Hell hath no fury like an aspirant broadcaster scorned. Never mind that the winning applicant âformer 18 months earlierâ actually has a history debating back to the early 70sâŚ
Wow that article brings back memories. I remember tuning in to the stationâs first test broadcast after reading about it in the Green Guide. Canât imagine that was 30 years ago!
I went on to volunteer behind the scenes at a couple of the stationâs later test broadcasts, one was based out of Moorabbin (as per the article) and another was on the top floor of an old high rise on St Kilda Road. I suspect that building is no longer there anymore.
That big test broadcast over 1993/94 was what really made the commercial stations take notice. I think it was soon after that when Triple M started playing dance music outside of the usual Top 8 at 8 evening slot. And the early Nova playlists were very much similar to what Hitz FM had been doing.
And as well as Hitz FM there were the splinter groups, some I think set up by disgrunlted/ousted former Hitz FM identities: Kix FM, K89.9, City FM, etc. Kix did a few test broadcasts but I think K89.9 only did one. City FM spun off to 3XX, IIRC.
I think Iâve posted this before:
Believe it or not I remember watching this back in 1994.
3UZ becomes Sport 927
âSuper Stereoâ - never heard that one before!
Great find too!
These days 4GR goes under the name Triple M Darling Downs.
But according to a poll conducted by The Chronicle, 75% were unhappy with 4GR taking on the Triple M brand.
Franksterâs final uploads for the year include a recording of C91.3 Campbelltown on its first full day of broadcast in 2001. The aircheck features Byron Webb, who is now on Smooth FM.
Canât be bothered posting the full music log here but it was a fairly standard hour; the one thing I did notice was that there was basically no classic rock. I remember the positioner âthe biggest variety of rock and popâ or similar; this wasnât featured on the aircheck so perhaps the music got tweaked a bit later on. I remember plenty of classic rock being played once the station got established, though I mainly listened to Stuart Cranney.
@TV-Expert as a native Campbelltonian will probably have a better memory than I.
There is also a lengthy recording of Nova 969âs test transmission in March 2001. Get em while theyâre hot!
It was actually uploaded the week before (9th December), but yes, itâs quite a good gem being unearthed there. 
Yes, I noticed that. From memory, I think their playlist was quite small to begin with, in which I remember them playing âPleased To Meet Youâ by Aneiki every day, which was a moderate hit at the time (peaked at #26).
The âClassic 9 @ 9â was probably the highlight of C91.3âs programming, music-wise. It was quite a shame when it was dropped in late 2005/early 2006 before being revived in 2011 as âCranneyâs 9 @ 9â before being dropped for good in 2014.
I certainly do. At that time on my mid-teens, along with C91.3, I was mainly listening to Nova, JJJ & 2MMM.
Nowadays, my father, who is in his late 60s, listens to C91.3 most of the time, as itâs local for Campbelltown & the Macarthur region, despite them playing quite a lot of modern music these days.
Same with Hot 95.7 Bunbury in September 2001, multiple times a day Nowadays I play it on the Conga Line as a forgotten songâŚhow times change.
I also remember listening to the test broadcast of C 91.3, featuring the gruff male voice that appears on the promos.
IIRC they had a longer than normal test transmission or they had 2 separate ones before official start, I remember listening from home in Newcastle & spoke to the engineer telling them reception wasnât as good as the other stations & they agreed & said it was because the antenna was lower down the tower than the others & what they wanted, but they were going to move it up higher, which they did & reception was much better, I just canât remember if they moved the antenna higher before start or after & if thatâs why they had a longer than normal or separated test transmission period?
They did have the test transmission with bird noises which I also have a recording of, not sure if this was earlier on?
Canât remember to be honest, maybe, though I think it was Vega that used bird noises for their test transmission?
In Melbourne Nova100 definitely had bird noises for their test transmission.
Definitely Nova. Vega had songs by Dean Martin iirc.
And Neil Diamond as well.
Forever in Blue Jeans. Who could forget.
I think I was the only one who preferred that on repeat than what was actually launched.
As a local-ish person, I can certainly remember the blitz of Triple M promotions in the Campbelltown area after they started! Austereo obviously came to the conclusion that although it was going to always be ârock and popâ - something that hasnât changed much apart from the addition of âbeatsâ to that positioner - that they were going to focus it more on the rock/MMM-audience folks than, say, i98 was at the time.
Of course, they couldnât as easily mobilise an increase in 2Day FM promos as they were already needing to counter the launch of Nova at the same time. (Probably another reason why they thought itâd skew rock; besides the relatively working-class profile, C91.3 wouldâve likely been squished in the competition between 2Day, Nova and also 96.1 once it started, if they were closer to the i98 log from the start.)
Probably glad WIN gradually refocused the branding from ââŚthe C is for Campbelltownâ to a more general Macarthur-based positioner, as although it made sense initially, thereâs obviously a fair chunk of listeners that mightâve been put off by the Campbelltown-centric branding (and much more now, given most of the new development since has been in the Camden LGA).
Watching episode two of this radio documentary and they are talking about women in radio. Not sure when the documentary it is from. It is odd that the segments about women on the radio are presented by male radio talent.