Hitz FM Melbourne memories, photos, and recordings.
Modern club tracks are often dominated by musical, rather than lyrical content. Having said that, even the most stripped-back house tracks usually contain singing, even just a few short samples.
But what about tracks with no vocals at all?
It’s time to count down the 13 best instrumental 90s club hits.
Continue reading “NO WORDS NO WORRIES: the best instrumental 90s club hits”As I wrote to to my free newsletter subscribers earlier this week – I have news.
After many years of work, DRAFT 1 of my long-awaited Hitz FM book is done. (Well, “done enough”.) So, what does this mean? And how much longer will you have to WAIT?
I have lots to tell you…
Continue reading “BEHIND THE SCENES: Writing my long-awaited Hitz FM book”Hitz FM’s fifth broadcast featured “Dribble” hosted by Paul Dowsley and Adele Cookson. It was a listener-powered weeknight countdown show. And on Sunday nights Hitz would complile the lot into the Hot 30 countdown, hosted by yours truly.
What’s that? You wanna hear one?
I’ve got an almost-complete FOUR HOUR show to share with you! (streaming link at the bottom of this post)
Continue reading “STREAMING NOW: the Hottest 30 Hitz of April 1995”After the fantastic success of Hitz FM’s first CD – the Original Hitz volume 2 was sure to follow. But what people didn’t expect, was an all-Aussie one lineup!
It’s packed with rare remixes – very few of which are on Spotify. But NOW, we’ve got them ALL here for you to enjoy
Continue reading “Choons from Down Under: the Original Hitz volume 2”August marks the 5th Anniversary of the Hitz FM memories blog. I thought I’d compile a top 10 of personal faves. Of course, this became difficult. So I’ve gone bigger. My fifteen FAVE Hitz FM moments.
Some of these posts were wildly popular. Some less so. But every one is special to me.
Please allow me one day of self-indulgence.
This week marks 30 years since Hitz FM’s equivalent of “the difficult second album“. Yes, it’s the week when Hitz broadcast 4 began. It was the first time the station had been onair since the history-making Summer 93/94 transmission. And so much had changed.
Continue reading “Stream it now – 30 years since Hitz broadcast 4 began!”OK, we’re halfway through the 4.5 hour mix – time to find some more Easter eggs (surprise audio) inside. More secrets from the Hitz Reunion Mix
Continue reading “EVEN MORE: Secrets from the Hitz Reunion Mix – part 2”OK, it’s been three weeks. Time to reveal our first batch of secrets in the Hitz Reunion Mix. Every rare remix. Every little Easter egg.
Let’s do this.
Continue reading “EXPOSED: Secrets in the Hitz Reunion Mix – part 1”At last it’s finished. A four-and-a-half hour audio tribute to Hitz FM. First played at our staff reunion in August. And now completely re-edited for your audio enjoyment. Scroll on to see what’s in the mix, and most importantly – HIT THE PLAY BUTTON to listen.
Continue reading “Streaming now! The 4.5 hour Hitz FM Reunion Mix”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.
Continue reading “Right in the Night: The Hitz FM staff reunion”My calendar can’t be right. It can’t be 30 years since Hitz FM’s biggest broadcast. It can’t be three decades since Hitz FM’s final hour at Moorabbin.
But it is.
And now for the first time ever, you can listen to it, online.
(If you’re super-keen, just flick to the bottom of this post.)
Thirty years ago, Melbourne’s number 1 radio station crashed to 4th place, when Hitz FM blitzed the ratings. Hitz vs Fox was a battle that we never even imagined happening! And now, for the first time ever – we hear from the two people who were hosting the Fox FM breakfast show at that time.
Continue reading “Hitz vs Fox: Grubby and Dee Dee spill the beans”The January long weekend is the perfect time for listening to a bunch of great tunes while you gather with friends. And if you’re over the ‘usual’ one – here’s a little time machine back to 1997/1998.
Continue reading “Your long-weekend bangin barbie playlist from Summer 97/98!”It was 30 years ago – tonight – that Hitz FM’s unforgettable Summer broadcast of 93-94 began. To celebrate, I’ve researched & created a special 150 song Spotify playlist of tracks Hitz played at that time. It’s at the bottom of this post!
But first, a quick recap.
Continue reading “Hitz FM’s unforgettable Summer: And your 30th anniversary gift”Christian Slater knocked my socks off the first time I saw him in action. But it wasn’t Pump Up The Volume. It was the black comedy Heathers. I saw it one Friday night at a mate’s place on VHS.
And I’d never seen a film like it.
So when I found out Mr Slater’s next film was going to be about a DIY radio station – I was very keen to see it. And I wasn’t disappointed.
Continue reading “DNA of Hitz: Christian Slater’s amazing Pump Up The Volume”Happy birthday, Hip Hop! August 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the birth of the genre and culture – at a party in The Bronx in 1973. Our story picks up two decades later, as many consider the 90s to be a golden age of Hip Hop.
Hitz FM was proud to be part of that era, from the earliest chart breakthroughs to massive artists like Jay-Z and Eminem who appeared at the turn of the millennium. But let’s see how Hip Hop evolved along with Hitz FM Melbourne throughout your favourite decade.
It was back in August 2020 when this site began, and now it’s time to celebrate three years of Hitz Memories; recordings, photos and stories.
Here are the Top 9 stories you loved over the past 3 years.
Continue reading “Your Top 9 stories in three years of Hitz Memories”Once you hit June in Melbourne, it’s seriously cold. So queing up for a nightclub is a real test of patience. (And your choice of outfit.) Luckily for clubbers in ’97, there were some quality tracks in the clubs – once you got inside. And the Original Hitz Volume 5 CD featured a tonne of them.
Continue reading “Get your bangers here! The Original Hitz Volume 5”After the many challenges of Hitz’s 4th broadcast, the return of Hitz FM in April 1995 was a less stressful affair. Much less to prove, new toys to try out, and only 3 weeks onair, rather than six.
But don’t just take my word for it – click on the streaming link and have a listen!
Continue reading “LISTEN: Awesome Easter holidays with Hitz FM in April 1995”If you’re a Hitz fan, you probably remember the original late 90s internet. You know; dialup modems, Hotmail, ICQ, and fansites. Obviously I was there, and I can prove it. After 20 years of being hidden away, I’m going to tell you all about my Hitz FM site on Geocities.
Yes indeed. So fire up your Netscape browser, load up some mp3s on Winamp, coz we’re going back…
Continue reading “Peak 90s man: My Hitz FM site on Geocities”After Valentines Day yesterday, what better time to celebrate The Original Hitz Volume 3 CD. After all, it features that famous La Bouche track and a tonne of other tracks for a bit of romancin’.
Or… a LOT of dancin.
Continue reading “BE MY LOVER: The Original Hitz Volume 3 CD”Some of my favourite Hitz broadcasts were the Summer ones. Number 1 (from John Gardner), number 3 (the famous one) and of course, the 7th Hitz FM Broadcast – when I actually got to host the breakfast show! But we’ll get to that later.
Oh, and I’ve got a recording for you from that time too.
Continue reading “The lucky 7th Hitz FM Broadcast signed off tonight”Tonight was the night – 26 years ago exactly – when the Hitz gang gathered at their favourite King Street nightclub. It was the end of Hitz broadcast 10.
And I’ve got a 90 minute tape for you to stream.
Continue reading “LISTEN: Messy at Inflation – Hitz broadcast 10 wraps up”It was September 2000, when Hitz Melbourne released one of their final compilation CDs – HitzFour Ampfarm. Like most CDs released by hopeful FM stations in that era, it had plenty of dance tracks.
But this one offered something more.
It was 30 years ago – this week – that Hitz FM Melbourne came into being. And from 1992 to 2001 people used to ‘tape Hitz off the radio’. But those cassettes are being lost.
Today – we do something about it.
Welcome to the Hitz FM Melbourne tape drive.
