History
The first Triple M station was Triple M Sydney, which commenced broadcasting to Sydney on 2 August 1980. Alongside then-rival 2Day FM, it was the first commercial FM radio station in Sydney. Throughout the 1980s, 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 1990s, Triple M's promotional campaign featured the character "Dr Dan", a guitar-playing satyr with wings, inspired by artwork by legendary Australian cartoonist Peter Ledger, 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.
In 1988, Melbourne radio station EON FM (3EON), 92.3 was taken over by Triple M and changed its callsign to Triple M and moved to 105.1 MHz in November 1988. EON FM was Australia's first commercial FM radio station, commencing broadcasting on 11 July 1980.
Brisbane radio station Triple M Brisbane was launched in 1980 and took on the FM104 identity soon after. It returned to the Triple M identity in early 1990. Its callsign has remained 4MMM since its 1980 launch. Triple M Brisbane started broadcasting on 104.1FM, then late in the 1980s changed to its present frequency of 104.5-FM.
Adelaide radio station 5KA converted from 1197 kHz to 104.7 MHz on 1 January 1990 and was renamed KAFM (5KKA). The station was taken over by Village Roadshow, who then owned Triple M, and they successfully negotiated the purchase of the 5MMM callsign from a community radio station in 1993. That station is now known as Three D Radio (5DDD), and the 5MMM callsign is now used by Triple M Adelaide (104.7)
Perth radio station 96FM (6NOW) also carried the Triple M identity and 6MMM callsign in the early 1990s but was then sold to Southern Cross Broadcasting who changed the station's identity back to its original name. Mix 94.5 is now "considered" [2] to be a part of the Triple M network in Perth utilising local programming (as opposed to airing networked Triple M programmes) and Mix 94.5 does not carry the Triple M brand, logo or call letters.
In Auckland, New Zealand, a Triple M station existed between 1984 and 1988 when 89 Stereo FM became part of Triple M. The station previously used the call sign 1ROQ and changed to 1MMM when becoming part of Triple M. New Zealand no longer uses radio station call signs. This station later reverted to 89FM in 1988 and eventually closed down in 1994. [3]
While many of the comedy and talk programs are networked, large sections of music programming originate from the local market of each Triple M.
On Friday 17 November 2006, Triple M (including Mix 94.5 in Perth) referred to itself as U2FM for the day, as part of a promotion relating to the band U2 and their 2006 Australian Tour and CD release.
Triple M launched High Voltage Radio, a "pop up" digital radio station that exclusively played AC/DC for the duration of the band's 2010 tour of Australia. [4]
On 16 August 2013, Triple M Perth was launched, returning the station to Perth. Branded as Perth's Real Music Alternative, the station also carried Triple M AFL coverage. [5] On 27 September 2014, the station was replaced by Triple M Modern Rock Digital. Featuring only new rock music, the station also expanded to Adelaide. [6]
On 25 November 2013, Triple M Classic Rock Digital radio station was launched. [7] [8] The station format is exclusively classic rock, with no announcer talkback.
Sports broadcasting
Triple M Melbourne initially secured Australian Football League broadcast rights in 1997. In 1999 Triple M expanded its coverage to Triple M Adelaide followed by Triple M Sydney and Brisbane in 2005 and includes the following local teams:
- Melbourne: James Brayshaw, Wayne Schwass, Jason Dunstall, Bill Brownless, Wayne Carey, Ashley Chua, Damian Barrett, Paul Roos, Chris Judd, Brian Taylor, Michael Roberts, Luke Darcy, Barry Denner, Mark Howard, James Hird
- Sydney: Troy Luff, Brad Seymour, Jude Bolton, Liam Flanagan
- Brisbane: Bill McDonald, Richard Champion, Peter Everitt, Sam Hargreaves, Belinda Mellen
- Adelaide: Warren Tredrea, Mark Ricciuto, Brenton Yates, Dale Lewis, Chris Dittmar, Rhett Biglands, Andrew Jarman, Darren Berry
- Perth: Dennis Cometti, Adrian Barich, Mark Doran, Tania Armstrong, Andrew Embley
- Former: Garry Lyon, Hamish McLachlan, Michael Christian, Stephen Quartermain, Nathan Brown, Rex Hunt, Danny Frawley, Campbell Brown, Sam Newman
Triple M is one of only two FM broadcasters of the AFL in Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney (although only the local teams - the Brisbane Lions and Sydney Swans respectively - are covered in the latter two cities.) The only other one is the National Indigenous Radio Service (NIRS). Triple M is best known for offering a less formal coverage than AM radio. Not only is the coverage considered informative and accurate, but the team works together providing a sense of comedy to the call. Another aspect that differs from AM coverage of football is the bumper music used to and from breaks, which is instrumental versions of modern rock songs (such as Franz Ferdinand's "Take Me Out", Hard-Fi's "Hard to Beat", The Living End's "Tabloid Magazine", and The Darkness' "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", which were predominantly used during 2004–present).
In October 2006, Triple M was granted AFL broadcast rights for a further three years.
Rugby league
In October 2006, the National Rugby League announced that beginning in 2007, Triple M Sydney would be the exclusive commercial broadcaster of Monday Night Rugby league matches. The coverage began on 19 March with the Round 1 match between the Sydney Roosters and South Sydney Rabbitohs. The commentary team includes Andrew Johns, Peter Sterling and Dan Ginnane.
Cricket
In 2009, Triple M broadcast twenty20 cricket live between the Australian Cricket Team, South African Cricket Team and the New Zealand Cricket Team. Commentators included Damien Fleming, Stuart MacGill, Greg Blewett, and Brendan Julian.
In December 2016, Triple M became the first FM radio station to broadcast test cricket. Commentators included James Brayshaw, Kerry O'Keeffe, Michael Slater, Brett Lee, Brad Haddin, Merv Hughes, Darren Berry, H.G Nelson, Jules Schiller, Lawrence Mooney, Gus Worland, Neroli Meadows, Isa Guha, Mick Molloy and Mark Howard.
