Yes the proposed line-up under the sale to Carmarstation was published in the Green Guide (I thought I kept a copy of it but can’t locate it it) and included Johnny Young on breakfast, Dennis Scanlon and John Tamb were other names I recall seeing.. possibly along with Coxy. They obviously couldnt stump up the cash. They had offered $600,000. I found a couple of AFR articles online that talk about the sale.
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In a way, 3XY felt “too chicken” to convert, and was overtaken by a fox.
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And the Fox kept it at ‘Bay’.
OK I’m not an old tech but a keen listener a the time. Yes, when they started, BAY FM came in very loud and clear in the southern Melbourne suburbs, and K-Rock even more so. BAY FM might have gotten weaker here in February 1990 if memory serves me correctly (after being on the air for around 2 months) and K-Rock followed later on.
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I’m just thinking back through radio history and thinking of some of the biggest failures. In light of our recent 3XY discussion, it would seem that 3EE was an abject failure.
Certainly in recent memory, MTR would have to go down as one of the biggest failures… definitely in terms of money spent, and what was promised.
Surely SENQ would be up there as a complete and total failure.
I’d probably also put Classic Rock in the absolute failure basket as well.
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Ratings don’t always tell the full picture but you wonder how it manages to turn a profit.
It was. Tried to be a hybrid talk and music station targeting 3LO/3AW and 3MP listeners and failing to attract any of them!
3AK and 2UE’s linkup to become CBC was an expensive dud. 2UE managed to climb out from the rubble, but 3AK was still in for a world of pain for years to come.
3AK’s revamp as Talk 1116 in the early 2000s had a promising alternative line-up to 3AW, and i listened to it often, but it was run by management who had no money and no idea. At least SEN took Talk 1116 out of its misery.
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Changing from Magic 1278 to Talking Lifestyle massive failure.
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When 3XY was being simulcast initially, the transmitter was at Mt Anakie to the west of Melbourne and Werribee.
The signal was pretty good over most of Melbourne, providing a true alternative to the other commercial FM stations.
I understand the other Melbourne stations smelled a rat and got the ABT to visit the tx site. It was discovered that the array was pointing at Melbourne! The excuse given was that it had come loose on the tower. Hmmmmm.
When the technical specifications for the permanent high powered Geelong transmitters were put together , the Melbourne stations pushed hard for a deep null towards the NE, east and south east to protect their patch. And the TX site near Drysdale wasn’t the greatest for coverage into much of Melbourne either, being relatively low. 3MP was particularly vocal about the null.
All a bit petty given that the Melbourne FM stations on Mt. Dandenong pretty much boom into Geelong.
So while 3GL was always able to put a pretty reasonable AM signal into Melbourne and no body cared, the FM stations were nobbled big time. K-Rock even had to put in a very low powered translator at the MCG for their commentary team.
And by allocating the Geelong frequencies per the Melbourne band plan, instead of offsetting them by 400 kHz (so in between) they stuffed up the ability for any new high powered stations in Melbourne. And Geelong.
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and Macquarie Sports Radio or whatever it was called
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Also the relaunch of 3DB in 1986, until it was relaunched as classic hits 3TT.
How did 2UW’s relaunch as magic 11 go? I remember it became 2UW again after some time.
Also 2GB was doing pretty badly ratings-wise at one time, until it was relaunched and shot to the top of the ratings.
He used to be on Triple M Brisbane a long time ago
Yep and 4BH to Talking Lifestyle the same
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I actually liked that Classic Rock logo. IMO the failure happened when they ditched the name and went with just Sydney’s 95.3 and Melbourne’s 91.5.
The biggest failure IMO is 1170SEN and 693SEN.
Oh, and also SEN1323.
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Actually 1170 SEN is now 2.0 in the ratings.
They were more about the gambling revenue than ratings, and they’re still on air.
I don’t think you can really call something a failure until they change it.
MTR was an absolute shitshow from day one - proof that the Sydney style of hardline right wing talk didn’t fly in Melbourne.
Certainly Talking Lifestyle and Macquarie Sports Radio were doomed ventures as well. Macquarie didn’t want a second talk station (in the case of 2UE at least) and couldn’t find another use for the AM licences, so went with these ideas. Clueless.
I personally loved Classic Rock, but it was never going to outdo Gold 104/Triple M (who were I believe at the time playing rock from all eras) at their own game. To be fair, it was coming off a low base with Vega as its predecessor, but it never really fired either. Then they flicked to Smooth and it all came good.
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Having Mike Carlton on breakfast at Mix 106.5 was never going to fly. A ‘hard-hitting’ ‘journalist’ with ‘opinions’ was not a good fit with the Michael Boltons and George Michaels in the morning.
In the same way that the froth and bubble of Laurel, Gary and Mark was not a good fit for 4BC.
Speaking of 4BC, their attempt to become a country station (BC = Brisbane Country) was a total failure. Launched in 1992, it was only a matter of six weeks until they dropped the country songs to one in three.
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Now how damn hard is it for SCA to revert Triple M to 2WG and keep the hourly (or half hourly) mentions of “2WG, part of the Triple M Network”?
That, to me, was the best era of SCA. When Triple M stations had their heritage brands, whilst publicly announcing their alignment with a national brand.
It kept both corporates and locals happy.
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The community restored that sign a few years ago to keep it going as part of the Wagga Wagga history, it lights up multiple colours at night.
https://regionriverina.com.au/new-name-but-same-wavelength-after-90-years-of-2wg/3118/
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