Brilliantly written.
Could this be Australia’s first and only failed metro FM conversion launch?
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Most likely, yes.
5DN was a popular news/talk station prior to the FM conversion, so when it converted to FM as 102FM, it had to change their format quite dramatically to be more music-based. Fittingly, from what I read somewhere, their first song on FM was “We Don’t Talk Anymore” by Cliff Richard.
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You could also argue that Mix106.5 Sydney was not a big success either… it’s ratings were only ever average until they reformatted as KIIS.
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2001 ad for Mix 106.5
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Nothing shows official like the Comic Sans permit number text on the ad.
(I think that’s actually the Mac knockoff comic sans, but the joke works better ignoring it)
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I thought KZFM in Melbourne failed initially and might have almost gone under? Of course, they then became Gold 104 and the rest is a very successful history.
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KZFM had a spectacular start, hitting #1 (14.6%) in its first survey, ending Fox’s almost 3 years at the top spot. But it was downhill after that, hitting a low of 7.2 in Survey 6/1991. I don’t think it actually went into receivership, though it might have. A revamp as Gold 104 rescued its ratings and it later got bought out by Austereo and then ARN.
EDIT: It went into receivership in 1994 RECEIVER APPOINTED FOR STATION GOLD 104
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3KZ’s move to 104.3 was also a lesson in what NOT to pay for an FM conversion… their $31 million was waay more than any other station in the country paid, even both the Sydney ones were under $10 mil I think.
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Do we know how it was determined that TT FM got 101.1, and KZ FM got 104.3?
Did KZ get the choice as the highest bidder?
Or did the ABA/ABT allocate them?
Otherwise we could have had Gold101.1 and KIIS1043 on our radios today.
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3TT must have thought it was a steal to get 101.1 for around $11m when 3AK’s $22m bid fell over due to a defaulted payment.
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Daryl Kerrigan would have been very impressed!
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My understanding was that it was 3KZ’s choice and the picked 104.3 because it was between the existing commercial FM stations of FOX and MMM.
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Do you know how much 4BK paid to convert to B105? I had thought it was around $20M but I could be wrong.
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Not sure with Brisbane, I had a hunch that it was around $8 mil?
But yep, definitely not $31 mil!
Malcolm Farnsworth has uploaded the final news bulletin and closedown on 3LO from Sunday 3/12/1972. Interestingly the bulletin begins with national news before switching to Victorian newsroom (and an utterly devastating report on the road toll 2 years after The Sun’s Declare War on 1034 campaign). Also of note, not on the hour but from 11:55pm leading into closedown at midnight.
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Just found it - it was $17M
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Interesting that they didn’t mention ABC radio 1 and ABC radio 3 in the descriptions.
so sad. all those fatalities and a list of locations and that was just from one weekend in Victoria
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Let me steal @TV-Expert 's thunder by posting this one:
The station seems to be pretty much lost to history- so enjoy this slice of it!
I remember that one, though i only ever heard it on 92.5 but not 99.5.