It was pretty strong so unlikely to be a car FM transmitter.
It was definitely EDM. Sounded like a DJ mashup/mix of some kind. I kept listening because I was a bit in awe of it having a decent beat but every 10 seconds or so it had ear bleeding sounds like a tornado warning siren.
I can’t be 100% certain of the location but it was north of Bulahdelah and south of Raleigh. I was listening to the cricket on ABC while going past Taree so would have been after that. Having a quick look on Google Maps it might have been around Macksville.
Edit: Actually, it would have not been far north of Taree as I was finding another station while the ABC was off doing Sydney to Hobart coverage.
Looking at forums about the good, bad, ugly of radio in UK, Australia, US or the Western world in general, let me have some say about my favorite Vietnamese radio station at the height of the pandemic:
In Vietnam, the worst period of the pandemic is during Q3 2021. At that time, streets and outside in Vietnam reached the record absence - I mean - no one outside, on the road, somethinig fully contrast to what have made its mark in bigger metropolitan of Vietnam, full of cars, motorbikes and traffic jams. As 91fm is a (licensed to be) a traffic network, it has to use the drivetime period to air continuous traffic information, but lockdown has resulted it actually useless. The presenters then had to increase the news proportion to fill the period where there are no new traffic information.
At the evening program, starting from 8PM, the program where listeners could sent letters and talking to someone you love and listening to the favorite music (mostly classic hits/soft hits): normally, the program is produced live for three nights a week, then replayed for the other three nights. Two of them is produced in Hanoi, and one of them is Saigon. But for about two weeks during the pandemic, all three nights are produced in Saigon using the same presenter as an emergency pressure, while the schedule is unaffected. For another week they have to put an entirely different presenter on the Hanoi studio - it’s worth noting that he’s never been presenting that program before. But still, the music is up to the presenters and callers, not systems or consultants.
Another rare example of strange situation at 91fm (that I think you’ll rarely seen in Australia) is because some staff at VOV’s Hanoi studio had to attend an event in Saigon, that program was presented for one night from Saigon studio, but with presenters from the Hanoi station instead.
I’ve seen an “EON3XY” personalised plate around Melbourne, a tribute to two radio stations that have completely different names and formats now than back in their 80s heyday!
I always love to see what stations post as a New Year arrives each year.
It’s a real shame that the once booming 2DayFM won’t even post a “Happy New Year” image or video. Instead, just a general Network post late yesterday, with their first Insta story of 2023 a client/promo post.
Just because they no longer have rights to broadcast the official NYE soundtrack, surely they can still acknowledge NYE.
Same goes for Nova and Triple M… and many other stations apart from KIIS106.5.
It’s the biggest night of the year. Surely radio still gets it.
In Australia apart from KIIS only Triple J celebrate it. I guess the Nova audience has got so old that it is just now another day.
In the UK BBC R1 start their NYE playlist from 9AM on NYE which makes it a good alternative to Triple J and KIIS, and to 11AM New Years Day, 12am GMT, if you want to keep the party going.
I find the best time to listen to BBC R 2 is anytime from about 6am to 2pm as that’s about 10 pm to 4 am in the UK ,there’s more music then , I was listening on my phone (through Apple Car Play)while driving home from the Gold Coast this morning.As I have unlimited data on my phone plan data usage isn’t an issue for me
Here in Vietnam we have a somewhat moderate but unorganized night-time service, because normal shops in Vietnam would open in weekend too, but always close by about 10 or 11PM (that would be somewhat conservative when compare to, Thai, for example, where stores may open up until midnight at least, and may open as late as 2AM). There are individual cafe and stores that may open much later or 24-hour, but are individual up to each stores and not uniform across a particular the street, but it is quite common in the inner metropolitan part. However, not all stores can open overnight because of strictier rules regarding overnight operation, and consequently, overseas travelers feel unattractive because of differing timezone require more night-time going out.
In the radio situation, because most average Vietnamese listeners, especially in rural part, tend to sleep early (an average Vietnamese would go sleep before 11PM, in more rural places this would be around 9 - 10PM, and in poorer towns people may sleep as early as 7PM), this resulted in overnight radio, and, in some poorer provincial service, evening radio, being very unattractive. In the Northern half of the country, the one with the most operating hours even closes between 11PM and 5AM next day, while this is somewhat longer in the South, where there are few services that sign on at 4AM and close at midnight or somewhat later, while 99.9 VOH is 24/7. However, it should be noted that in those stations, evening programs are mostly pre-made programs or repeats of daytime programming rather than specialist, live programs. The only station that have live programming during evenings is 91fm, but live programming would end at midnight at most, before switching to a mix of repeats and automated music.
I have to say that actually in Vietnam, I actually dream of having an overnight live radio program. This is because while Vietnamese tends to sleep early, there is actually some need from lonely insomniacs. They could be drivers that have to stay up late to bring people and stuff from one place to other in the dark, or students and workers who have to run against clock to finishing work (especially in bigger metropolitan, which is the reason why 24-hour cafes can spring up). And sometimes rural people, who, because of their children moving into cities, making them more lonely, and insomnia by the night, and all these types of people need a place to talk… to someone, as long as they feel less lonely and the night shorter.
FM Cảm Xúc, a great but sadly short-lived project, knew that, and installed a strange Northerner (his real identity was never known) with some jazz-y music for an overnight program, the first and only in Vietnamese radio history. The Night Restaurant (Quán Khuya), named after the term used for Vietnamese traditional, family-run restaurant, is a place like no other, because for two-and-half hours (starting from midnight), he would be like a “restaurant manager/owner”, where his job is to meeting and talk with any guests that coming by, to make them less lonely and the night short. Although due to scarse resources and audience, it was only produced twice-weekly, as opposed to weekday, but it still made its mark as being the first ever (and only) Vietnamese radio programs to air live in after-midnight timeslot, the timeslot that usually stations would close for a night, and therefore, gaining an insomniac audience that wanting something together in the dark.
I hope that someone at 91fm or 365 would ever produce this type of program again, because this is what I love at most, honest talking with music by presenters or callers themselves, and make in at least weekday, that would be very happy.
We would also have a more diverse radio market as well under that scenario, with the three major networks (SCA, ARN & Nova) having a presence across regional Australia instead of just two.
In Townsville for example, Sea FM (Triple M) & Mix FM (Hit) would’ve been owned by SCA instead, with 4TO & Hot FM owned by DMG/Nova, as happened pre-MRR. I would imagine that Nova would maintain the 4TO brand.
Here’s how it would’ve panned out (using pre-SCA & pre-Grant branding):
MSCM/SCA
Sea FM Cairns
Sea FM & Mix FM Townsville
Sea FM Mackay
Sea FM & 4RO Rockhampton
Sea FM Bundaberg
Sea FM & Mix FM Maryborough
CFM & 4GR Toowoomba
CFM Kingaroy (4SB would be sold due to media voices rule, as happened in real life)
Sea FM & Gold FM Gold Coast
Sea FM & 2GO Central Coast
The River Albury
Sun FM & 3SR Shepparton
Sea FM Warragul (3GG would be sold due to media voices rule, as happened in real life)
Sea FM & Heart Hobart
DMG/Nova Entertainment
4CA FM & Hot FM Cairns
4TO FM & Hot FM Townsville
4GC & Hot FM Charters Towers
4LM & Hot FM Mt Isa
4MK FM & Hot FM Mackay
4CC & Hot FM Rockhampton/Gladstone
4ZR & Hot FM Roma
2CS & Star FM Coffs Harbour
2MC & Star FM Port Macquarie
2GZ & Star FM Orange
Star FM Dubbo
2LF & Star FM Young
2WG & Star FM Wagga Wagga
2RG & Star FM Griffith
2AY & Star FM Albury
3BO & Star FM Bendigo
5SE & Star FM Mt Gambier
RadioWest & Hot FM Bunbury, Albany, Esperance, Kalgoorlie etc.
In QLD, ARN (nee Grant) would probably only have the AM stations in Cairns & Mackay, whilst they also have 4BU/Hitz Bundaberg, Zinc/Hot Sunshine Coast, River 94.9 Ipswich, and Hot Tomato Gold Coast (upon acquiring it in 2018).
Lol