Triple M Brisbane

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Triple M Brisbane
Broadcast area Brisbane
First air date 3pm 22 August 1980
Frequency 104.5 MHz FM, adjusted from 104.1 on 5 Nov 1989
Format Rock
Owner Austereo Triple M
Website http://www.triplemrocks.com.au

Triple M Brisbane (call sign 4MMM) is one of Brisbane, Australia's commercial FM Rock radio stations, primarily targeted at those in the 25-50 age group. It is part of the Austereo Triple M network and broadcasts on 104.5 MHz.

Contents

[edit] Station History

The station started on the FM band at 104.1 MHz in August 1980. Their first format was contemporary rock. It was rebranded as FM104 in December 1982 with the new slogan "Rock In Stereo", and focused on the typical Queensland lifestyle of beaches and barbecues. Their playlists now included AC/DC, The Angels, Van Halen, ZZ Top and the Talking Heads as well as supporting Australian pub rock bands such as Painters & Dockers, Hunters & Collector's and The Huxton Creepers. Popular local acts such as The Choirboys, Mondo Rock, The Church, Noiseworks, INXS, Hoodoo Gurus, Mental As Anything, Icehouse, Split Enz, The Model's, The Radiator's, The Sunnyboy's, Paul Kelly, Cold Chisel, Jimmy Barnes and Midnight Oil were a mainstay on Brisbane radio at this time. In 1983, they started using a vocoder with the popular call sign, "FM104 ROCKS THE WEEKEND", "FM104 ROCKS BRISBANE" and "FM104 ROCK IN STEREO". They were the number one station in Brisbane from late 1984 until 1990. Much of their success can be attributed to Program Director, Bill Riner, who encouraged this hard edged rock format, refusing to program top 40 pop music. Continually searching for new material and breaking new ground, Bill intoduced artists such as Oingo Boingo, World Party and Bruce Cockburn to the attention of Brisbane listeners. Everything from The Alan Parsons Project, Jeff Wayne's The War Of the Worlds Theme to Jean Michel Jarre and Talk Talk. Typical great 80s rock songs such as The Kinks 'Lost & Found', Mike Oldfield's 'Magic Touch' and Emerson, Lake and Powell's 'Touch & Go' was the measure of how far Bill would go when programming FM104. His lunchtime hour, Bill Riner's Lunchbox, featuring a selection of songs by a solo artist or band became a popular radio program. A typical lunchbox featured artists as diverse as The Beatles and Elvis Presley through to Dire Straits, Genesis and Ultravox. Two for Tuesday, where two songs by an artist were played back to back, proved very popular, and continued well into the 90s. The commercial free cruising hour finished off the working day at 5.00pm. FM104 also featured talented DJs, Barbacue Bob one of the favourites. Breakfast duties were handled for some years by Bill Heally and head news frontman Mr T (Rod Tiley).


In 1988, Hoyts Entertainment, the new owners of the station, forced FM104 to take on the Triple M brand to become part of the newly created Triple M nationwide network. From then on it became known as FM104 Triple M, with the callsign 4MMM. A change of frequency to 104.5 MHz also occurred in the late 80's.

During 1990, MMM FM104 was finally toppled from the top spot by new FM station B105, with the onset of rap and dance music.

When the Austereo group purchased the station as part of its takeover and merger of the Triple M and Today networks in 1995, the FM104 tag was dropped for good.

These days Austereo still owns the Triple M network, and the station continues to broadcast as Triple M Brisbane.

In 2005 MMMFM104.5 regained the top spot on Brisbane radio after 15 years.

[edit] Studios

FM104 was originally based in a building at 549 Queen Street, Brisbane. This building was quite a character building, with a quirky lift, green carpets and a distinctive spiral staircase linking the two floors. The basement carpark, reserved for executives, was tiny and difficult to enter and exit.

The original equipment comprised MTE mixing consoles, and CEI cartridge machines. FM104 Triple M never experienced the era of "Digital Commercial System" (DCS) which was incorporated into most other Austereo stations. Instead, FM104 Triple M continued to use outdated cartridge machines until 1999, when the updated Maestro digital playout system was installed as part of an Austereo wide upgrade.

From 1998 to 2000, Triple M's news was broadcast from the newsroom of sister station B105 FM in a combined newsroom arrangement. A data link was also installed between the two stations for WAN access.

FM104, and later Triple M Brisbane, broadcast from the Queen Street location until August 2000, when owners Austereo relocated Triple M and sister station B105 into new combined premesis at 309 North Quay, Brisbane. The new complex was the first in Australia to use the revolutionary Klotz Digital audio system.

[edit] Transmission

FM104 originally transmitted using an RCA 10 kilowatt transmitter from the BTQ Channel 7 tower at Mt Coot-tha Brisbane. After a short time, the 10 kilowatt RCA transmitter was relocated and installed at TVQ Channel Ten, using TVQ's tower for an antenna. A new 5 kilowatt RCA transmitter was installed at BTQ Channel Seven as a backup. A few years later, a 10 kilowatt NEC transmitter was installed at TVQ Channel Ten as a main site backup. This left FM104 as one of the most redundant ready stations in Brisbane, with three transmitters to choose from and two different transmission sites.

After the duopoly merger with B105 FM, which had two Harris HT10 transmitters on a separate antenna at TVQ Channel Ten, the station continued to use the same transmitter configuration until 2002, when a new solid state Harris Z10CD transmitter was installed at the newly created TX Australia facility under the Channel Ten tower. One of B105 FM's existing HT10 transmitters was re-tuned to 104.5Mhz and installed at the Channel Seven tower, 1 km away from Channel Ten on Mount Coot-tha as a backup.

As of November 2005, Triple M Brisbane has one Harris Z10CD solid state transmitter as the main, located at TVQ Ten. It has one HT10FM tube transmitter as the secondary, located at BTQ Seven. There is also a spare antenna at the TVQ Ten tower if needed.

4MMM's base power is 5 Kilowatts with an ERP (Effective Radiated Power) of 19 kilowatts at the antenna.

[edit] Breakfast Shows

FM104 and 4MMM have had several notable breakfast shows in their history. Five of the most popular are as follows:-

  • Rob Duckworth and Dave Gibson
  • Dean Miller, Gary "Badge" Belcher and the late Graham "Shirley" Strachan
  • Dean Miller and Sammy Power
  • Fatcat, Marto and Leisa
  • The Cage with Ian Skippen

[edit] Trivia

  • In 1999 announcer Dave Dangerfield died of a heart attack aged 29 following a Saturday morning shift on FM104. Dangerfield had complained of chest pains throughout the morning, and news director Rod Tiley encouraged him to visit a doctor. He stayed until the end of the shift, then went home and collapsed as he entered the kitchen. Dangerfield was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital. FM104 General Manager Jim Johnston mandated that all staff except the current on air announcer attend a fundraiser in his honour. Austereo also made a large monetary contribution to Dangerfield's wife and two baby girls, aged 3 years and 18 months. Dangerfield's death was attributed to the weakening of heart muscle due to years of drug and alcohol abuse.
  • Ex FM 104 Triple M Promotions and Marketing Director Paul Dutton died of cancer whilst employed by ARN at their Melbourne Stations TTFM (now MIX 101.1) & GOLD 104.3.

[edit] 25th Anniversary Celebration

In August 2005, 4MMM held a weeekend long celebration of 25 years broadcasting. Archived audio was played back, including interviews with the likes of former programmer Bill Riner and other former DJ's.

The weekend culminated in a Sunday afternoon broadcast from the station's carpark at 309 North Quay, with drinks, food, and live to air performances from The Screaming Jets, The Chiorboys and Glen Shorrock. The single 'Cool Change' from Shorrock's 'Little River Band' was the first song ever played to air on 4MMM.

[edit] Current On air staff

WEEKENDS

  • The Wrong Side of the Bed with Scott Cam (Saturdays 7-9am)
  • DEADSET LEGENDS - Richard Champion and guests (Sporting show, Saturdays 9-11am)
  • Andrew Very, Drew Chapman, Greg Wood

[edit] Networking

As with most national radio networks, 4MMM engages in networking of several shows across the day. In addition, 4MMM employs local automation overnight, where the computerised playout system simply plays music and commercials automatically, without the need for a human to be present.

Currently the following shows are networked on 4MMM:-

  • Get This - 9am to 10am weekdays, from Melbourne
  • Tough Love - 12pm to 1pm weekdays, from Melbourne
  • The Shebang - 4pm to 6pm weekdays, from Melbourne
  • The Paul Murray Show - 6pm to 9pm weekdays, from Sydney
  • The Spoonman - 9pm to 11pm weekdays, from Sydney
  • Wrong Side Of The Bed - 7am to 9am Saturdays, from Sydney
  • The Cold 30 - 6pm to 9pm Friday nights, from Brisbane (into Sydney and Melbourne)

Overnights - Locally automated


[edit] See also

FM radio stations in Brisbane

Station/Frequency:90.5 4RBL | 93.3 4SBS | 94.9 4MIX | 96.5 4FRB | 97.3 4BFM | 98.1 4EB | 98.9 4AAA | 99.7 4RED | 100.3 4BAY | 101.1 4CBL | 102.1 4ZZZ | 103.7 4MBS | 104.5 4MMM | 105.3 4BBB | 106.1 4ABC-FM | 106.9 4BNE | 107.7 4JJJ

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