Melbourne: 3TT, 3TTT

3TT made its debut at 5.00am on Easter Saturday, 2 April 1988 as the new call-sign for the station previously known as 3DB.  The name and format change followed the sale of the 3DB licence to the Albert family, whose radio network was the predecessor to the present-day Australian Radio Network.  The origin of the call-sign is not known, though it may possibly have reflected the station’s broadcast frequency – ‘Ten 26’ – 1026 kHz. 

 

3TT was programmed as a ‘Classic Hits’ format, featuring hits of the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, as a rival to the popular 3KZ which had broadcast a ‘Hits and Memories’ format successfully for several years.  The first song played on 3TT was Listen To The Music by the Doobie Brothers – their initials, DB, providing a link to the station’s predecessor.

In 1989 the Federal Government invited bids from commercial AM radio stations for the right to convert to the FM band – with two conversion licences available in Melbourne.  3KZ gained the first licence after a record $32 million bid while, in a surprising move, low-rated station 3AK presented the second highest bid of $22 million.  3TT missed out on a conversion licence with its third-placed bid of $11 million but the station got a lucky break when 3AK defaulted on its payment – leaving 3TT the right to convert to the FM band at a third of the price of its main rival, 3KZ.

3TT made the move to the FM band at 12.00am on Sunday, 24 June 1990 (almost twenty years ago to the day).  The last song played on 3TT before midnight was the same as the first song played in April 1988 – Listen To The Music by the Doobie Brothers.

3TT’s conversion to FM led to the station adopting a new three-letter call-sign, 3TTT, with the on-air branding as ‘Classic Hits TTFM’, maintaining a similar format to its AM predecessor.  The first song played on TTFM was In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins.

The Classic Hits format still struggled to gain a decent audience on FM, so by the early ‘90s the station adopted a more contemporary format, accompanied by a colourful logo – 101.1 TTFM.  The move led to a ratings boost, with the station eventually claiming #1 spot in two surveys in 1995.

 

In 2001, TTFM had a change of image.  The station adopted a new branding, Mix 101.1, with a similar logo to its Sydney counterpart Mix 106.5.

Mix 101.1 now plays a contemporary music format, aimed at tackling rival station Fox.

Website: Mix 101.1

Sydney: 2UW, 2WFM

Our first featured Sydney radio station, 2UW, was launched in February 1925.  The station was originally broadcast on the frequency 1125 kHz before moving to 1110 kHz in 1935 – a time when almost every radio station in Australia was assigned a new frequency with a re-organisation of the radio dial.

2UW changed to 1107 kHz in 1978.

Over the years 2UW has featured some of the biggest names in Sydney radio – Howard Craven, Ward Austin, John Burgess, John Laws, Mike Jeffreys, Laurie Bennett, Holger Brockmann, Donnie Sutherland, Ron E Sparks, Ian MacRae, Rob Duckworth and Trevor Sinclair, just to name a few.

In the ‘60s, when radio was experimenting with catchy slogans, 2UW dubbed its announcers ‘The 11-10 Men’.  In the early ‘80s, the station was perhaps less successful when it called itself Magic 11 – nicknamed by some as ‘Tragic 11’. 

Above: 2UW in 1986.

By the early ‘90s, 2UW had settled down with the slogan ‘Classic Hits’ with a style and format that would also be picked up by other radio stations across the country.

While AM radio stations across Australia were converting to the FM band in the early ‘90s, there seemed to be a moratorium on the same happening in Sydney.  My vague memory tells me that legal action was initiated by one disgruntled AM station that had missed out on an FM licence in the bidding process, hence putting any FM conversions in Sydney on hold.  (Somebody might be able to shed some light on this)

Eventually, 2UW did manage to score one of the two FM conversion licences on offer and, in April 1994, it launched as Mix 106.5 FM (call-sign 2WFM).

Mix 106.5 is now partnered with fellow Sydney station WSFM (call-sign 2UUS) as part of the Australian Radio Network. 

Website: Mix 106.5