Triple M makes it to 30 years
Rock Music station Triple M today celebrated its 30th birthday.
The announcement:
Triple M Sydney celebrates 30 years of broadcasting today -born on 2 August in 1980.
The Grill Team guests included past hosts Jonesy and Amanda, Hugh Jackman, Tim Farris from INXS, Doug Mulray, Andrew Denton, Peter Garrett, Jimmy Barnes and The Choir Boys playing live in-studio.
Doug Mulray
“I had a listen to you guys after I met Stuart MacGill waiting for his gay boyfriend in a Chinese restaurant, what you’re doing that Triple M hasn’t done for a long time, pardon me being a wise-arse, is what Julia Gillard was talking about before, you guys are real and honest and people get that, it’s got to sound better than the debate did the other night.”
“The great thing about Triple M was, it was Rod Muir’s dream, everybody that was there was part of a fantastic energy. They sent a time and motions guy in once to observe what we did, I said you don’t get this, people work here until 4am to get something right in the best interest of the station , you can’t send some guy in who was last at IBM and expect him to understand Triple M.”
“FM was a very exciting technology, people take it for granted these days, just like the internet, to hear transmissions of powerful
clear music, the music we love, in stereo in your car, or at home, promised a future for a two, three generations of listeners, FM radio had been around but the people who owned the AM licences studiously thought to keep it suppressed.”
Andrew Denton
“When I worked with Dougy, I remember our first OB (Outdoor Broadcast), I think we started drinking Schnapps at five in the morning, it’s a hangover I still have and that was 20 years ago. I got into radio by sheer chance, I just bluffed my way in.”
“When I announced I was leaving we had the audience completely fooled that in a bold move for Triple M was going to be shock jock Stan Zemanek, the audience just melted down, we were going to run the joke for a whole week but management said, ‘mate they’re getting really angry, you better stop this.’”
Peter Garrett
“The turnover in media can be really fast and furious, to stick around for 30 years that’s a fantastic achievement, you’ve had a strong commitment to Australian music, particularly the harder end of rock, so for those of us that used to play loud that’s a good thing.
“That was a great period, the interesting thing when you look back on it now, we had a lot of bands, bands that you still play, Australian bands, The Divinyls, The Angels, Inxs, The Oils, Chisel, playing really strongly night after night in the pubs in this town, and the M’s were part of that, often presenting, obviously covering the stuff, giving people lots of promotion along the way, and that builds a life for musos, if they get that support from radio then they’ve got a career that’s got some longevity in it. And most of those people have shown that they’ve got great capacity to keep on making great music and doing great shows.”
Tim Farriss
“30 years, I can’t believe I’ve been listening to you guys for that long.” He introduced a special song…“For the first time here is Never Tear Us Apart with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Ben Harper. Very many happy returns, from all of INXS to Triple M, you guys have meant a lot to us over the years, and you remain true in our hearts, you are THE rock station.”
Jimmy Barnes
I just remember Triple M coming onto the airwaves in Sydney, suddenly, it was a breath of fresh air in radio, and rock and roll music really took a hold of this country, it did a hell of a lot for Australian music.
Barbara Wilton – Triple M Receptionist
The receptionist who has been with Triple M since the beginning…
“I remember the first day the station won the ratings, we virtually closed at lunchtime, went to lunch that turned into dinner, with a cost of around $25k.”
“During the Olympics Mick Molloy and Billy Birmingham were doing the drive shift, it was a Friday afternoon and an attractive Brazilian girl had brought in a case of beer for them, I went to the studio to let them know and when I got back I couldn’t help notice that the girl was now naked. I was reasonably sure she was clothed when I left her, and I’ve never seen so many sales guys in reception at one time.”
Tune in to Triple M the only station that rocks – 104.9FM www.triplem.com.au
Source: Triple M press release
