Last night I listened to the Saturday night offerings on Sydney’s hit stations - KIIS, Nova and 2DayFM.
I was surprised that all three stations were playing ads. I can remember when on a Saturday night when the hit stations would go commercial free. I suppose it was to encourage people to put the radio on at a party or whilst they were driving in a car. It’s Saturday night when friends get together. I always thought non-stop music was a good little promotional tool.
In the 80s 2SM had 80 Hits in a Row from 7pm
In the 90s 2DayFM had Party Hard from 8pm (which was non-stop hit music)
In the 00s I remember visiting Los Angeles and one of the stations promoted non-stop hits from sunset to sunrise.
All three stations also had DJs that were talking so fast that if I was in the drug squad I would organise to run a sniffer dog through each of the studios.
Triple M Sydney used to play 105 songs in a row commercial free on Saturday nights. Now they air AFL games between two out of town teams that no one cares about. There couldn’t be a more stark contrast in the effort they made to engage listeners.
As for other stations, NEW FM Newcastle was ad free for 4 hours from 8pm to 12am when they began broadcasting. I don’t think that lasted long, as within a few months, they pinched “Take 40” off 2NX and began airing that from 5pm Saturdays.
FM104 Brisbane had the “Saturday Night Supermix” in 1988 which I think was ad free as well.
If it’s a decent ‘party mix’ you seek, 2XL/2GN fits the bill for the 80s/early 90s; 2CA for the 60s and 70s, and 2WEB Bourke for jukebox oldies and other rarities. The latter is commercial free; I’m not entirely sure about the Capital stations, though.
In the case of 2XL/2GN, you can throw 3GG into the mix, which carries the same music log.
On the topic of Saturday night music radio, it’s interesting that Sydney & Melbourne (especially since the demise of 3MP & Magic in late 2016/early 2017) doesn’t have a 60s/70s-based party music program on commercial radio, yet smaller cities such as Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide & Canberra do. In Sydney, 2CH has Reminiscing with Bob Rogers, which plays music from before the 1950s (no, I’m not kidding!), but yet not one commercial radio station plays much music from between the 50s & 80s on a Saturday night (WS’s Pure Party Gold is more 80s/90s-based these days). In Melbourne, at least Gold 104.3’s Saturday night party program plays a bit more 70s with the occasional 60s thrown in, likewise with Classic Rock Radio.
“106.5 is our frequency, 10.65 is our IQ!”- KIIS
"Shooting The Sh*t"- 2UE
"Grumpy Old Men"- 2GB
"WS FM: We’re Safe"
“Sounds… Pretty Similar, Actually”- Nova
"The Other Top 40 Station"- 2DAY
"The Home of Boobs, Bogans and Boofheads"- Triple M
"The Station That Gets You Laid"- Smooth FM
"The Wireless In God’s Waiting Room"- 2CH
"Unlike The Dinosaurs, We Still Exist"- 2SM
"We Love Music (If It’s Aussie Hip Hop)"- Triple J
I’ve listened to WSFM over the weekend and they had non-stop music in 40 minute blocks separated only by one or two ads and station promo/iHeartRadio promo.
By the way as much as WSFM bangs on about more music variety I don’t really think much has changed. I did hear a couple of repeated songs.
RN - The program guide looks good on paper.
ABC Radio Sydney - The home of former Triple J presenters and listeners.
2GB - Whatever you do, don’t piss Hadley off.
Talking Lifestyle - Just one huge ad.
Sky Sports Radio - Contributing to society’s gambling problems since 1925.
2CH - Keeping your grandparent’s company.
2SM - We’re still around incase you didn’t know.
Smooth FM - The station your wife listens to when you’re not around.
Nova 96.9 - Just like 2Day FM, only better.
WSFM - Now playing stuff we wouldn’t go near twenty years ago.
2Day FM - We used to have Kyle and Jackie O. Remember?
Triple M - The station for “Blokes”. Not men, "Blokes"
Triple J - Doing things that commercial radio would never get away with since 1975.
KIIS 1065 - Listen to us and decrease your IQ by 100%
A guy I work with was in trouble for listening to his Bluetooth speaker today.We were told everybody has to be listening to the same radio station -not your own music,or no radios allowed at all.Some people had been slacking off lately and listening to different stations.Still the same deal,change stations every week
So true. Sometimes the playlist is better than Nova and 2Day but the announcers…ugh!
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