Radio History

@TelevisionAU
As late as 1986/87, FM104 in Brisbane did used to occasionally (although not every hour) say on air “FM104, the home of 4MMM”. As I say it definitely wasn’t every hour but they did used to refer to the call-sign at times - It did sound odd at the time and I remember wondering if it was some sort of requirement. I know in the US stations did/do still have to broadcast their call-signs.
As far as Radio 10/Stereo 10 went, I don’t remember them ever referring to 4IP or 4IO at all - although maybe saying the word ‘ten’ was enough, that might have been the main reason they changed the call-sign to 4IO.

But “ten” is NOT “eye-oh” as the letters imply.

I do realise that Radiohead. However I was wondering if that was considered ‘close enough’ for a broadcasting requirement that was obviously on the way out at the time. Working in the legal profession you see it all the time. We’ve already established that some operators were ignoring it altogether, while others partially complying (FM104, SAFM). Legally there are many shades of grey, and why else would they even bother to change their callsign from IP to IO when they started identifying as Radio 10, especially when they never used 4IO on air.

1 Like

Wow ,a news story about radio, you don’t ever see that anymore. I remember when “Lite and Easy” 1008 started about June 1988 I liked the music they were playing back then,I also used to like listening to all those old 80s daggy hits they used to play when they were Radio /Stereo 10,Rick Astley, Bananarama,Mel and Kim,etc.This station had so many name/format changes in the 80s it was hard to remember them all.Sadly they are now gone forever,I still miss them

1 Like

Me too Karen_Cee. It was such a fun station. I clearly remember the day they flipped to Lite & Easy - it took me completely by surprise because I don’t recall them ever promoting the change beforehand. I often wonder if they’d managed to stay afloat with that format and then get the FM conversion licence in the early 90s how great it would have been. That FM conversion licence was won by 4BH who were never able to come up with the $30 million they bid. It was then offered to 4KQ (think they bid about $25 million) but they declined. It should have gone to the third bidder whoever that was… maybe it was 4IP.

During the 80s I was an FM104 devotee but I also loved Stereo 10 - and I only had AM in the car so always had it on while driving.

2 Likes

, I liked FM 104 back then too but my very 1st car only had an AM radio , that might have been when I first started listening to Radio 10, my next car had AM/FM radio so I started listening to FM 104,but I always liked Radio/Stereo 10 all through the 80s

1 Like

This is the day they switched. It had been promoted on air during the few days before as heard at the beginning of the clip.

TVC from the time ft Rick Astley!! - same advert as Sydney

3 Likes

The voiceover on this first clip is the now the voiceover guy on Masterchef Australia and various other voice overs for TV and radio ads,he was an announcer on this station back then

I wonder if both 1008 Brisbane and 1269 Sydney may have been owned by the same company back then?

In any case, I’m well aware that it certainly wasn’t uncommon for radio stations with the same/similar formats in different cities to share station branding and TV ads back in the day. For example, 3XY had a similar, but slightly different version of the Light & Easy 1269/1008 ad during it’s “Easy Rock” days (Clip credit: d0nkeyshines):

Gawd - that first Lite"N’Easy 1008 ad describes the station as “Brisbane’s new place to relax”. And a few years ago smooth was “Sydney’s new place to relax”.

New ideas are quite rare.

Think “magic” in 1984 and 2016 and you get the idea.

3 Likes

Yes - a lot of similarities between the concept of Light and Easy and Smooth. The main difference is that the personality DJs of Smooth were missing. Smooth are probably playing the same Cliff Richard and Rick Astley music seen in the promo.

3 Likes

Werent they all owned by the Catholic church at the time? Then 1008 was sold to the Qld TAB.

TAB owners, Tatts are building a new HQ in Newstead near the Gasometer, 4TAB will be moving with new studios.

I would be interested to know who the announcers were on Light and Easy 1008 when it launched? The Sydney newspaper has a full list of theirs, but what of Brisbane?

Not sure that XY was ever owned by the Catholic Church.

I do know 2SM and 2NX were owned by the Church.

2NX used to play 30-60 seconds of a Christian rock song ending with a message of something like “from a Church near you”.

I don’t think 2SM did that though.

1 Like

When 4IP was sold to the TAB, it was owned by a group of old employees/DJs - they had purchased the station after Light and Easy didn’t work and re-launched it as 4IP.

2 Likes

Thanks, I had forgotten that brief section.

2XL Cooma use to have the message from your local church adds back in the 80’s too. They had the same format as 2SM / 2NX / 4IP at the time from memory.

i mentioned this on the old board, but NewsRadio in Melbourne would sometimes carry a AFL game(s) from interstate while 3LO would have a game from Melbourne. They don’t do that now that ABC has the 2nd tier package these days.

I remember in the 80s when 2SM’s Rock of the 80s format was really annoying Triple M. In 1984 2SM was rating above 10% (and Triple M was around 14%). I am sure Triple M was dreaming about the day that 2SM dropped its hit format.

In the 80s 2SM was forced to broadcast church services for several hours every Easter Sunday. Many thousands of radios were switched from AM 1269 to FM 104.9 during one day.

[quote=“nickatnights, post:79, topic:236, full:true”]
I remember in the 80s when 2SM’s Rock of the 80s format was really annoying Triple M. In 1984 2SM was rating above 10% (and Triple M was around 14%). I am sure Triple M was dreaming about the day that 2SM dropped its hit format. [/quote]

2SM averaged a 9.6 in 1984 (compared to a 7.4 for 1983), Triple M averaged an 11.2 in 1984 (which included their first ever #1 in Sep-Nov.)