For me it was the mid 90s. Power FM and i98 were both sounding great, and Wave FM was a genuine classic hits station. By 2002 we began the long descent to the mediocrity of today. As mentioned though, at least Nova really did sound different.
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For me, it was 1992, not long after they converted to FM.
i98 was also more of a Classic Hits station then too, playing songs from the likes of Creedence Clearwater Revival and with sweepers like âYour eye for the Illawarraâ.
And Wave FM with an older skewing log too, with those Ray McGregor voiceovers like âThereâs a new WAVE sweeping the Illawarra, 96 point 5, 2WL WAVE FMâ.
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That period was quite good too from what I read. I had first discovered them in 1997, which was when I started listening to Illawarra radio.
I would say more broadly that 1992-2004 was the best period for Illawarra commercial radio.
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Yeah this was the time as a teenager tried to plan family holidays down there. Really great music radio down there.
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I hadnât discovered Illawarra radio as early as â92. I came to listen to i98 when I heard it at my Auntâs place at Corrimal in 1994. I had my first enlightenment and wondered if I could pick it up from Oatley. I was successful, and thus began my DXing career.
If Internet radio was around back then, I may not have even bothered with DXing as i98 would have been available with zero effort.
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DXing is like fishing, itâs the thrill of the catch.
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Check out the AM/FM Cassette âSound Systemâ with 2 door mounted speakers.
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With no push button presets!
How criminalâŚ
Thatâs asking for the same amount of trouble as texting on phone whilst driving.
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The heat ruined my prized Billy Joel Glass Houses cassette leaving it sitting in one of those âsound systemsâ in my first car.
My father had a set of those wool seat covers in his car. He never washed them and the damn things reeked. Remember peeling them off the seats in his car after he passed away.
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This gentlemanâs opinion is that AM on VHF should have been implemented instead of FM on VHF.
Source: The Age, 11 December 1948
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The last paragraph is a gem - although I can think of is that television turns us into mindless zombies thereby confusing the missile targeting systems that focus on lifeforms???
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Well, the article was written not long after the Second World War.
But like radio, TV has immediacy and reliability, the last point isnât something you can always say about the internet in relation to the accuracy of some information sources.
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Found a couple of other bits and pieces via the RadioInfo archives which clarifies a few things - re, my earlier research about Early 2000s 2WS-FM/WSFM:
This article (well, only really a four sentence paragraph) âImaging changes at MIX and 2WSâ from May 31, 2001 suggests that the 2WS > WSFM change happened towards the end of May. I guess it makes sense though, considering the big changes which happened around ARN Sydney and especially Mix 106.5 around that time.
Donât know whether there were any TVC campaigns for 2WS/WSFM in 2001 (that is something I hope to find out in the future), but itâd seem likely that the September equaliser spots for Mix 106.5 were part of ARNâs plan to âspend more money on advertising in coming months to reinforce the new imagingââŚand in the case of Mixâs branding at least, form the basis for a standardised (at least as far as logos and marketing were concerned) Mix Network by the end of 2001!
Took a little longer for ARN to bring in a standardised logo/branding strategy for the Classic Hits stations, but the red and blue rounded rectangular WSFM/Gold/4KQ/5DN logos were definitely used in 2002. Even taking into consideration that ARN would not have wanted to scare off the traditional 2WS listener base with too many changes to the station at once, the 2001 logo for WSFM (which I donât think even lasted a full year, somehow doubt it survived the move to North Ryde either) was a total waste of money IMO!
Still yet to get exact dates for the Seven Hills/Neutral Bay > North Ryde moves for ARN Sydney, but going by this it was in May 2002 that 2CBA-FM (as Hope 103.2 was still known as back then) moved into the old 2WS studios.
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According to an article on SMH The Guide regarding 9inety6ix.1 rebranding to The Edge 96.1 dated 25th February 2002, the studio move wouldâve happened at around February that year.
According to this AMT (Radioinfoâs predecessor) article, it was officially opened on Monday 11th March.
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What year is this Gold 104.3 logo?
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Late 90s/Early 2000s? It wouldâve been Gold 104.3âs last uniquely local logo before the standard âClassic Hitsâ red & blue rectangular look was introduced across WSFM/Gold/4KQ/5DN in 2002.
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What format did it used to play before 2002? From What I seen, Itâs a bunch of aussie hits from the 70s and 80s from the video tape, Rockin Footy GOLD.
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Hi Guys
I just scored a couple of old 10khz radio stickers off Ebay.
One being 4CA 1010kcs but another one is a very old 4CD Gladstone. Does anyone know what frequency 4CD used? Iâm assuming it was on 930kcs?
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I remember listening to 4CD in the 80âs on 927AM before they changed it to 4CC. I think they changed the call sign around 85, 86.
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