correct. The downfall of the old girl was 10pm the night Billy bought the place - gone was my close mate Dave Freeman who did overnights and in his place was The Heat from 2ZZZ.
The old girl has never sounded the same since.
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They even used to say the phone number as âthirteen one hundred nineâ instead of âthirteen ten oh nineâ as they do now.
From what I remember, the 2WS-FM/WSFM phone number was STILL 9611 1000 up until only a few years ago when they changed it!
Up until the launch of KIIS, MixFM Sydney and Melbourne both had three numbers. One local, one for Ant & Becks/Sammy then Rosso and another for Love Song Dedications.
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I remember the following numbers in Melbourne.
Austereo (late 90s, early 2000s before the national 13 numbers came in)
Fox FM - 1300 36 1019
Triple M - 1300 36 1051
Today network national (mainly Hot 30, sometimes used for other shows) - 1800 15 1100
ARN (in use from the 90s until KIIS launched, but still work - the 13 numbers just forward to these)
Mix - 9414 1011
Gold - 9414 1043
3AW - 9696 1278
Magic - 969 00 693
(These then switched when the stations switched frequencies)
Nova have always used 13 24 10
Vega in Melbourne and Sydney used 13 25 10
How did they all be in 3223? All located in the CBD at the time?
As mentioned in another thread, 3AW used to be 6961278, then 96961278 before adopting Magic 693âs studio telephone number 96900693 when it changed to 693 kHz. Back in the Latrobe Street days the open line number was 329 7592. Not a catchy number at all.
3XY, when it was located at 411 King Street, used to have the number 329 1411 even though its frequency was 1422. Although I do vaguely recall that 3XY or possibly EON at one point had managed to pick up one of the 11xxx numbers which used to be for recorded information services for their studio number.
3DB, when it was located in the basement of the Herald building, was 63 8151.
There was also the incident in the early 2000s when 3AK re-launched as Talk 1116 and had signed up Jeff Kennett for its drive-time show. The station put in full-page newspaper advertisements promoting the show and its talkback number⌠except that it was wrong and some poor lady in Richmond was getting all sorts of callers coming in. Derryn Hinch, then the morning presenter on 1116 and apparently even then not a huge fan of its management, highlighted the gaffe by calling the lady live on air and later sent her a bunch of flowers Radio Daze
4Bh studio number was 1300000882
Possibly sad, but here are some that hopefully are right (more of a random hit than a good memory, especially as I could never get through for the âwe need a cure tourâ promotionâŚI think it was Fox):
EON/3MMM
EON (43 Bank St) - 699 0923
3MMM (43 Bank St) - (9)699 0105
3MMM (Bourke St) - 11 630
3XY - 11 515
FOX - 9536 1019 / 11 505
Community Switch - 9536 1000
So it was both of them that did the 11 numbers. I couldnât remember if it was one or the other.
To continue the discussion about the lack of FM frequencies in SEQ and 95.7 for News Radio on the Gold Coast etc.
Does anyone know the rational for ABC simulcasting local radio on AM and FM in so many markets.
For example (and there are lots!!) why have an FM station on 94.5 in the Richmond Tweed area when there is 2NR running 50kW. Alternatively, why keep the AM stations in these type of markets going? What possible use could there be to have 400w 2ML on 720 at Murwillumbah - already a relay of 2NR and available on 94.5 FM? Same thing for the 200w 2GM at Gympie when there is a 20kW FM station on 95.3?
The reception maps seem to explain it - to some extent. The ABC seem to really underestimate just how good their transmitters are, which means stations that can easily cover areas are shown as fringe reception and extra transmitters put in or kept on.
I think itâs to provide better reception to major centres that are not adequately covered by legacy AM transmitters. In the case of 2NR, 94.5 is to provide better coverage to Lismore and Ballina, which are both a fair distance from 738 which transmits from near Grafton.
However, I do agree that of the lower powered AM legacy transmitters seem unnecessary nowadays. Not just 4GM 1566 and 2ML 720, but also 2UH 1044 and 2TR 756 which both only have limited coverage at just 2kw.
4GM 1566 is ABC Wide Bay. 95.3 FM is ABC Sunshine Coast. 95.3 caters more for the northen Sunshine Coast rather then Gympie.
ABC as the national broadcaster also tends to build in a lot of redundancy for disaster recovery or emergency situations which dates back to war times so that if one transmitter is knocked out there are others that can reach a similar area.
And there can be limits to FM reach particularly in some regional areas which is why some AM sites are kept on. In Gippsland for instance, the heritage 828 AM signal is maintained even though there is now an FM signal there but there were reported to be gaps in its coverage.
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Finalists announced for 2016 Radio Awards
The finalists in the 28th annual Australian Commercial Radio Awards (ACRAs) were announced today with the hotly contested Best On Air Team FM (Metro) finalists including five-time winners Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson, (The Kyle and Jackie O Show, KIIS 1065, Sydney) up against three-time winners Hamish Blake and Andy Lee (The Hamish & Andy Show, SCA Hit Network).
Also competing for the title are Jonesy and Amanda (Brendan Jones and Amanda Keller, WSFM, Sydney) (winners in 2012 and 2014); Kate, Tim & Marty (Kate Ritchie, Tim Blackwell & Marty Sheargold, Nova Network, Sydney); Fifi & Dave (Fifi Box & Dave Thornton, Fox FM, Melbourne); and Chrissie, Sam & Browny (Chrissie Swan, Sam Pang & Jonathan Brown, Nova 100, Melbourne).
Complete list of finalists at website.
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Radio does seem like it is dieing in Hong Kong. Most retailers dont stock radios. Back when I came here in the early 00, there were so many varieties of radios. Not saying you cannot find a radio but we have more variety in Australia but I do remember browsing all the different types of radios. In the history museum radio was a big part of HK. My uncle, my grandma brought back wonderful radios from HK. This would of been in the late 70s and 80s
Now I am in causeaway bay and the FM reception is terrible. I admit lots of high rises. Dab reception is gettable though, buts it is not so easy to buy a dab radio. I could not find a pocket dab radio.
I got myself a Sony srf-m97 AM/FM radio as a souvenir. Might be the last time can buy this type of radio in HK. Now I am getting all sentimental.
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4TAB still have their 3223 number listed in phone books but 3360 1008 on their website.
The Sunny Coast numbers still work for those calling outside the area code. There are 8 digit local numbers for SCAâs Gold Coast stations too, published when they moved to Broadbeach.
Yes, funny you mention the Sunshine Coast. Mix actually told me to ring 54511927 one day when I was in Redcliffe because 132710 wouldnât work 
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Well, kinda defeats the purpose of having the 13 number then. I guess in your case it didnât work because Redcliffe is outside the licence area, would that be right?
Given that phone calls are so cheap nowadays, with many people having unlimited/untimed ânationalâ calls on their landlines and mobiles, I think they should revert back to a local phone number for local shifts.
A good sign for me yesterday was that 2GO were telling listeners to ring 4324 4444 to identify the music âtheme trainâ, which was also being played on KOFM (with their own DJs). I bet all network stations get told that they have to wait 5 or 6 songs before they can reveal the answer, even if a local listener gets it right early, so someone canât get the answer off another station on the network.
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That is one of the benefits of regional commercial radio. Due to the fewer number of stations available compared to the metropolitan markets, the chances of sticking to just 1 or 2 stations is far greater in regional markets. For example, when in the Shoalhaven & Southern Highlands regions, I tend to stick to 2ST whilst there, which plays mainly classic hits, many of which is not played on WS or Smooth. Sister station 94.9 Power FM, plays mainly todayâs music (Top 40), but does also play plenty of 90s/00s. Across the 2 stations, both 2ST & Power has got everyone covered in their market.
One of the negatives about regional commercial radio, apart from not having any real competition in many markets (that can arguably be a good thing in some cases, particularly in non-BOG markets), is that the adult-targeted music stations tend to take NRL/AFL on weekend afternoons during the footy season, as well as networked talkback from 2GB/3AW on various times, particularly on weeknights. Therefore, you would be stuck with just having a Top 40 station as the only commercial station in a regional market to be playing music during those times.
IMO, some of the best regional commerical music stations are mainly on the AM band, particularly the âForever Classicâ group of stations, which consists of 2CA, 2GN, 2XL, 3GG & 6iX (yes, I know that one is in a metro market). They are probably among one of the best classic hits stations in all of Australia, plus they all stream online too (most of which have been switched back on just last week) if you want to check them out. 