YOU MADE IT: Your Top 9 Hitz stories of 2021

I don’t want to dwell on all the ‘real world’ stuff we had to go through in 2021. I want to think about the 90s when the music was better and something amazing happened on the radio. And now, I’m excited to present your Top 9 Hitz stories of 2021. The ones people clicked on, read, shared and enjoyed more than ANY others.

Let’s go…

Number 9

Our 9th highest post of 2021 celebrated the anniversary of Hitz FM blasting into loungerooms around Australia. On February 11th, 1994 – Ray Martin introduced a story he called “a good one” and the rest is history. This post includes tonnes of behind the scenes photos and videos – and the full video to watch.

Number 8

Our 8th most popular post of 2021 was a flashback to September 1995. Hitz FM’s 6th broadcast was just beginning, and thanks to an anonymous donor – I’ve got the first 30 minutes – ready for you to stream! As always I’ve been able to dig up a bunch of great behind-the-scenes photos – including one of yours truly doing his one and only production gig!

Number 7

Coming in 7th place for 2021 was a post where the Hitz announcers were doing less talking – and some anonymous person was doing more! It gave you the story of a strange episode in the Hitz story – where unknown hackers broke into the radio station signal.

NEWSFLASH – I’ve recently had contact with someone who may have a recording of the famous ‘pirate FM’ event – hopefully I can bring it to you soon.

Number 6

In the number 6 position this year – was a story with a sad departure and some great music. It was a flashback to October 1996, when songs like On the Bible and Passion (A-Man) were huge. And after many years of hard and enthusiastic work, the station said a fond farewell to Hitz FM co-founder Nick Karlas.

Number 5

We’re about halfway through our Top 9 Hitz stories of 2021. And here’s a special one. Your 5th most popular story of 2021 was a celebration of one of Hitz’s most creative CDs – Hitz One. This post gathered the people responsible behind the scenes for a fascinating roundtable chat. You’ll hear about their excitement when some of the “big songs” got authorised, and the near catastrophe that almost lost Hitz’s first ever CD megamix.

Number 4

We’re almost there – the TOP FOUR! I always love bringing you streaming audio to enjoy, and this one is special. It’s a celebration of Hitz’s 2nd broadcast – from a school – with TWO HOURS of audio to enjoy. You’ll read about how Hitz detected and amplified the musical turning point as Hip Hop/R&B started to explode in Australia. You can see the Top 20 songs of the broadcast. And of course – behind the scenes photos!

Number 3

This was a fun one. And you loved it too, putting it strongly into 3rd place this year. This post told the story of a mystery cassette – found in a 2nd hand music store. Some Hitz fan must have taped it ‘back in the day’ and thanks to one of our blog readers – we’ve got the story behind the find AND you can stream the whole tape right now.

Number 2

What a photo. What a story! And a worthy recipient of our 2nd-most-popular post of 2021. This was genuinely a fun post to write. I gathered a bunch of Hitz staff together, including Glenn Hampson (Power 20 host, 3rd broadcast) and Myf Trant (Music Director, 3rd broadcast) for a roundtable chat about this epic event. You’ll see some amazing photos and get ALL the behind the scenes stories from the day Hitz FM had a riot on its hands.

Number… ONE!

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. The biggest night from Hitz FM’s biggest broadcast – was easily the highest-trafficed post of 2021. Almost DOUBLE that of second place. Yep it’s the biggest of our Top 9 Hitz stories of 2021.

You can read about the crazy buildup of that Summer broadcast of 93/94. Also spot some never-before-seen photos from the studios. AND hear my final two hour show with my partner in crime Darryl Rae. Yes – there’s 120 minutes of Hitz streaming goodness (and terrible jokes) with the Top 16 songs (out of 89!) From Slave to the Music… to… well, you’ll have to listen to hear who comes out at number 1.


Well, that’s it. Goodbye 2021.

And thankyou, sincerely – for your support this year. It’s been hard work, but it’s (usually) been fun. I’ve reconnected with old Hitz friends and made new ones who listened ‘back in the day’ or just stumbled upon my site and liked what they heard.

Have a safe holiday season guys.

And if I could ask one tiny favour – if you’d like this project to keep growing, keep unearthing great old Hitz recordings and photos – please click on the pic above then share my Facebook page with a little note to your friends.

If they love 90s memories as much as you do – they’ll appreciate it.

Would your friends enjoy this post? Every share helps.

Author: Gabe McGrath

Gabe McGrath is a radio creative and freelance writer. He helped set up 89.9 Hitz FM Melbourne in the 90s. This youth radio station caused a sensation and 30 years later many a 90s kid will smile when 'Hitz' is mentioned. Gabe is working on a book about that era and now blogs about Hitz Melbourne. GabeMcGrath.com includes tonnes of streaming audio recordings, photos, stories and behind-the-scenes info.

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