Since 3XY closed down in 1991 Melbourne did not have any top 40 (CHR) stations: on FM KZ-FM morphed into Gold 104 playing hits of the 50s, 60s & 70s, while MMM and FOX in response to this were both predominately “classic rock”. MMM and FOX played some new songs that fit the format such as Badloves and Lenny Kravitz. FOX also had a top 40 programme from 7pm-10pm weeknights, Take 40 Australia on Saturday nights and American Top 40 buried at midnight Monday mornings. In response to no top 40 radio an aspirant community radio station Hitz FM started playing on its test transmissions top 40 and dance music the commercial stations wouldn’t play. It was an instant success. Things started to change when FOX went top 40 in March, 1995 with the addition of the very successful Martin Molloy drive time show.
Yes, Easter Monday 4th April 1988 to be precise.
From the SMH March 27 1988.
And a few weeks later after the format change (this from April 28 1988)
I used to even resort to listening to Superrock KYOI from Saipan 
I used to pick that up too! It might have been a year or so earlier though as I seem to recall tuning in to KYOI when I was in Maryborough QLD.
I was watching this Landcom ad from 1986 and note that the AM dial on the car radio wasn’t linear, with the lower end of the band being much larger. Any thoughts as to the reason for this? Fewer stations on the upper end of the band?
That’s a feature of all AM radios, even now AFAIK.
Not sure of the exact technical explanation but it is to do with the variable capacitor used in the tuning circuit
Thanks for posting those articles Radiohead. Loved them.
The radio format launches that fell flat (sorry for my Sydney bias):
- Lite’N’Easy 1269 (1988)
- vega (2005)
- MTR 1377 (2012)
- Classic Rock 95.3 (around 2009)
- 2UE’s launches of Talking Lifestyle and Macquarie Sports Radio (2016-2018)
- SEN 1170 (2020)
And please don’t tell me SEN is a success. I think it’s current rating of 0.9% is less than any other radio station on the list above.
Any other failed launches to add?
Not ratings wise… but the sports $$$$ is quite valuable (lures in the punters or something like that) apparently.
I think it’s about gambling advertising and an “online” business. Radio is just part of it ? Success is measured differently by SEN.
Example Bet 365 shows cricket coverage even though it’s core business is about gambling rather than being a Stan Sports. I think this is how the world has changed, this didn’t happen 20 years ago.
So I think they see it differently. SEN isn’t a gambling company but makes money from the advertising. 2SM have been out of the ratings for a while and still exist. 2SM and 2HD is a huge hub for their regional stations where they have more of a monopoly. I am sure SEN would love to have higher ratings but I suspect it isn’t high on the priority list.
Triple M in Sydney and Melbourne trying a “triple j” style format in 1996, Richard Stubbs’ breakfast show from Melbourne beamed into Sydney, more new music on the playlist similar to triple j, even poaching Andy Glitre and his “Rhythm Method” dance music show. It lasted no more than three months until the playlist returned to the more familiar classic rock format.
Also “The New 3AK” in 1986 when it ditched “Beautiful Music” in favour of a more adult contemporary sound, ratings fell sharply as a result. Later that year they tried a talk format (CBC, relayed from 2UE) and that didn’t last either.
Which reminds me of the “All New Triple M” format of around 2008 when they were playing some more dance/electronic stuff like ‘Don’t Hold Back’ (Potbelleez).
yep, AM radios have always been that way. My first transistor radio I got in the late 70s or thereabouts at frequencies marked something like 540, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, 1300, 1500 at the same intervals. Stations were very crowded down the far end of the dial!
The best flop of all, SENQ693.
4BH’s brief experiment with a talk format as “New 882” in the early or mid 90s was an unmitigated disaster. It resulted in 4KQ winning a survey over B105 and Triple M as an AM music station as 4BH’s audience fled to 4KQ. Think it only lasted 6 months or so. 4BH came back though over time once they reverted to easy listening. 4BH must be one of the most resilient stations in Australia, they’ve tried to kill it with New 882, Macquarie Sport, Talking Lifestyle, and still here we are in 2025 with it flying high in the top 3 or 4 stations in Brisbane.
i think it says more about the lack of choice in the brisbane market more than anything. brisbane needs at least one more commerical station
Brisbane only has two AM music stations, the other Switch Brisbane - and there’s no other easy listening/classic hits station outside of smooth on DAB. Pretty poor IMO.
Sydney only has 2UE as a music station on AM - everything else is talk / sport (2GB, Sky, SEN, 2SM). So Brisbane are doing pretty well by that comparison. SYD (and MEL) have long favoured talk on AM however.
When 4BH became Talking Lifestyle, surely that was Australia’s lowest rating metro commercial station.
Now look at it!
I was going to post that too😊
Another gigantic radio flop was 3XY flipping from Hot Hits to Easy Rock in November 1988. They were owned by the same parent company as 2SM and 1008, they wanted 3XY to be “lite n easy” but the flops of the stations in Sydney and Brisbane didn’t want another disaster, so they put “Rock” in its name as a nod to 3XY’s rock heritage. But it was a “lite n easy” format, and the ratings tumbled after that. So much that 3XY was sold to the owners of BAY FM Geelong and simulcasted the two as a CHR format. But the damage was already done and XY never recovered.