Right in the Night: The Hitz FM staff reunion

After 3 years of organising and a small pandemic, last Saturday saw the first ever Hitz FM staff reunion. And from what I hear, it won’t be the last. Hit that ‘read more’ button for photos, stories and all the action.

It’s 30 years since Hitz FM went Melbourne-wide, and last week 50 of the team gathered at La Porchetta in South Yarra. As I walked in to help setup, I smiled.

Let’s get it started

I first spotted James Ash and Steve Davis. They’d set up the sound system and already had some 90s tunes playing. Nick Karlas – as always – was moving fast with a clipboard. Tracey Syzmanski (Wooding) was laying out CDs for the table display, and Cat Slattery (Skutela) was setting up the TV slideshow.

Once we got the name stickers, displays and slideshows working, the first of the guests arrived. There were hugs and delighted yelps galore as people found expected – and unexpected – friends and colleagues from the past.

Talk breaks and Music Playlists

Nick did an opening speech early on which set the scene for a fantastic Hitz FM staff reunion. He paid tribute to members who couldn’t attend, most notably Hitz founder Anton Vanderlely and long-serving president Andrew Gyopar. Nick also asked for a show of hands to see which ‘era’ the various staff belonged to.

We jumped back into the music while dinner was served. And for the first time, I’m going to share the playlist below. Over 5 hours it summarised the Hitz FM story from 1992 to 2001. From the early hard rock sound through to the dance pop of the middle years, the rise of Hip Hop and then into club and trance.

Tip: Click on ‘full screen’ and you can flip through the booklet.

Soundtrack and tricky questions

The soundtrack also included a few special things that sadly you’ll never hear on a Spotify stream. There were the DJ-only Medleys and remixes (1992 Hot Tracks Medley, Walk this Way Mastermix and more), a custom remix (Paul Calvert’s What About Me underground club mix) and a tonne of Hitz FM IDs and promos that made it sound like the station had come back to life.

During the night, we also split into teams for Hitz FM trivia. There were song questions (How many times did East 17 say ‘alright’ in their 1994 hit?) and Hitz-specific questions (What was the Hitz FM request line number?). Then a final ‘sudden death’ round with double points and the team leaders doing ‘names as buzzers’.

And a special surprise

Although the focus of the night was very much on people catching up with friends, there was one other item on the list. I gave a quick overview of the Hitz FM book and for the first time ever, read a small (very early) excerpt of the text. I was pretty nervous about this, but the applause and feedback afterwards made it all worthwhile.

The rest of the night was music and conversation until the traditional ‘last song’ – It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday. As we wrapped up, it was wonderful to hear people who hadn’t seen each other in decades organising future small-scale catchups. And I had a number of people mention that they had ‘Hitz tapes at home’ so I’m hopeful to bring you more recordings to listen to in the future.

What should we do next time?

Thankyou so much to Nick, Tracey and Cat for months and months of hard work to put the night together. Thanks also to our audio team (Jamie, Steve, Darryl) for their brilliant help.

As for another event? Quite a few people seemed to be keen and I suspect the next one will be bigger and more creative. If we’re able to organise a large-scale listeners event you’ll hear it here – first.

But for now, the reunion team are having a big rest.

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. View all posts by Gabe McGrath