Yep, even hearing the non-locals at 0.4MHz from a strong local was impossible at times.
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As found in the CD sleeve of the 2005 Ministry of Sound Annual albumâŚ
I believe Nova also carried this in Sydney?
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Interesting Triple M Adelaide took it!
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That may have been at the time of their, âTotally Differentâera.
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Most of these stations were owned by Macquarie Southern Cross Media at the time (merger of the DMG and RG Capital networks).
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Very sad to hearâŚI met Graham about 15 years agoâŚhe was a great bloke.
Iâm a bit surprised that his passing hasnât garnered more attention.
This was the guy that pretty much invented music television!
There is a lot written online about Sounds Unlimited, Russell Mulchay that goes over it.
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Today marks 30 years since 2UW in Sydney converted to FM & relaunched as Mix 106.5 (now KIIS).
It was the 2nd of the Sydney AM stations to convert to FM, which occurred on 30th April 1994, nearly a year after 2WS had converted to FM with great fanfare, resulting in a significant ratings boost to that station.
Unlike with 2WS, which had largely maintained its name & format, the FM conversion of 2UW resulted in a name & format change. When it was on AM, 2UW had a âClassic Hitsâ format, but when it moved to FM, it became Mix 106.5 & changed to an Adult Contemporary format, where its music was positioned somewhere between 2WS & 2Day. Its on-air positioner was âSydneyâs Best Mix of the 70s, 80s & 90sâ, later becoming âSydneyâs Continuous Easy Mix of the 70s, 80s & 90sâ.
Unlike with most other commercial FM stations in Sydney, Mix 106.5 wasnât nearly as successful throughout its 20 year life. That being said, there was a couple of surveys in the late 90s & early 2000s where it was #2 FM (behind 2Day), and was regularly outrating 2WS during that same period, when the latter had a ratings slump.
During the 2000s, after Nova came on air, Mix 106.5 gradually increased the tempo on its music format, but still remained softer than 2Day, both music & programming wise.
Mix 106.5 came to an end on 20th January 2014, when it relaunched as KIIS 1065, with Kyle & Jackie O, who had moved from 2Day, becoming the main faces of the station (& eventually the wider KIIS network). As a result, the station also changed to a CHR format, and has been rating very successfully since.
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I still remember listening to the opening of Mix 106.5 with Mike Carlton.
The first thing he said was âHello this is Mix106.5 and Iâm Mickâ
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I remember when MIX106.5 used to sponsor the traffic reports on TEN News, thus it was referred to as the âMIX (Mickâs) Traffic Helicopterâ. My mum would ask me who Mick was.
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Mix 106.5 was the one station my family and I listened to the most in the late 90âs to early 2000âs.
Have many good moments remembering listening to it over the years.
From Breakfast to Bogart Torelli to Richard Mercer with Love Song Dedications at night.
I am hit with lovely Nostaliga when I think back on Mix 106.5 
.
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If the AM conversions (TT, KZ, WS, UW et al) had never happened â or the auction hearings had been delayed by a significant amount, how does the radio landscape and events/formats etc change?
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Well the 4BH conversion didnât happen in Brisbane so the city had 2.5x FM stations through the 90s. QFM/Star in Ipswich provided the quasi 3rd FM station and had an AC format mostly, straying into classic hits towards the end of the 90s. But I think the longer term effect of that was that AM music stations have lasted longer in Brisbane to this day with 4BH. Both 4KQ and 4BH thrived relative to AM music stations in other cities.
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River also went to air in that time period up until 2002 which got into Brisbane alot more than 106.9. then I guess when 97.3 started that was the change.
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Yes QFM/Star actually became River. They changed frequency and format. The idea was to improve reception but I personally think it was better into Brisbane on 106.9
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The change to 949 came with a significant power and tower height increase. I couldnât tell you the exact date but it was very very close to Sept 2001 when 97.3 first went to air.
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I disagree, and donât think it would have boosted their ratings. Cruise 1323 Adelaide has fairly good ratings even with two Adelaide commercial AM stations converting to FM.
I think it would have probably kept their ratings lower than they would have been had they converted to FM. During the three to four years between other state capitals and Sydney commercial AM stations converting to FM, I remember that 2WS and 2UWâs ratings were a bit low until they converted.
Before converting to FM, 2DAY/FOX etc. had pretty broad but safe music formats (e.g. they didnât play a lot of hit songs), preferring to aim for eastern vs. western suburbs or higher/lower income brackets rather than different music formats or age groups. Meanwhile, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth had solo commercial FM stations that could get even broader audiences simply because they were the only commercial FM game in town. Meanwhile, there were more classic hits/hitsânâmemories type stations on AM. Had the FM conversions not taken place or been delayed, we would have had more of the same.
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I disagree, and donât think it would have boosted their ratings. Cruise 1323 Adelaide has fairly good ratings even with two Adelaide commercial AM stations converting to FM.
I think it would have probably kept their ratings lower than they would have been had they converted to FM. During the three to four years between other state capitals and Sydney commercial AM stations converting to FM, I remember that 2WS and 2UWâs ratings were a bit low until they converted.
No youâve missed my point. It kept their ratings higher than they otherwise would have been on AM, because there were only 2x FMs who were both targeting young audiences. Older listeners were effectively stuck on 4KQ and 4BH on AM as they were the only adult choices. You need to have a look at the ratings in the 90s and even early 2000s. 4KQ and 4BH had combined ratings of over 15%+ most surveys - by far the biggest chunk of AM music listeners in metro markets. 4KQ even won a survey in the 90s, beating both FMs. Sure 4KQ would have definitely done even better on FM but that wasnât the point I was making. The point I was making was that having only 2x FMs targeting younger listeners during that period significantly helped the AM stations targeting older listeners to do much better than they otherwise would have, had there been a conversion of one of them. As for Cruise, yes itâs doing great now, but back in the 90s when there was SAFM, Triple M and 5AD-FM it was barely even a music station and was certainly not doing anywhere near as well as 4KQ or 4BH.
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No youâve missed my point. It kept their ratings higher than they otherwise would have been on AM, because there were only 2x FMs who were both targeting young audiences. Older listeners were effectively stuck on 4KQ and 4BH on AM as they were the only adult choices. You need to have a look at the ratings in the 90s and even early 2000s. 4KQ and 4BH had combined ratings of over 15%+ most surveys - by far the biggest chunk of AM music listeners in metro markets. 4KQ even won a survey in the 90s, beating both FMs. Sure 4KQ would have definitely done even better on FM but that wasnât the point I was making. The point I was making was that having only 2x FMs targeting younger listeners during that period significantly helped the AM stations targeting older listeners to do much better than they otherwise would have, had there been a conversion of one of them. As for Cruise, yes itâs doing great now, but back in the 90s when there was SAFM, Triple M and 5AD-FM it was barely even a music station and was certainly not doing anywhere near as well as 4KQ or 4BH were doing at the time.
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12th of October 2001 at 4pm
Between 4PM and 6PM the IDâs where beeped out
6PM the launch at Southbank had limos picking up every big business owners and agency people in Brisbane.
Meanwhile B105 got all their black thunders and did laps around the event⌠(Austereo mind games)
The mainevent was Bardot singing 3 songs
I have the video⌠Its never been posted online⌠I might do it oneday
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