96fm (Perth Radio Station) - History

History

96FM began broadcasting on 96.1 MHz on August 8, 1980 as Perth's first commercial FM radio station. The first record played at the 4pm launch was FM No Static at all Steely Dan" with Gordon O'Byrne the first live "jock" to air. Gary Roberts was its first Program Director.

Throughout the 1980s, 96FM provided groundbreaking innovation for Perth radio listeners. In 1981, the highly successful Gold Pass was launched. This provided holders access to obtain discounts at retailers for goods such as CD's, clothing, concert tickets, car audio & security to name but a few. The rationale for launching the Gold Pass was so the station could raise extra revenue (minimum was a $5000 spend) without doing OB's (outside broadcasts).

In 1982, 96FM became the first radio station in Australia to play music from CD. The song was Toto's "Rosanna". From then on the station's old library of vinyl records and carts was replaced with CD's.

Amongst some of the most successful radio promotions in the stations history include 'Rockwords' where listeners could win $10,000 cash for correctly completing a cross-word in the daily West Australian newspaper. The station broadcast the clues on an hourly basis. Another hallmark promotion was the 'Top 96 Albums of alltime' and what was then the annual 'Skyshow'.

By 1985, 96FM had reached #1 in the Perth radio ratings for the first time although 990 6PM on the AM band continued to be a strong number 2 for the remainder of the decade until 6PM converted to FM in 1991 as 92.9 6PMFM, then PMFM and now 92.9.

96FM was the sole commercial FM station in Perth until 1991. 6PM and 6KY successfully bid for the right to convert from the AM band to FM in the early 1990s.

In 1993, Village Roadshow, owners of the Triple M network in the eastern states, took over the financially stricken FM Australia (formerly Hoyts Media). No more than six months later 96FM was relaunched as a Triple M, albeit with the Today Network Top 40 (CHR) music format, as opposed to the harder rock format of its eastern Triple M counterparts. The revamped station failed to make a major impact up against its FM rivals.

In 1996 as Triple M, with flagging ratings and finances the station dropped organising the annual Skyshow. The event was subsequently handed over to both the WA State Government and the City of Perth. Due to copyright ownership restrictions associated with the name the event has been rebranded 'Skyworks'. The format of the event was not significantly changed.

In 1997, Village Roadshow subsidiary Austereo purchased PMFM and KYFM from local entrepreneur Jack Bendat. Australian media ownership laws required the divestiture of the station, and Village Roadshow subsequently sold it to Southern Cross Broadcasting which also owned AM radio station 6PR.

Southern Cross returned the station back to its original 96FM branding, with a new logo. In 2007 96FM was part of the acquisition of Southern Cross by Fairfax Media. The Macquarie Bank Media fund Macquarie Media Group paid Southern Cross $1.26b. Then in a contingent party deal Macquarie Media onsold all of SCB radio assets to Fairfax Media. Macquarie Media retained the regional television assets. The niche assets such as the production company Endemol and other businesses like Satellite Music Australia were bought by Fairfax Media Ltd.

In 2012 a new logo was sighted on the websites with new positioner "Keep Real Music Alive".

In June 2012, 96FM went #1 All People for the first time since 1992.