I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:
95.5 The Cat. Music for pussies.
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i’m trying to find “Easy Rollin 6ix” and “The Eagle”
promo’s from late 70’s and the early 90’s
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The older skewed stations (like 6iX and 2CA) should go back to these retro positioners.
“Easy Rollin 6iX” would sound great in 2023.
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I have an aircheck of 6GL (Eagle) which was downloaded from the Frankster archive; not sure if it’s still available there.
What programming did Talking Lifestyle actually have? I remember when it had that slogan but I have little recall of what programming it had? ISTR Annette Allison and (maybe) Robert Hicks in the mornings? And they did have Bruce Mansfield while he was serving his “punishment” from 3AW’s cash for comment, until 3AW forgave him.
I listened often to Talk 1116 though I am surprised it even got as “high” as 2.6! As much as I often tuned in, it was frustrating even as a listener as they’d keep chop and changing presenters constantly. It certainly seemed to be a bit of a circus behind the scenes.
I wouldn’t quite draw the same parallel between Talk 1116 and MTR. 1116 was fairly MOR, sort of somewhere between 3AW and 774 and, apart from Derryn, not all that aggressive. Even Jeff Kennett was fairly lightweight talk.
Maybe that was its problem. It wasn’t tough enough for the masses to tune in? But I preferred it to AW.
Whereas MTR was purely made in the 2GB formula with Steve Price, Alan Jones, and Bolt, etc. It was meant to give the RWNJs a safe space, though I don’t think even they bothered to tune in.
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I didn’t really listen much to Talking Lifestyle, but whenever I came across it, I always seemed to get travel shows. And that sat with my preconception of a “Lifestyle” format. Almost the soft talk I expect on a weekend talk station (outside of footy).
In terms of 1116 ratings, have the peak at 3.4 for Survey 1 in 2002 (S#1: 3.4 S#2: 2.9, S#3: 3.2, S#4: 2.6). I could have transcribed incorrectly at the time though. The ratings really dropped off in 2003 (dropping as low as 0.7 in Surveys 6 and 7) - which I suspect is the flow through impact of the chopping and changing. There is a certain point, when listeners will say enough is enough.
Understand your point about Talk 1116 being MOR and MTR1377 being more right wing. I more looked it as to whether Melbourne had the capacity for three viable talk stations, rather than where on the political spectrum the stations targeted.
Your approach is an equally valid way of assessing it. BTW, the highest rating I have for MTR was 2.2 in Survey 4 of 2011 with an average of 1.7 during its brief time on air. From a ratings viewpoint MOR wins over right wing shock jocks. I was probably listening to the Fox at the time…
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Apparently a number of on-air personnel, including Hinch, were dismissed at the end of 2002. And Hinch had been sacked from the station already once before then! So I think you’re right, what few listeners were there were getting weary of so many changes.
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I think Talking Lifestyle might have worked, but the execution was very poor, and focus seemed primarily on how they’d wedge in the sponsored segments rather than making good radio.
Basically, it should have been original Smooth style light music, with soft talk. Sure every ad would be for funeral homes and pre-purchased caskets, but that’s I think where the market for that station is - retirees trying to work out what to do each day.
MSR just had the problem that sport was too core of an element of the 3AW/2GB formula. If you shifted all sport outside the news to MSR, then they’d probably be on air still, just it’d have taken a huge amount of the share from cannibalising their own listeners.
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Comparing the ratings between the pair (based on number surveys since establishment), they were not actually as different as expected. The collapse of Talk1116 ratings in 2003 is well pretty dire and obvious and ties in to the December 2002 sackings.
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I agree. Talking Lifestyle should’ve had some light music involved.
They did end up having a show with Stevie Jacobs towards the end on a Friday with music. The playlist was brilliant.
Absolutely agree and I think it was an absolute disgrace that the Macquarie Radio’s Board sanctioned such an experiment - very costly with a high risk of failure. Brain fart written all over it.
To Data & Commerce’s credit when they set up SEN, it was hardly likely to cannabilise 3MP’s easy music format.
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Fascinating graph of 1116 SEN’s history there, thanks for sharing. Really ties in with the anecdotal history here of the station’s performance. Was lucky to survive the mid-2000s with poor shares, no AFL rights and that disastrous foray into Adelaide, but really reached its peak in the late 2000s/early 2010s when they had a well established lineup to compliment the footy on the weekends. I myself was a religious listener of KB’s morning show and Finey in the evening, even continued streaming Finey’s final siren on Sundays after I moved up north. But the loss of some of those key personnel in the Hutchy era seems to have inflicted a knock that hasn’t recovered in the time since…
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I wonder if that’s close to what they might’ve landed on if they weren’t stalling for so long on selling 2CH… but if the idea was to be almost “pseudo-brokered time” all the time, music would’ve likely also devalued that. Given the mentality from the merged Macquarie Radio was “protect 2GB/3AW/etc at all costs” and to not let 2UE/3EE/4BH go to someone who could restart a talk competitor - it’s not like there would’ve been effort beyond that. Same with MSR; it was never going to be more than half-hearted when the footy is still on 3AW and the Continuous Call on 2GB and 4BC (as @Moe said) - but I suspect that wasn’t the main point.
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1986 Fox Fm commercial
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For the more ‘mature’ of us here, I have a question.
JJJ has often been criticised over the years for shunning more ‘mainstream’ content and ignoring mainstream releases from erstwhile ‘JJJ darlings’. However in the 1980s, I have it on good authority that 2JJJ sprinkled mainstream hits (e.g. Michael Jackson) amongst its generally alternative mix. Was this generally the case? Unfortunately ‘Frankster’ hasn’t provided us with any old airchecks as yet.
Today’s JJJ may be going more in that direction; ‘Requestival’ is the obvious example, but I don’t listen at all…
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More mature as in sensible, or just oldies? lol
I think in the Double J times, on AM they did sprinkle some mainstream music in, but not sure that transferred through with the change to FM & becoming Triple J?
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I can’t speak for the earlier days as I only heard JJJ for the first time in 1989 when it began in Melbourne. I was in the target demographic back then but found it disappointing that JJJ seemed to focus solely on the alternative and not any mainstream. Particularly disappointing as Melbourne had just lost 3XY as a top 40 / dance station and the commercial FMs weren’t really up for it.
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Triple J has taken a reasonably fluid view of what they seem to be “mainstream”, especially when it comes to artists/groups who get early airplay on the station. It’s never really been consistently applied either
Some get punted from the playlist as soon as they go mainstream while some continue to get significant play long after. The decision sometimes correlates with a shift in the artists music output, sometimes not
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From The Radio Vault, a recording of Victoria Overnight via 3SR Shepparton in August 1991.
Victoria Overnight was a syndicated program that was heard on 3SR Shepparton, as well as 3GG Warragul & 3BO Bendigo.
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I remember a Queensland Overnight program from about the early 1990s that was networked throughout QLD from 4KQ
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