Triple M stands by Australia Day ‘Ozzest 100’ despite growing backlash
Southern Cross Austereo’s Triple M has refused to back down on plans to air an “Ozzest 100” countdown on Australia Day in a move it has linked to ABC station Triple J’s decision to move the date of the Hottest 100 to a less divisive date.
Triple M sent out an email to its subscribers yesterday, announcing the launch of its “perfect Australia Day” soundtrack. It criticised the “hipsters” of Triple J for deciding there would be no soundtrack on Australia Day.
Three weeks ago, Triple J announced it had changed the date of its annual Hottest 100 countdown to recognise criticism from the Indigenous community that January 26 marks the anniversary of the invasion of their country by white settlers.
Yesterday’s email from Triple M read:
“So, the taxpayer funded FM has decided that there’ll be no soundtrack for Australia Day. Let’s face it, that’s usually full of hipsters or kids making music on a Mac.
At Triple M, we’re going to give you what you’ve asked for. The perfect Australia Day soundtrack.
We want “Triple M’s Ozzest 100” to include all the songs that define Australian music. That’s why we need your help to build it!
Tell us about your favourite Aussie songs. We don’t care about a Top 40 chart position. who wrote it, or even awards. it’s just got to be Aussie.
Simply tell us the title and artist of your top 3 by clicking the big orange button below. Don’t delay, requests close December 31st. The Triple M Team “Triple M’s Ozzest 100” built by the Triple M Club. Australia wide, Australia Day 2018.”
Almost immediately, Triple M was called out on social media.
https://twitter.com/Briggs/status/943403846012780544
Very interesting that just a few short weeks ago @dansultan was interviewed by Mick Molloy on Triple M and they both discussed how great it was @triplej changed the hottest 100 date. I remember being pleasantly surprised by the Triple M segment and Molloys stance. And now this 😑
— Polly Maeve (@PollyMaeve) December 20, 2017
https://twitter.com/sadfeministhoe/status/943440441793331200
This is what January 26th symbolises to Indigenous people, a day of grief, mourning & loss and you @TripleMMelb @TripleMSydney just went & made it worse by trying to stop progress. You're so going to be on the wrong side of history. Absolutely bloody Pathetic. #TripleM pic.twitter.com/6q9HIMobTI
— Kon Karapanagiotidis (@Kon__K) December 20, 2017
https://twitter.com/cameron_adams/status/943367444411826176
In a short statement sent to Mumbrella, Triple M’s head of content, Mike Fitzpatrick, responded to the backlash: “At Triple M we are avid supporters of Aussie music and like we do throughout the year and every Australia Day we will celebrate Aussie artists.”
Fitzpatrick: ‘Celebrating Aussie artists’
It was Triple J not Triple M that have politicised things here. Its a bold stance that Triple J to mpove thye hottest 100, but I would say it does not currently have the support of mainstream Australia with their stance… yet… maybe that will change on the back of such moves.
Triple M are being cheeky here (although very much on-brand) but it doesn’t mean that they have to be held to the same political views as the National Alternate Music/Youth network. Most Australians still love and embrace Australia Day… the people who want to change this need to drive their message of change through education – not pontification
I see this situation as a catalyst for robust discussion on the merits of celebrating Australia Day – just get ready for the extremists views on both sides to get nasty.
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I would be embarrassed to work for SCA after hearing this.
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So Triple M’s head of content’s strategy to address the backlash on this decision was to not address the backlash at all?
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I really want your comment to be right because I am generally against the politicisation of things, however Triple M made this about politics when they specifically called out Triple J’s actions in their email.
If they had just launched this and let other people draw that parallel, they could have denied it and we could sit here saying they aren’t the ones who made this about politics, but in making that jibe, they’ve included themselves in the discussion.
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For many Australians like myself Australia Day is characterised by a casual barbecue listening to the Triple J hottest 100. But the fact is we can do this on any day. Like many other Triple J listeners I do not support celebrating a day that represents a dark part of our history. I would much rather celebrate what it means to be an Aussie another day. A day that is not marked with historical suffering.
Triple M is taking a step backward. Their actions will only encourage ignorant Australians.
However I am confident those voters will not select a sound track worth listening to on the 26th or any other day for that matter.
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There are many activist groups (eg Midnight Oil) and many indigenous artists who would end up on the list being played. I have not heard any of the saying please take me and my music off your list. I am tired of this invasion story, History of the world shows (pacific islands, south america, many to the list) that is was always going to happen no matter what. Prior to Australia there was New Holland, Tassie was called Van Diemen’s Land,. So you could say in reality that over 60% of the world has been invaded, However here it seems that when one battle is over another must be found and started it seems just so there is something to complain about.
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Australia Day is still a national public holiday that millions of Australians still observe and celebrate. So why shouldn’t Triple M supply a soundtrack to those that want to enjoy the day. Their brand is rock, with a strong Australian skew anyway.
Just because Triple J chose to move their day, doesn’t mean nobody is allowed to step up and fill the void.
If you don’t like it, don’t listen. Chances are most of the people complaining don’t listen to Triple M anyway.
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Good on you Triple M! And a win for society, democracy, and opportunity, something that the leftys will never understand but expect everyone else to work hard for to pay for their isolated social agenda. No one even knows the new date of the taxpayer funded jjj countdown. This is a massive win for Australian music lovers, uniting the nation rather than dividing it, thanks Southern Cross. And free, Not like jjj that wastes all of our hardworking taxpayer $. The worst decision this once great station ever made in their history.
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You’ve completely misunderstood the story but ok
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Clever guerilla on-brand marketing on MMM’s part, and which signals that the backlash against absurd political correctness has finally gone mainstream, with corporates emboldened perhaps by the success of Milo’s recent tour.
Also highlights the ludicrous and risky nature of corporates supporting the social cause de jour. Radio stations and airlines are not human beings. They are not sentient and feel no emotion.
CEOs and MDs should by all means feel free to personally support Invasion Day or Marriage Equality, but this notion that an inanimate, intangible corporate entity can support a social cause is ridiculous – not to mention co-ercive of the employees whose views on the relevant subject will be as diverse as the normal population.
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Time to move on folks.
We can’t change what happened over 200 years ago.
We’re a country of many cultures. Let’s come together and forget our differences.
Otherwise we’re going ot end up in the mess the USA is in. Not pretty
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David: you may investigate how many of those other “60 percent” of countries celebrate the invasion as their national day.
We’re all sick of it. So just change the bloody date.
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The strange thing here is that Triple J haven’t abandoned Australia Day at all. They’re celebrating the day with… a day of Australian music! Even the ABC news people reporting on Triple M’s actions don’t seem to realise that Triple M are responding to Triple J’s change by doing exactly what they’re doing on January 26.
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The Hottest 100 costs no more than the programming that would have aired anyway. And it provides revenue to the ABC in the form of CD sales and other merch. Plus endless publicity.
It also benefits countless pubs that hold Hottest 100 parties. Now they will have two days in late January to hold special events on, supported by government promotion.
While SCA doesn’t get money from citizens via the government, it does survive on a consumption tax known as “advertising”. Have you ever bought a good or service advertised on SCA radio? Congratulations! You’ve been taxed to support Triple M!
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OMG! Is Triple M still around? Couldn’t be arsed listening to them.
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Yeah, and to try to say the word “Aussie” as many times as possible
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‘Growing backlash’?
From who, the tiny percentage of professional offence-takers who scream the loudest?
Don’t normally listen to Triple M. I will be on Australia Day.
Suck sh*t Triple J.
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I’d rather be paying GST with hard working Australian commercial businesses that advertise on Southern Cross, most of whom are small businesses – the back bone of the Australian economy, rather than paying PAYG taxes of my own propping up an $1bn+ entity that is completely over-resourced in this highly competitive media landscape. CD sales and merch – would love to know how much this contributes to the debt that Labor and the Greens left the jjj youth listeners of the country for generations to come!
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I don’t know if Yothu Yindi’s ‘Treaty’ being listed in MMM’s Ozzyiest 100 is a good or a bad thing. If it’s in there that could be racist, if it’s not in there then that must be an omission… Either way the outcome can not go well.
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BINGO! What do I win?
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Not true. Triple M were responding to the ABC who politicised the issue. You know, the same ABC that guzzles my tax payer dollars, and now decides to push an issue I don’t agree with and deny Aussies a countdown on their special day.
No surprises when you look at the triple M commentators who are whinging – all current or ex ABC staffers.
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The difference is that we can choose whether or not to support SCA. We can’t do that with the ABC.
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