Media Man

Triple M

Triple M is a network of radio stations owned by the Austereo Radio Network.

History

The first Triple M station was 2MMM Sydney which commenced broadcasting on 2 August 1980. Together with then rival station 2Day FM (now also owned by Austereo), it was the first commercial FM radio station in Sydney. The station has always been primarily a rock music station. 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 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.

In 1988, Melbourne radio station EON FM, 92.3 was taken over by 2MMM and changed its callsign to 3MMM 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 FM104 was launched in 1980 and took on the Triple M identity in early 1990. It now has the callsign 4MMM. FM104 Brisbane started broadcasting on 104.1FM, then late in the 80's they changed frequency to 104.5FM, where they still are now.

Adelaide radio station 5KA converted from 1197 kHz to 104.7 MHz on January 1, 1990 and was renamed KAFM. 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 of the same name in 1993. That station is now known as Three D Radio.

Perth radio station 96FM also carried the Triple M identity in the late 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" to be 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 or logo.

In 2004 the national network counted down the Triple M Essential 2005 Songs from Boxing Day to Australia Day. The number one song was Violent Femmes' Blister in the Sun.

While many of the comedy and talk programs are networked, large sections of music programming originate from the local market of each Triple M.

In October 2006, Triple M Sydney/Melbourne and Brisbane had started the Essential 2006 Countdown of the most popular 2006 songs voted by the listeners. The number 1 voted/ranked song for Sydney & Melbourne was Down Under by Men at Work.

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.

In April 2007, famous keyboardist Ray Manzarek from The Doors had done a series of interviews and also was a guest DJ playing a number of songs and talking about The Doors and the music industry.

During the week of 7th to 11th May 2007, Jimmy Barnes was a guest DJ each morning to celebrate his new release "50" and play selected songs from the past 20 years of rock.

2007 Shows and Line Up

Breakfast Shows (6.00am - 9.00am)

Sydney - The Shebang with Marty Sheargold and Fifi Box
Melbourne - The Cage with Peter Berner , Brigitte Duclos, Matt Parkinson, James Brayshaw and Mike Fitzpatrick
Brisbane - The Cage (Starts at 5.30am) with Greg "Marto" Martin, Sully, George & Ian Skippen
Adelaide - The New Zoo with John Blackman, Jane Reilly & Cosi
Perth - The Bunch with Fred Botica, Lisa Shaw, newsreader Belinda Doyle & producer Joss Dwyer

Major network shows

11.00am - 1.00pm: Get This with Tony Martin , Ed Kavalee and Richard Marsland
4:00pm - 6:00pm: Wil & Lehmo with Wil Anderson and Anthony " Lehmo" Lehmann (drivetime shift)
6.00pm - 7.00pm : "The Awesome 80's "
7:00pm - 9:00pm: The Paul Murray Show (not broadcast in Adelaide).
9:00pm - 12:00am: The Spoonman (8:30pm to 11:30pm in Adelaide).
Saturdays 7:00am - 9:00am: The Wrong Side of the Bed with Scott Cam

Triple M Adelaide

9:00am - 11:00am: Mornings with Whispering Dave Howard
1:00pm - 4:00pm: Afternoon Show with Welcome Matt
6:00pm - 8:30pm: James E (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday)

Triple M Brisbane

Sundays 6:00 - 8:00pm "Planet Rock Evolution"
Sundays 9:00 - Midnight "Oi, Oi. Oi" with Jaime The "Pom"

Triple M Sydney

9:00am - 11:00am: Mornings with Maroon (playing 15 songs in a row)
1:00pm - 4:00pm: Afternoons with Rob Duckworth (playing 15 songs in a row)
Saturdays 9:00am - 11:00am Dead Set Legends with Ray "Rabs" Warren, Michael "Slats" Slater and Russ "The Sports Guy" Barwick.
Sundays 8:00pm - 10:00pm Dolphin Juice

Triple M Melbourne

9:00am - 11:00am: Mornings with Dangerous Dave Williams
1:00pm - 4:00pm: Afternoon Show with Rob "Bear" Kidd
Saturdays 9:00am - 11:00am Dead Set Legends with Andrew Gaze and Jason Dunstall
Sundays 8:00pm - 10:00pm: The Local with Dangerous Dave Williams

MIX 94.5 Perth

9:00am - 12:00pm - Anne-Marie Coupe
12:00pm - 4:00pm - Ian Blackley
4:00pm - 7:00pm - The BIG Couch with Dean "Clairsy" Clairs , Nat Foster & Shane McFarlane
7:00pm - 10:00pm - NightMix Requests with Craig Weston
10:00pm - 12.30am - NightMix Cold 30

Former Radio Personalities on The M's

Doug Mulray, Andrew Denton, Lee Simon, Rob Elliot, Kent Forbes, Ed Phillips, Richard Stubbs, Kevin Hillier, Amanda Keller, Tom Gleisner, Santo Cilauro, Rob Sitch, Jane Kennedy, Mobbs and Fletch (Peter Mobbs and Chris Fletcher), Ugly Phil O'Neil, Michael Tunn, Lisa Millard, Club Veg ( Malcolm Lees and Vic Davies), Crud (Tony Moclair and Julian Schiller), Mikey Robbins, Steve Bedwell, Danger: Low Brow, Tim Smith, Mick Molloy, Robyn Butler, Alan Brough, Stuart Cranney, Ian 'Dano' Rogerson, Wazza The Rock Dog, David Rymer, Jason 'The Reclining Rocker' Bowman, Jon Doe aka Byron Webb, and the late Jon Kennedy of The Rubber Room.

AFL coverage

During the AFL season, Triple M hosts the highest-rating coverage of AFL in the country. Since the early-1990's Triple M has made sport a major part of their line up, with sports-based shows such as The Grill Team, Dougy and Dunstall, and more recently, Friday Night M Sport, The Gospel and The Dead Set Legends.

Triple M Melbourne initially secured AFL broadcast rights in 1997, and has since become the top-rating AFL broadcaster. 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: Gary Lyon, Brian Taylor, James Brayshaw, Wayne Schwass, Danny Frawley, Jason Dunstall, Ashley Chua, Mike "Madge" McLean, Damian Barratt

Sydney: Mike "Madge" McLean, Russell Barwick, Sam Kekovich, Troy Luff
Brisbane: Michael "Pricey" Price, Richard Champion, Bill McDonald & Belinda Mellon
Adelaide: Tim Ginever, Brenton Yates, Bruce Abernethy, John Barnes, Sean Tasker, Max Stevens, Mark Soderstrom, David Pittman

Triple M is the only FM broadcaster 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.) 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 ", Living End's "Tabloid Magazine", and The Darkness' "I Believe in a Thing Called Love ", which were predominantly used during 2004 and 2005).

Triple M also airs a show called The Gospel that airs on Fox Footy Channel and is simulcast on Triple M Melbourne on Friday afternoons, that previews the coming rounds' AFL games. It is hosted by Jason Dunstall and features Nick Riewoldt, Peter Everitt and Nathan G. Brown. In 2007, The Gospel is shown on Fox Sports (Australia) on Pay TV provider Foxtel, but is still broadcast on Triple M.

In October 2006, Triple M was granted AFL broadcast rights for a further 3 years.

NRL coverage

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 March 19 with the Round 1 match between the Sydney Roosters and South Sydney Rabbitohs. The commentary team includes Anthony Maroon, Jimmy Smith, Mark Geyer, Kevin Walters and Daniel Ginnane (Credit: Wikipedia)

Website

Profiles

Media Man Australia has facilitated numerous guest appearances and spots on Triple M and the Austero network