Radio History

Back in the late 70s the first hour of Ian Macrae (5am to 6am) on 2SM was automated in a fashion. The problem is that something often went wrong. I guess it was the technology of the day.

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If my memory serves me correctly they tried to keep the new format a bit of a secret but the last few songs they played before the switch-over were all country music. The last being Misty by Ray Stevens I believe.

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Were the Canberra FMs launched in 1988 also Section 39s? They were supplementary to 2CA and 2CC

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Correct May 19 1990 for 2NOW 98.3 followed by 3SUN @ Shep (Was it an S39 or New Licence ???) & the 3rd was Power FM Nowra from memory

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I think youā€™re right, the Canberra supplementary licenses were the first to be issued.

They certainly pre-date the others mentioned here.

Maybe they were a test run before the actual supplementary scheme was formally introduced?

There was this from the ABA in December 1995, in which Section 39 had been amended to allow commercial licensees in (then) solus markets, who had yet to set up a supplementary FM licence at that point, to apply for one in each market. This resulted in a boom of new S39 licences being issued from 1996 onwards.

Read more: ABA NR85/1995: Over 50 New Regional Commercial Radio Licences

Interestingly, Nambour (Sunshine Coast) was considered a solus market, as the overlap with Brisbane wouldā€™ve still been below 30% back then.

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Does anyone know when Power FM Murray Bridge came on air? I am guessing late 90ā€™s? I remember the test transmission on 98.7 which I think was a simulcast of 5MU with messages about the test transmission. When did Mount Barker and Victor Harbor translators come on air? I think these may have happened at a later date.

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New licence

According to this document, it came on air on 12th May 2000.

Read the submissions to ABA for the translators due to the Band II TV use preventing a higher powered main site.

Janet and family also made similar submissions to the Commonwealth inquiry into regional radio.

With Shane the chief engineer at Murray Bridge now, perhaps he has implemented RDS with alternative frequency? It was not implemented in Jan 2016.

Yes, they came at a later date.

I recall reading a submission from the station asking for approvals to run translators after 98.7 went to air, as they were experiencing inadequate coverage in those regions and for it be considered urgently as it was impacting on advertising.

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The translators did them a favour in one way as the Mt Barker site provides in car coverage into Adelaide that wouldnā€™t be possible at the AM site.

History was kind to them there.

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Since then New Players like Nova 96.9 and Smooth 95.3 are Dominating the Sydney Radio Market.

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Melbourne Radio from the Mid-1980ā€™s:

3AW, 3LO, 3UZ, 3DB all strong Contenders.
3AK still playing Beautiful Music.
3KZ and to a lesser Extent, 3MP Playing Hits and Memories.
3XY plus EON FM and FOX FM playing Rock and Top 40.

Melbourne Radio Today:

3UZ (Now RSN: Racing and Sport) 3AK (Now 1116 SEN), 3XY (Now Macquarie Sports Radio) and 3MP (Now SEN+) all abandoned Music in favour of Sport.
3KZ and 3DB converted to FM as Gold 104.3 and KIIS 101.1 Respectively.
EON FM became 105.1 Triple M.
Smooth 91.5 Takes over as Melbourneā€™s Easy Listening Station while Fox and Nova 100 play Top 40.
And No Classic Hits Stations on Either Band.

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Triple M and Gold do cover some of this genre, but not as dedicated stations though.

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If only Promo Radio Pty Ltd who has the 1629am Frequency in Melbourne could Listen.

So in my time back at home over Christmas I discovered a stack of old cassette tapes my parents and I had recorded years ago. While a lot of them were filled with crap, there were some gems that I allowed to run uninterrupted, meaning some old radio IDs were recorded. Iā€™ve now had a chance to record and upload a few of them:

101.1 TT-FM ā€˜Time Warp Weekendā€™, most likely from the late 90s (exact date unsure)

FM 95.5 K-Rock ā€˜Awesome 80s Music Marathonā€™, again late 90s I believe but canā€™t confirm the date

The K-Rock one is certainly a bit older, as they still called themselves ā€˜FM 95 point 5ā€™, they dropped the point in the early 2000s. But how awesome is it to have an announcer on a Saturday night, complete with a full gig guide for the pubs and clubs, as well as six hours ad-free music! Radio isnā€™t quite the same any more

Thereā€™s a few more I still have to upload, sadly there could be so much more if a younger me had appreciated the value in letting the tape run, rather than cutting all the IDs off

Anyway, hope thereā€™s some enjoyment for some of you in these clips

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Some great finds here!

To be taken with a grain of salt, but Wikipedia suggests that Richard Stubbs joined the station in 2000, and hosted the breakfast shift in 2003 (after the Mix rebrand I believe) before departing.

Edit: Discussed in this article from 2008

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They do mention ā€œTitanic starā€ in the movie promo. Titanic came out in 1998.

Great post Egg Man.

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Iā€™m pretty lucky in that my relationship with radio as a listener started at a time when there was some great radio around and some great things happeningā€¦ (the introduction of FM and (cough) AM stereo)ā€¦ I was 13 in 1983 and that was probably the first time I started listening to radio on my own (Iā€™d been listening to my own records prior to that but mostly it was just zoning into the same music that Dad had in his record collection and the same stations my parents listened to - 3YA, 3ZB and 3ZC.)

I felt quite a rebel when Iā€™d change the radio in the car or kitchen to 3ZM or Radio Avon. Iā€™d get a clip round the ear and have to change it back swiftlyā€¦

There was a dodgy old valve radio in the basement I started listening to that at night.

In addition to ZM I soon found (to my great delight) that once the sun went down my radio took on a life of itā€™s ownā€¦ and amidst the crackle would boom stations like Hauraki, 1ZM, 77ZKā€¦

And then to cap it allā€¦ the excitement then of hearing the Rock of the 80s - 2SM. Mark Gillard. Then Julie Brodsky.

Wow. I was gob-smacked, The music was so new and fresh, the announcers slick, and the excitement of hearing Australian ads!.. 1341 2NX soon also became a faveā€¦ Magic 11 2UWā€¦ Stereo 10ā€¦ also 1422 3XY - Hot Hit! Shirl and Irvineā€¦

I moved to Brisbane in 1988ā€¦ which was the best of times and the worst of timesā€¦

There was good music around but it was also the year Australia became a CHR-free zone. FM104 was a great stationā€¦ but their no repeat workday used to annoy me.

Fine with no repeats if it was Toto and Rosanna - good song - quite happy to only hear that onceā€¦ but other songs that were big at the timeā€¦ such as the Venetians ā€˜So much for loveā€™ you knew you were going to have to wait ages till you heard it againā€¦ Martha Davis - Donā€™t tell me the time (Donā€™t tell me the time Iā€™m going to have to wait till I hear this great track again today?) Youā€™d regret if you heard it earlier in the day - just meant you had to wait much longer to hear it! FM104 had no problem playing ā€˜Simply Irresistableā€™ at 8.45, then 4.45 then again at 5.45ā€¦ and so on through the nightā€¦

And as for 4BKā€¦ only one song in three was a new trackā€¦ so good old Fleetwood Mac and Doobie Brothers dominatedā€¦ From the joys of CHR radio in 1984, Iā€™d come to a wastelandā€¦

Where 1988 will always be remembered for hearing more from the Rumours album than any single ā€˜singleā€™ from the latter half of that year.

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