Triple M Brisbane
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| Triple M Brisbane | |
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| Broadcast area | Brisbane |
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| 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.
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[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 introduced artists such as Oingo Boingo, World Party and Bruce Cockburn to the attention of Brisbane listeners. 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, Barbecue 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, Triple M 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 Triple M regained the top spot on Brisbane radio after 15 years.
[edit] Studios
FM104 studios were originally based in a building at in St Pauls Terrace and moved to 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 ITC Delta 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 VADIS audio system.
[edit] Transmission
FM104 originally transmitted using two RCA BTF-20E 20 kilowatt transmitters (A/B) running from the BTQ Channel 7 tower at Mt Coot-tha Brisbane. An increase in ERP (effective radiated power) was granted in the early 1990's, and an arrangement was reached with rival station B105 to share a new antenna, combiner and floor space at TVQ Channel Ten, which had a higher tower.
An ERI FM array was installed on the tower, combined through an RF combiner to allow both 105.3 (B105) and 104.5 (4MMM) to transmit at 5Kw base power on the same array. 4MMM had a 20Kw RCA transmitter moved from the BTQ site and an NEC 10Kw transmitter installed at this site, in an A/B failsafe configuration. One of the original 20Kw RCA transmitter was left in place at BTQ seven as a backup, leaving 4MMM as one of the most redundant ready stations in Brisbane, with three transmitters to choose from and two different transmission sites.
After the official duopoly merger with B105 FM, which had two Harris HT10 transmitters on a separate antenna at TVQ Channel Ten, 4MMM 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 TVQ Ten tower. One of B105 FM's existing HT10 transmitters was re-tuned to 104.5 MHz and installed at the Channel Seven tower, 1 km away from Channel Ten on Mount Coot-tha as a backup. Both original RCA transmitters were sold for scrap, and the NEC transmitter was shipped to Melbourne to become a backup for Fox FM.
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 (the original B105 FM1C) 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] Notes
- 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. Guest speakers at the fundraiser included NRL Bronco's coach Wayne Bennett,AFL Lions coach Leigh Matthews, and B105's Paul 'Campo' Campion. Dangerfield was a childhood friend of both Paul and his brother, former Bronco Kevin Campion. 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[citation needed].
At David Dange
- Ex FM 104 Triple M Promotions and Marketing Director Paul Dutton died of cancer whilst employed by Australian Radio Network 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
- BREAKFAST - The Cage with Greg "Marto" Martin, Greg 'Sully' Sullivan, Georgina 'George' McEncroe & Ian Skippen
- MORNINGS - Greg Wood (Woody)
- 11AM - 1PM - Get This with Tony Martin, Ed Kavalee and Richard Marsland - Networked from Melbourne.
- AFTERNOONS - Corey Kay
- DRIVE - New show featuring Wil Anderson from April 2007 - Networked from Sydney.
- NIGHTS - The Paul Murray Show - Networked from Sydney.
- LATE NIGHTS - The Spoonman - Networked from Sydney.
- FLOATING - Andrew Very (AV), Michael Price and Clare Blake
WEEKENDS
- The Wrong Side of the Bed with Scott Cam (Saturdays 7-9am)
- DEADSET LEGENDS - Richard Champion and guests (Sporting show, Saturdays 9-11am)
- Corey Kay, Greg Wood
[edit] Football
In 2007 Triple M Brisbane will broadcast full call of Monday night NRL games, as well as AFL matches played by the Brisbane Lions.
The AFL call team is headed by lead commentator and producer Michael Price.
[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:-
- Georgina McEncroe is networked into The Cage from Melbourne
- Get This - 11am to 1pm weekdays, from Melbourne
- Wil Anderson - 4pm to 6pm weekdays, from Sydney
- 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
Overnights - Locally automated
[edit] Current Executive Team
As of December 2006
- CEO - Michael Anderson
- General Manager - Richard Barker
- Program Director - Rex Morris
- Production Manager - Rick Wade
- News Director - Melissa Martin
- Technology Manager - Dan Chalmers
- Sales Director - Damon Rielly
- Promotions & Marketing Director - Melanie Lindquist
- Finance Manager - Petrea Grant
[edit] See also
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
- http://podcasts.triplemrocks.com.au/4mmm.xml - Triple M Brisbane PodCast (All Shows) or subscribe with iTunes
