Couldn’t find a higher resolution version of #2, but I think these are just about all the most notable station logos (although there’s obviously been a few other minor variants here and there for slogans, etc.) used during 97.3’s two decades on-air:
All reports I’ve heard to date suggest that the first television commercial for 97.3 was pretty much the exact same “equaliser” spot that Mix 106.5/101.1/102.3 also had versions of towards the end of 2001.
It’s been said before and will be said again: If one was available in the market, a Smooth or Pure Gold formatted station on Brisbane FM would almost certainly receive #1 ratings.
I can remember being pretty dissapointed in 97.3 right from day 1.
I had lived in Sydney in the mid and late 90s and I was expecting 97.3 to be what Mix 106.5 had been like in the 90s.
Sadly it just seemed like a watered down B105 that played Africa by Toto at least 3 times every day. I thought it was a waste of space right from the get go.
The other downer of that launch was that it marked the demise of Star 106.9 in Ipswich/Brisbane. They moved to 94.9 at about the same time if I recall correctly, and flipped from classic hits to “adult top 40” as River 94.9. Although that didn’t last too long.
*The 2nd one was used from around 2002 to 2004, different fonts compared to the 2001-02 logo.
*The 3rd was the 2004-11 logo. All stations in ARN’s Mix Network had their own coloured logos during this era (Sydney = blue, Melbourne = green, Adelaide = yellow, Canberra = purple), presumably red was chosen for 97.3 because of it’s closeness to maroon - an extremely Queensland colour.
*4th is the 2011-14 logo.
*And of course, #5 is the logo introduced in 2015 and is still used by 97.3 to this day.
All reports would suggest that by the time 97.3 launched, Mix 106.5 had repositioned themselves to become slightly more upbeat/pop-focused in a bid to compete with Nova. But of course, the sound of Mix 106.5 probably became softer again (while still retaining a contemporary sound/focus) around 2004-05 as DMG were planning to launch their 2nd Sydney station.
Prior to the launch of 97.3, the closest station Brisbane had to Mix 106.5 probably would’ve been 4BH during their era of ARN ownership.
That was a weird one. Although one legacy of the Star 106.9 > River 94.9 frequency switch was them picking up “4MIX” as their official callsign before the ARN/DMG joint venture was able to.
There’s little doubt in my mind that the original plan would’ve been to brand the new Brisbane station as Mix 97.3!
Which makes me wonder why they don’t just now go with KIIS97.3?
I also used to find it odd how/why they simply wrote, “The New FM” beneath their first logo. It was obviously because that is where other sister stations would put their frequency, but why not simply write “Brisbane” there? Or just leave it out altogether?
What’s stopping them (and Mix102.3 and 96fm) from changing its name to KIIS? There are no “Kiss FM” stations in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth unlike in Melbourne.
Not sure about the other cities but in Brisbane, Bob, Terry and Robin don’t skew young so they’d have to fire them and start again with 20 something’s or Announcers that relate to a younger KIIS audience. Pretty risky move which might not pay off.
“In 1984, 4NA became 4SS. Just as the Gold Coast had applied for 4GC and ended up with 4GG, the Sunshine Coast’s application to become 4SC was denied”.
I wonder why 4SC got denied, too similar to 4SB at Kingaroy perhaps, that’s the only thing I can think of. I can understand 4GC not being granted to the Gold Coast, assuming Charters Towers got in first.
I’m not sure if this is true but I had read somewhere 4GC (and presumably 4SC) were denied because it sounded too much like 4BC. Which of course was nearby.
Interesting, given 2NC Newcastle and 2MC Port Macquarie co existed for many years, though they’re not in adjacent licence areas, but not too far apart either.
they played it very safe, pretty much just transplanting 3KZ from AM to FM with not much change. And probably with good reason as 3KZ (AM) was usually sitting around the Top 3 rating stations and it now had a $30 million debt to pay back. It had a ratings boost to hit #1 in Survey 1/1990, ending Fox FM’s almost 3-year run at the top, but the novelty of the new FM station wore off very quickly.
Maybe listeners expected more from FM conversion rather than just an AM station copied across? Even as a listener, I found KZFM seemed to lack some of the audio clarity of the other FMs. It sounded like an AM station that just happened to be on the FM band.
Having 3TT convert to FM mid-year with “Classic Hits” probably didn’t help KZ much, either. And any listeners resisting the move to FM ended up finding 3MP, which hit #1 at the end of 1990 (equal with MMM) and again in S1/1991 (equal with Fox).
