Radio History

[1323ZM]

@olderfleet

(along with AM)

When Red Harrison or John Highfield was host.

[TV-Expert]

Today is 2UE’s 100th Birthday.

Radioinfo article: https://radioinfo.com.au/news/2ue-turns-100-with-all-the-bells-and-whistles/

[TelevisionAU]

@andrewtechhelp

Happy 100th Birthday 2UE

@TV-Expert

Today is 2UE’s 100th Birthday.

A few vintage 2UE logos from the mid-1980s through to mid-1990s

[rhettrospective]

A nice clear copy of the 3DB commercial which ran July 8th 1986 the day before its relaunch

3DB Commercial which ran July 8th 1986. Bert Newton.

[jason120au]

2GB and all the Nine talk stations should be using “where you don’t miss a thing” preferred to “your news leader”

[TelevisionAU]

@rhettrospective

3DB commercial which ran July 8th 1986 the day before its relaunch

9 July 1986 was a Wednesday.

3DB’s relaunch date was 30 June (Monday), only a few weeks after 3AK had also staged a big relaunch. The Age - Google News Archive Search

@jason120au

2GB and all the Nine talk stations should be using “where you don’t miss a thing” preferred to “your news leader”

anything would be better than what 5DN in Adelaide did in the 1980s:

“When Adelaide Needs to Know”

[Radiohead]

@TelevisionAU

anything would be better than what 5DN in Adelaide did in the 1980s:

“When Adelaide Needs to Know”

I don’t see anything wrong with that one?

[TelevisionAU]

@Radiohead

I don’t see anything wrong with that one?

check the capital letters in that slogan… what does it spell…

[Radiohead]

That’s being a bit selective by excluding the “to”… nothing to see there.

[TelevisionAU]

@Radiohead

That’s being a bit selective by excluding the “to”… nothing to see there

that’s how it was displayed in their own advertising…

[mullauna]

the stations still exist – just under different callsigns or marketing names and they will always hold the IP of their old broadcasts.

NOT “The Radio Vault”.

A paid subscription model for airchecks is therefore Russian Roulette with an automatic pistol.

[ElCapitanCranky]

@mullauna

the stations still exist

But that’s not what they want you to think.

Speaking of old broadcasts, a 2AY sign-off.

1490kHz 2AY Albury NSW AUS 14-05-1966 (RGC198)

[TelevisionAU]

@mikealsan

I had a browse at what the Radio National Schedule looked like in 2014: Guide - ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

So much richness of content and music programs! However It seems back then a lot of repeats did still go to air in the afternoons on weekdays and weekends. It seems to have always been this way.

@Snoozenooze

Take it back to 2012 - so many great old programmes. Media Report, By Design, Encounter, Quiet Space.

Radio National circa 1988:

[Radiohead]

And was still largely a capital city station only at that time… regional rollout of RN didn’t start until early 90s I think.

[TelevisionAU]

@Radiohead

And was still largely a capital city station only at that time… regional rollout of RN didn’t start until early 90s I think.

pretty much. By 1993, Radio National was available through 204 transmitter sites.

[Radiohead]

And as at Sept 2024, there are now 347 RN sites.

Thought I’d compare that to the other ABC networks
Local Radio - 407
Triple J - 253
Classic FM - 97
News - 88

[melb_mateyy0]

In a world where music is everywhere and plentiful, I felt radio stations were going in the opposite direction and becoming even more repetitive. But it’s only a “feeling” without numbers.

For what it’s worth, these are some random snapshots of a few top 40 airplay charts, highlighting the AVERAGE number of weeks a track has been in the chart, and also highlighting a trend?

2015-March  :  14.1 weeks
2018-March  :  14.2 weeks
2021-Sept   :  18.4 weeks
2022-April  :  23.1 weeks
2023-March  :  25.2 weeks
2024-Feb    :  23.4 weeks
2025-Jan    :  27.2 weeks

“Radio stations have always been this repetitive”, or have they?

[Radiohead]

@melb_mateyy0

highlighting the AVERAGE number of weeks a track has been in the chart

Is this on the assumption that because it’s still in the chart, that Hit music radio stations will keep playing that song?

[melb_mateyy0]

Not sure I completely understand the question, but I guess so. Obviously the more weekly spins a track keeps getting, the longer it remains in the chart. This is just a simple calculation of the average number of weeks of all 40 tracks in the chart at the time.

Maybe another way of looking at it is the average time a track spent on “heavy rotation” in 2015 was around 14 weeks whereas now in 2025, it’s 27 weeks?

[Radiohead]

Yes, but I imagine there are other factors these days that will have a greater impact on how long a song spends in the ‘chart’ (which are also not what they used to be).

Those factors include social media, You Tube etc, which might have an equal or greater bearing on chart success that what traditional terrestrial radio might these days.