I’m disappointed with Star 104.5 (almost) dropping '80s music. The older hits helped to balance out the homogenous sound of the newer songs, so now it just sounds a bit ‘samey’. And I’m saying this as an under-30 BTW.
Not sure why radio programmers think that if you didn’t grow up in a particular era, you don’t like its music.
Why can’t we get cool songs like:
Steely Dan - Hey Nineteen
Dire Straits - Tunnel of Love
Doobie Brothers - Black Water
played on these types of ‘gold’ stations in Australia?
Because our radio programmers fail to innovate?
With the above comments in mind, I thought I’d look at how Star 104.5 compares to the ARN Regional’s Hot AC stream (in this case, Wave FM). I’ll also throw in Triple M Regional (via 107.7 Central Coast) for good measure.
Star 104.5 - Central Coast, NSW
“More Music Variety”
Monday 15th January 2024 - 9-11am AEDT
9am
“Bad Romance” Lady Gaga
“Too Much” The Kid Laroi / Jung Kook / Central Cee
“Something Like This” Coldplay / The Chainsmokers
“Genie In A Bottle” Christina Aguilera
“Used To Be Young” Miley Cyrus
“It Wasn’t Me” Shaggy
“Dance The Night” Dua Lipa
“American Town” Ed Sheeran
“Summer Rain” Belinda Carlisle
“Shake It Off (Taylor’s Version)” Taylor Swift
“I’m Good (Blue)” David Guetta / Bebe Rexha
“Heat Waves” Glass Animals
10am
“Lil Boo Thang” Paul Russell
“Unholy” Sam Smith / Kim Petras
“All The Small Things” Blink 182
“Big Energy” Latto
“Locked Out Of Heaven” Bruno Mars
“That Don’t Impress Me Much” Shania Twain
“Got Me Started” Troye Sivan
“Easy On Me” Adele
“It’s Gonna Be Me” *NSYNC
“Popular” The Weeknd / Playboi Carti / Madonna
“Ocean Drive” Duke Dumont
“Back For Good” Take That
“Ghost” Ricki-Lee
“Give Me Everything” Pitbull / Ne-Yo / Afrojack / Nayer
Not a single 80s track on that lot, unless you count “Summer Rain” as one, which was first released on her album Runaway Horses in October 1989, but was not released as a single until 1990.
Wave FM 96.5 - Wollongong, NSW
“The Illawarra’s Best Music”
Monday 15th January 2024 - 9-11am AEDT
9am
“Houdini” Dua Lipa
“What’s Up?” 4 Non Blondes
“Promises” Calvin Harris / Sam Smith
“I Choose Good” Guy Sebastian
“Danger Zone” Kenny Loggins
“Karma” Taylor Swift
“My Immortal” Evanescence
“Dreaming” Pink / Marshmello / Sting
“Ride Wit Me (No Rap)” Nelly
“The Greatest Show” Panic! At The Disco
“Thinkin’ Bout Me” Morgan Wallen
“Clarity” Zedd / Foxes
“Popular” The Weeknd / Playboi Carti / Madonna
“King Of Wishful Thinking” Go West
“Boulevard Of Broken Dreams” Green Day
“2002” Anne-Marie
10am
“Good Luck” Basement Jaxx
“Single Soon” Selena Gomez
“Free Fallin’” Tom Petty
“Eyes Closed” Ed Sheeran
“I Wanna Know” NOTD / Bea Miller
“Say My Name” Destiny’s Child
“Rock It” Vance Joy
“Feel So Close” Calvin Harris
“Used To Be Young” Miley Cyrus
“Everlasting Love” U2
“Adore You” Harry Styles
“Water (Remix)” Tyla / Marshmello
“Players” Coi Leray
“Photograph” Nickelback
A few years ago, I would’ve preferred Star over Wave. But now, I think Wave (& ARN Regional’s Hot AC stream) is slightly more preferable than Star these days. If ARN takes over SCA, I think 101.3 on the Central Coast would take the same log, which would allow Star to skew even younger than it currently is.
Still on the Central Coast…
107.7 Triple M - Central Coast, NSW
“Good Times & Greatest Hits”
Monday 15th January 2024 - 9-11am AEDT
9am
“New Sensation” INXS
“All She Wants To Do Is Dance” Don Henley
“Freedom '90” George Michael
“Hurts So Good” John Cougar Mellencamp
“I Can See Clearly Now” Jimmy Cliff
“Midnight Blue” Lou Gramm
“Sunglasses At Night” Corey Hart
“Are You Gonna Be My Girl” Jet
“You Can Leave Your Hat On” Joe Cocker
“Unbelievable” EMF
“Bring Me Some Water” Melissa Etheridge
“Barbados” Models
10am
“American Life In The Summertime” Francis Dunnery
“Blame It On The Boogie” The Jacksons
“Land Of Confusion” Genesis
“Budapest” George Ezra
“Can’t Help Myself” The Flowers/Icehouse
“The Sign” Ace Of Base
“Tucker’s Daughter” Ian Moss
“Wake Me Up” Avicii / Aloe Blacc
“Even Better Than The Real Thing” U2
“Lean On Me” Club Nouveau
I have to say, I personally find the above Triple M playlist to be quite listenable, and would be my top pick of all the local Central Coast commercial stations, as well as in most other regional markets, at least music-wise. 
Summer 600 on MMM this week
In that case, here’s the Triple M Regional log from last Thursday for a bit more fairer comparison.
107.7 Triple M - Central Coast, NSW
“Good Times & Greatest Hits”
Thursday 11th January 2024 - 10-11am AEDT
“Hip To Be Square” Huey Lewis & The News
“Ironic” Alanis Morissette
“Summer Of '69” Bryan Adams
“Ocean Drive” Duke Dumont
“Runaway Train” Soul Asylum
“Pressure Down” John Farnham
“Bohemian Rhapsody” Queen
“Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave)” Roxette
“That’s When I Think Of You” 1927
“Sex On Fire” Kings Of Leon
“Careless Whisper” George Michael
Bit of a theme going on here, ay? 
I was listening to Triple M CQ yesterday arvo and found the playlist quite boring. (The same same)
That above workday playlist looks a lot better then they have on Weekends.
in the wave fm log how the hell do u go from kenny loggins to taylor swift
It’s playlists like these that remind me why I listen to Breeze, Rebel and BBC R2
BBC Radio 2 is a fantastic station and the UK is lucky to have it. One could only dream of hearing that much variety and so many rare tracks on Australian radio.
I don’t want to bragg much, but maybe overnight music block on 91fm often is my to-go, I mean, they may play all of the stuff Breeze/Rebel would play, plus many oddities like CCM, The Alarm, Final Fantasy themes, Sarah Jarosz, etc. What surprised me is that often they rotated these songs like once every one to two weeks, and they don’t care even if the service is actually fully ad-supported on the same way as AU/NZ commercial stations.
Another thing that strike me is in some fillers on 91, they would even play The Magnetic Fields, which is an obvious “Did they really just play that” because it’s an experimental music band, and we seriously don’t have that style in Vietnam - many Vietnamese would obviously know the “Đại Lâm Linh” disaster in 2010. For a station that is fully ad-supported, this would defy any wisdom that we ever thought before.
Today’s Conga Line:
1700-1800
Pursuit Of Happiness- I’m An Adult Now (KROQ/LIKELY 2JJJ CLASSIC)
Jebediah- Teflon (9INETY6IX.1/JJJ CLASSIC)
Semisonic- Singing In My Sleep
Boston- Peace Of Mind (ROCK IN STEREO, Boston 1976)
Boston- Smokin’ (ROCK IN STEREO)
Janet Jackson- What Have You Done For Me Lately (WOLFIE)
Taylor Dayne- Tell It To My Heart
Paul Kelly/Mark Seymour- Hey Boys
Worlds Famous Supreme Team Show- Hey DJ
Lighter Shade Of Brown- Hey DJ
Diane Renay- Navy Blue (SMOKIN’ OLDIE)
1800-1900
MISSING SIX: Random singles from 2004
Mercury 4- Five Years From Now (#16)
Boogie Pimps- Somebody To Love (#10)
The Living End- Tabloid Magazine (#56)
Killing Heidi- I Am (#16)
Dashboard Confessional- Vindicated (#46) (NOVA 969 CLASSIC)
Korn- Word Up (#28) (YEARLY SERVING OF KORN)
Moby- We Are All Made Of Stars (MATT)
Stars On 45- Stars On 45
The Mouseketeers- Disco Mouse (WRONG SONG)
Ratcat- That Aint Bad
Ratcat- Getting Away (From This World)
Lift Off- Lift Off Theme (KIDS MUSIC)
Good log.
In fact, that ain’t bad… at all.
Some great songs there
Standard Billy Bob fare. You’ll always hear a wrong song or two; couldn’t pass up that Mickey Mouse one.
Been 25 years since I last heard it, but I can still recite the melody for the Liftoff tune almost note perfect (even if the lyrics escape me now). Who on earth back then thought having a show based around a freaky faceless doll was a great idea for kids? Probably not one of the shows from my childhood I’ll be playing for my boy at a similar age 
And no, I didn’t not know what EC stood for…
Agreed, it’s a great list with the usual creative mix of genres and eras 
Neither did I until I listened to this retrospective:
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/weird-crap-in/episode-287-lift-off-1992-1995-0sPe2B34pAn/
It’s actually a very interesting listen; ‘Lift Off’ was actually created by a consortium of early childhood education boffins. Perhaps that’s one for the TV History thread.
Sometimes the playlists just work out. I originally had ‘Five Green Bottles’ by Play School in that slot, but ‘Lift Off’ after ‘Getting Away (From This World)’ was too good to pass up.
