesses, but that’s about it from what I’ve heard…
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No need to do that, you just have to…
…and you’ll be able to read it!
In any case, I think the move away from 2WS’ Western Sydney roots happened gradually over a long period of time. Some other key events which happened after the publication of that article:
December 2000: Resignations of Pete Graham & Steve Raymond.
August 2001 (or sometime around then): 2WS becomes WSFM.
2002 (early that year, if I’m not mistaken): WSFM and The Edge move from Seven Hills to North Ryde. At/around the same time, Mix 106.5 moved there from Neutral Bay.
Late 2002: Hans Torv leaves the station (final show was probably either November 29 or December 6?), with Brendan Jones taking over his breakfast co-presenting position from January 13, 2003.
27/8/2004: Kayley Harris presents her final breakfast show. Show was positioned as “Jonesy’s Breakfast Bar” with a number of guest female co-presenters for the remainder of 2004. The first “Jonesy & Amanda” program was on January 10, 2005…and I think we all know how the WSFM Breakfast story went after that.
Are there any others I’ve missed? If so, please let me know!
Even though The Edge transmits from Wentworth Falls, content wise I think ARN aims it at a wider Western Sydney audience and would probably aim it at a metro-wide one if the “each owner can only have two (analogue) commercial stations per market” rule didn’t exist.
Probably the main reason I’ve recently been taking an interest in the history of ARN radio stations/branding is in large part because I received video of some Early 2000s TVCs from the Frankster in March (and could possibly receive more in the future - he’s also got some DigiBeta tapes but these are still yet to be transferred) and want to pass on some of the knowledge I’ve acquired to those who’ll appreciate it.
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Who remembers the “Rick Dees and the Weekly Top 40” show that 2Day FM broadcast in the early part of the 2000s?
From memory the chart show was broadcast on Sunday nights and counted down the top 40 hits on the American charts each week.
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If I’m not mistaken, the Super Radio Network’s FM stations in regional areas still carry Rick Dees and the Weekly Top 40.
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i98 in Wollongong used to broadcast the program on Sunday nights in the mid to late 2000s, along with 94.9 Power FM in Shoalhaven/Southern Highlands on Saturday nights.
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Rick Dees was carried through the 90s as well. Casey Kasem’s dynasty ended in 1988, after which time the Disco Duck reigned supreme.
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I remember hearing Rick Dee’s T-40 on KUSA 1660 - the very 1st ever “Digital Audio Broadcast” from the Las Vegas convention centre. An amazing catch to receive that (1995). This was before USA digital Radio merged with Lucent to form IBOC/HD Radio. Obviously they must had an analogue component for me to receive it here in Australia (Bombala NSW).
I also heard Rick Dee’s on KSBS 92.1 American Samoa in 1994
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I remember for a period in the ‘00s, 2Day had switched from Rick Dees to Ryan Seacrest, but Rick could still be heard on some of the neighbouring markets’ stations (e.g. i98 or Power FM).
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Fox FM used to air it on Sunday nights, and American Top 40 before then with Casey Kasem
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