Radio This Week Back Then #50: January 5-11
Classic hits 2CH 1170, CHR 2SYD 96.9 “Nova,” and classic hits 2UUS 101.7 “WSFM” Sydney plus ZM New Zealand and the first day of WTKK (later WBQT) 96.9 "Hot 96-9" Boston
What was on the radio this week…back then. This is a weekly visit of radio audio from this week in past years for those that enjoy radio history, those working in radio looking for promotional ideas, or stations looking to re-find lost audio of their heritage. If you enjoy these weekly audio rewinds, they take a lot of time to put together, so please do me a favor, subscribe, and share and pass it on. Thank you! A searchable and sortable index of all the audio is located on the Aircheck Index page.
This week on the big 5-0 edition pulls some more Down Under airchecks from a trip there back in 2019 and the first day of the current WBQT 96.9 “Hot 96-9” Boston.
Sydney | classic hits 2CH 1170, CHR 2SYD 96.9 “Nova,” classic hits 2UUS 101.7 “WSFM”
Auckland | CHR ZM
Boston | rhythmic AC WTKK 96.9 “Hot 96-9” (first day)
Happy reading and listening!
This week back in 2019, I was wrapping up a trip to Sydney. I put up a couple of airchecks (classic rock 2MMM 104.9 “Triple M” and CHR 2WFM 106.5 “Kiis 106-5”) from the first part of the trip in last week’s edition. This week adds three more from Sydney before the trip home. If unfamiliar with the radio market, below is a snapshot of how the stations stacked up in the publicly released ratings numbers in some of the Australian trades back then.
Branded as “Easy Classics,” 2CH was a station that fell between standards and classic hits. After 90 years of broadcasting on the AM dial, 2CH signed off in June 2022 to broadcast digitally only via DAB+. The 1170 kHz signal is now occupied by programming from Sports Entertainment Network.
Branded as “Nova,” 2SYD runs a CHR format that competes against 2WFM 106.5 “Kiis 106-5,” which was featured in last week’s edition. Musically, the stations are pretty similar, with 2WFM having a higher amount of throwbacks and recurrents compared to 2SYD from this period.
Related: Sydney
I enjoy the classic hits stations in Canada, Australia, UK, and Ireland a bit more than their US counterparts since they often have broader playlists than the norm in the US. Between that and the “oh, wow!” factor of hearing songs that were bigger hits there than here is a bit fun.
2UUS is one of those stations — really fun playlist and great imaging. Not surprisingly, we get some Aussie acts in this aircheck — Hunters & Collectors, Moving Pictures. We also get the Fine Young Cannibals song “Johnny Come Home,” that was a flop on the US pop charts (though more successful on the US dance charts), but a hit in Australia, UK, and other countries. As such, it is seldom heard on US classic hits outlets. “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” was a #1 hit in the US, but also seems to have fallen off the radar of most classic hits stations in the US.
The American looking “WSFM” call sign branding comes from the previous 2WS call letters from its original home at 1224 kHz. When it added the FM signal, the FM call sign was originally 2WS-FM, which eventually branded as “WSFM.” The current calls apparently homage to the original 2WS calls as if you hand wrote “2UUS” and had the two “U”’s touch, it would look like “2WS.”
Back to the aircheck: Although a bit whiny, I still have a soft spot for Moving Pictures’ “What About Me?” Of course, it was a big smash in Australia when it came out in 1982. Less so in the US as it peaked at #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart then, though it had a fairly long run on that chart at the time. It re-charted in 1989, but only peaked at #46. Coupled with the long run in 1982 and its reappearance in 1989, it end up being on the Hot 100 for 43 weeks, which was a record at the time. It was a remarkable run given it was never a top 10 hit.
From the 2 December 1989 Billboard…
Moving Pictures' "What About Me" logs its 43rd week on the Hot 100, tying Soft Cell's 1982 smash "Tainted Love" for the longest chart ran of any single in the rock era. Tied for second place with 40 weeks each: Paul Davis' "I Go Crazy," the Pointer Sisters' "I'm So Excited," and UB40's "Red Red Wine." Though these four other singles all reached the top 10, the Moving Pictures record never climbed above No. 29.
A few days ago, 2UUS was rebranded as “Gold 101.7,” matching the brand of its corporate sibling in Melbourne, 3KKZ 104.3 “Gold 104.3,” and shifting the music library forward.
The long trip back from Sydney was via SYD-AKL-LAX-DFW. So, I finally made it to New Zealand on my travel bucket list — except I only saw the Qantas airport lounge at the Auckland airport. During my brief stay in the lounge, I was able to record ZM via its Auckland signal on 91.0.
ZM is a national commercial network relayed through stations around the country. It runs a top 40 format. The ZM name comes from the call signs of the original stations — 1ZM Auckland, 2ZM Wellington, and 3ZM Christchurch — that were state-owned outlets part of Radio New Zealand. The government sold off and privatized the commercial arm of Radio New Zealand in the 1990s, which included the ZM outlets.
Related: Boston
After a week of stunting with different formats each day, former talk outlet WTKK “NewsTalk 96.9” signed on its new rhythmic AC format as “Hot 96-9, the Rhythm of Boston” on 8 January 2013. It launched with obligatory marathon of commercial free songs — 13,000 in a row for the 2013 new year. Imaged as “Today's Rhythm & All The Best Throwbacks,” WTKK also hired veteran DJ Pebbles for morning drive. Pebbles had been laid off from crosstown WJMN 94.5 “Jam’n 94.5” a few weeks before, allowing her “to make the switch.” The call change from WTKK to the present day WBQT calls occurred two months later on 20 March 2013.
This aircheck is from midday on “Hot 96-9”’s first day….about 55 minutes after it debuted at 11AM.
As always, the logos and other intellectual property belong to the stations. The recordings were made from over the air broadcasts. Similarly, other data (charts, ratings, etc.) belong to their owners.