Triple M Sydney
 | |
| Broadcast area | Sydney |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 104.9 MHz FM, DAB+ |
| Branding | Sydney's 104.9 Triple M |
| Programming | |
| Format | Classic rock, comedy, CHR/rock |
| Affiliations | 2Day FM |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Austereo Radio Network |
| History | |
First air date | 1980 |
| Technical information | |
| ERP | 150,000 watts |
| HAAT | 224 m[1] |
Transmitter coordinates | 33°48′20″S 151°10′51″E / 33.80556°S 151.18083°E |
| Links | |
| Webcast | Sydney |
| Website | http://www.triplem.com.au |
2MMM (identified on air and in print as Triple M) is a radio station broadcasting in Sydney, Australia. Triple M Sydney is part of the Austereo Triple M network and broadcasts on the 104.9 MHz frequency.
History
The Early Days
2MMM, the first Triple M station commenced broadcasting on 2 August 1980. Together with then rival station 2Day FM (now also owned by Austereo) & Triple-J FM, it was one of the first two commercial FM radio stations in Sydney. The Government-owned Triple JJJ began broadcasting on the FM band just one day earlier (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_J#1980s:_2JJJ).
The station has always been primarily a rock music station. Triple M was one of the highest-rating radio stations in Sydney, spearheaded by its morning show presented by Doug Mulray and featuring the writing of and occasional appearances by Andrew Denton. For all of this period and into the 90s, Triple M's promotional campaign featured the character "Dr Dan", a guitar-playing satyr with wings, and a theme song that was an extended reworking of the Mike Batt track "Introduction (The Journey of a Fool)", from his 1979 album Tarot Suite.
1990s/Early 2000s
After the Departure of Doug Mulray at breakfast, 2MMM tried a variety of breakfast show hosts, including Rob Duckworth and Sammy Power, and the Richard Stubbs Breakfast Show (broadcast from 3MMM in Melbourne). It was not until the late 1990s when Andrew Denton, a previous contributor to Mulray's program took the chair and became the host of 2MMM's breakfast slot, with Amanda Keller joining him as a co-host, that 2MMM once again enjoyed ratings success.
FM Talk was tinkered with via Talkback Host and journalist Brian Carlton, using the on air name of The Spoonman, derived from the Soundgarden song "Spoonman". This show got axed at the end of the 1990s.
Andrew Denton left the M's in the early 2000s, and many breakfast teams were tried out, with the likes of Peter Berner, Mikey Robins (Now on Vega), and A return of Amanda Keller also during this period.
The Triple M Freq Club was discontinued nationally during 2004.
2006–2008
A new breakfast program, The Cage emerged on the Triple M network, which included talents such as James Brayshaw, Peter Berner, Fitzy, Brigitte Duclos, these hosts being in various Triple M studios across the network. This went on in Sydney until the end of 2006, with the popular drive show The Shebang taking up the breakfast slot in 2007, to a low degree of success. Brian Carlton Returned in 2005, once again doing nights, using The Spoonman name. In 2007, night show host Paul Murray was added to the Shebang breakfast team in the hope of increasing ratings, to no avail. The show abruptly ended in November 2008. The decision to axe The Shebang breakfast program and Marty Sheargold taking leave from the show, led to Triple M's lowest ratings ever, slipping behind competitor Vega for the first time and leaving the former top-rating station last in the commercial radio station ratings.[2][3]
The Triple M Street Team (aka Street Freq or Rock patrols) were discontinued from visiting locations (such as parks and reserves) regularly - during mid 2006, to focus on a different brand. Though at present, there are Triple M Street Team locations on an occasional basis - visiting businesses only. [4].
During mid 2006, Triple M introduced an interactive survey encouraging Triple M listeners to have a say in the music they play through the Triple M Music Jury.
In October 2008, the station had changed the format temporarily (Awesome 80s) to play only 80s music and use the old promos, news and traffic themes and the old station name Triple M FM 105.
The Spoonman Show and drive team Wil and Lehmo were also axed at the end of 2008. Morning DJ Maroon (now at Vega) was removed from the on-air DJs, was the long time Triple M DJ Rob Duckworth, who was in the afternoon slot.
December 2008 – present
After the "Awesome 80s" format had wrapped up on 30 November 2008, "The All New Triple M" was launched, replacing the old slogans of "Triple M Rocks" and "Best Of The Old Stuff, Best Of The New Stuff" with "Music That Rocks". This launch came with a demographic shift, moving away from the "working class" mid 30s to 40s to a younger, 25–39 key demographic, targeting younger listeners.
A new Breakfast Team was launched, with Ugly Phil and Sami Lukis, along with new drive programs, Roy and HG (Mondays and Fridays), and Tuesday to Thursdays drive slot being hosted by ex Shebang anchor Byron Cooke, called Live Line. The Peter Berner Experiment returned from Tues to Thursdays at 6 pm. The Paul Murray Night Show returned, with the name "The All New Paul Murray Show", with the co host Rachel Corbett, playing nothing but recent music, with a slant towards a youth audience.
Artists which feature prominently on Triple M include Nickelback, Powderfinger, Kevin Rudolf, Silverchair], Coldplay, The Fray, Snow Patrol, Kings of Leon, Faker, AC/DC, Cold Chisel and Bon Jovi amongst others.
During May 2009, Triple M introduced "The Music That Made Triple M Famous", playing music from the eras of 1970s and 80s.
During June 2009, Phil O'Neill and Sami Lukis had been axed from the breakfast slot just over six months since they started broadcasting in December 2008. Paul Murray and Rachel Corbett continued in the breakfast slot until mid-August when the new breakfast show would commence broadcasting.[5]. Paul & Rach moved to the Tuesday-Thursday drivetime slot from 8 September 2009.
As of 17 August 2009, Gus Worland, Stuart MacGill and Mark Geyer are the hosts of the new Triple M breakfast show called The Grill Team.[6][7]
On September 3, The Peter Berner Experiment aired its final episode as Berner has finished up with the station for a possible move to the Nine Network.[8]
On 23 November 2009, Triple M's slogan changed to "Sydney's Best Rock".
Current Triple M Sydney Announcers
- Grill Team with Gus Worland, Stuart MacGill and Mark "MG" Geyer - Breakfast (back in 2010:- Monday January 18th)
[filling in:- Chris 'Becko' Beckhouse]
- Chris "Becko" Beckhouse - Mornings [Becko's Nissan Navarathon]
- Alexis Savaidis - Afternoons
- The Life with Roy [Roy Slaven] & HG [HG Nelson] - Monday and Friday Drive (on holidays)
- Paul & Rach - with Paul Murray and Rachel Corbett - Monday to Friday drive (last show for 2009:- back January 19th 2010)
- Ugly Phil - Monday to Friday nights (last show was on 24th December 2009 and back approximately 11th or 18th of January 2010)
- Automated - Monday and Tuesday late night (automated until breakfast)
- Homebrew - Wednesday late nights after Ugly Phil's show
- Running Of The B/S (formerly Loose Change) with Pace and Santi - Thursday late night (currently on a break)
- Automated - Friday late night (automated until breakfast)
[Note:- There is no Monday Night Football on Triple M - it will be back during the 2010 NRL season]
Fill In/Weekend announcers:-
- Lizzy Lovette
- Dave "Garfield" Faires
- Matty White - Triple M Music Director
- Jamie Angel - Triple M Content Director
- Kate Mac - [recurring fill in/weekends]
- Byron Webb - [recurring weekends]
- Chris Begg
Triple M News
Sami Lukis - (The Grill Team Breakfast Newsreader- On holidays and back 18th January 2010), Dan Ginanne - (Grill Team Sports Newsreader - on holidays and back on 18th January 2010), Brian "Spoonman" Carlton (Morning to Afternoons - on holidays - back approximately 11th or 18th of January 2010), Sasha Higglet (Drive), Emma Duxbury (occasional newsreader/news writer), Julieanne "Julie" Nehme (Fill in Newsreader), Matt McDonald (news journalist/current breakfast fill in Newsreader) & Erin Rhone (weekends/fill in for the news)
Currently, weekday news after midday is networked in Melbourne and presented by either Peter Macardo or Andrew Hewitt.
- News can be heard on Triple M for breakfast every half an hour, during the weekdays.
- There are hourly news bulletins with news editorials from 10am to 3pm with Spoonman.
- During drive, there are news every hour from 4pm to 6pm.
- On the weekend, there are news from 6am to 11am - presented by Christie Kerr or Peter Macardo and networked in Melbourne
Sometimes Julie Nehme presents the 6am to 11am news bulletin.
- From 12pm to 6pm:- the news is presented locally by Erin Rhone or Julie Nehme, but occasionally from Melbourne and presented by Peter Macardo or every now and then by Steve Speziale.
Former Triple M Newsreaders
Sarah Crabbe
Triple M Traffic
Breakfast:- Sando (currently filling in:- Jason Bowman), Afternoons:- Jase, Drive:- Jo, Weekends:- Jason Bowman or Wayne Strauss
Occasional fill in:- Dave Wright, Emma, Lorena, Mike Carroll and Brad
- Traffic updates are heard every 15 minutes during the Triple M Grill Team from 6am to 9am.
- The traffic updates begin at midday (mid-noon) through to 3pm on an hourly basis and presented by Jase.
As well as a traffic update at approximately 3:30pm
- During drive (Monday to Friday), there are traffic updates every 15–20 minutes (from 4pm to 7pm).
- On the weekends, there are hourly traffic updates every hour from 6am to 6pm.
Triple M Segments
- Crowd Surfing
- Theme Train
Triple M Music Segments
- Triple Play
- What The Wednesday
- Double Shot Tuesday
Notable former Triple M Sydney announcers
Fifi Box (now hosting the Fifi Box show on the Today Network and the weather presenter for Sunrise), Marty Sheargold, Tony Martin, Ed Kavalee, Brian Carlton, Andrew Denton, Zoe Sheridan, Adam "Bar Rat" Barratt, Wil Anderson, Laura Cross, Sam Mac (now hosting the Em and Sam Mac show on 92.9), Turbo, Drew Chapman, Kim Blair, Jamie Row, Tom Gleeson, Subby Valentine, Amanda Keller, Mike "Fitzy" Fitzpatrick, Yammo (now Group PD at ARN), Ronnie Swintek, Leah Mcleod, Mick Molloy, Anthony Maroon, Tony Moclair (used to host Man United), Peter "Scooter" Carter, Leigh "Leigh Dogg" Kuhlmann, Charlie Pickering, Terri Psiakis, Justin Hamilton Byron Webb, Russell Barwick, Chaz (from Chaser's War on Everything), Marvin Bemand and Peter Berner.
See also
References
- ^ HAAT estimated from http://www.itu.int/SRTM3/ using EHAAT.
- ^ Sydney Morning Herald - "Triple M tactic takes the spoon"
- ^ Daily Telegraph - "Vega topples Triple M for first time in radio ratings"
- ^ [dead link] Austereo changes it's brand - The Australian, August 02, 2007
- ^ Matty Johns for radio revival - The Daily Telegraph, 1 July 2009
- ^ Gus Worland signed to be apart of Triple M - The Daily Telegraph, 10 July 2009
- ^ The Grill Team - Triple M Sydney
- ^ Peter Berner leaves Triple M - mUmbrella, 2 September 2009