Melbourne: 3FOX

Melbourne’s second commercial FM station, 3FOX, made its debut on 1 August 1980 on the frequency 101.9 MHz.

The first song played on 3FOX was Breezin’ by George Benson, though it was initially played at 45rpm before being slowed down to 33 1/3 rpm.

The station was initially branded on-air with the initials F-O-X (e.g. “3-F-O-X-F-M”) before it was streamlined to the snappier “Fox FM” or sometimes “The Fox”.

Broadcasting from studios co-located with television station ATV10 in the suburb of Nunawading, 3FOX initially had a very easy listening sound and, in an unusual move, had also come to an arrangement to simulcast the ABC radio news each weekday morning at 7.45am.

The station’s first ratings survey late in 1980 returned an audience share of 3.4 per cent for 3FOX, making it the lowest rating commercial station in Melbourne.

By the mid-1980s the music playlist was broadened to include more contemporary hits with some older favourites thrown in, and the station logo had been altered to include the fox motif.

The station had also adopted the slogan that “FM is Fox Music”.

In 1984, the station launched Australia’s first national Top 40 countdown, Take 40 Australia, hosted by Barry Bissell and produced by MCM Entertainment.  The weekly show was syndicated to radio stations around Australia and continues to broadcast today on 85 stations nationwide.

In 1986, 3FOX was bought by Austereo, the licensee of Adelaide’s SAFM, in the first step to the company establishing a national FM network.  The station’s playlist took on a more modern emphasis and with that came a more stylised logo:

In Survey 2, 1987, Fox won the ratings for the first time – with an audience share of 14.8 per cent – and continued to top the ratings in Melbourne until the first survey in 1990 when it was overtaken by FM newcomer KZFM.

Although Fox’s music format would continue to change over the next few years – including a brief dalliance into ‘Classic Rock’ in the early-‘90s – the  new logo would serve Fox in various forms right through until the re-branding of the entire network, including 2DAY, SAFM and B105, in the mid-2000s.

In the mid-90s, Fox was one of the first commercial radio stations in Australia to set up a presence on the World Wide Web.

In 1996, the Austereo network merged with the rival Triple M network which would bring 3FOX under the same roof as rival 3MMM.  Both stations now broadcast from studios in the suburb of South Melbourne.

Website: Fox 101.9

Adelaide: 5SSA

Adelaide’s first commercial FM radio station, 5SSA, launched in September 1980.  The station was originally branded Double SA-FM and broadcast on the frequency 107.5 MHz.

After a couple of years the station trimmed its on-air branding to SAFM – a moniker it continues to use to this day – and moved slightly up the dial to 107.1 MHz.  A translator station was established in the Adelaide Foothills district on 91.1 MHz – it has since moved to 90.3 MHz.

The logo above served the station in various forms through much of the ‘80s right through to the mid-2000s.

5SSA was the founding station in what has become the Austereo radio network.  The network first expanded outside of Adelaide later in the 1980s with the purchase of Melbourne’s 3FOX and Sydney’s 2DAY.  It also bought Brisbane AM radio station 4BK and successfully converted it to the FM band – as B105 (call-sign: 4BBB) – in 1990.    Austereo also owns radio stations in Perth (including Mix 94.5) and has interests in radio stations in Newcastle and Canberra.

The Austereo network now also incorporates the national Triple M network which also has a presence in Adelaide with 5MMM.

Website: SAFM

Sydney: 2DAY

One radio station that’s been in the news recently for all the wrong reasons…

2DAY was one of Sydney’s first two commercial FM stations when it launched in August 1980.  The station’s original licence holders included a consortium of prominent media identities including Mike Willesee, John Laws and Graham Kennedy.

The station originally broadcast with a soft rock/easy listening theme and even included a weekly comedy segment presented by Kennedy.

By the late ‘80s 2DAY was bought out by the Austereo network, which at that stage already owned 5SSA Adelaide and 3FOX Melbourne, and the playlist was turned into a pop/rock-oriented format.

A new logo was launched in 1990 which served in various forms until the mid-2000s:

 

Website: 2DAY

Adelaide: 5KA, 5KKA, 5MMM

Adelaide’s second commercial radio station, 5KA, was launched in March 1927. The station was first broadcast on the frequency 1200 kHz, changing to 1197 kHz when 9 kHz spacing was introduced on the AM dial in 1978.

Above: 5KA in 1989.

In 1989, 5KA was one of two AM radio stations in Adelaide to be granted a licence to convert to the FM band. The station changed to KAFM (call-sign: 5KKA) on 1 January 1990. Existing FM station SAFM (call-sign: 5SSA) considered legal action against KAFM over the use of a similar branding but did not proceed as KAFM was assumed to be a legitimate adaptation of the former AM call-sign.

In 1993, Hoyts Media (owners of the Triple M network in the eastern states) had bought KAFM but were unable to adopt the Triple M branding in Adelaide as a local community radio station already had the call-sign 5MMM. Hoyts then paid 5MMM, reportedly a six-figure sum, for the right to use the call-sign. The community station 5MMM then became 5DDD, allowing KAFM to become Triple M (call-sign 5MMM).

5MMM and 5SSA are now both owned by the national Austereo network. 5MMM also operates a relay transmitter in the Adelaide Hills district on 98.3 MHz.

Website: 5MMM