Hitz FM Melbourne memories, photos, and recordings.
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…
Continue reading “YOU MADE IT: Your Top 9 Hitz stories of 2021”Throughout its lifespan, Hitz FM created and inspired a lot of other creative ventures and products. From their Hitz’s own CDs and Hitlist newsletters to their Hitz TV shows on Channel 31 and Optusvision. Then there were things like Raw FM on ABC TV.
This 13 part drama series was loosely based on the Hitz FM story. Raw FM debuted this week (late November) in 1997, and continued through till February 1998.
But the full tale starts a couple of years earlier.
Continue reading “WATCH: Raw FM on ABC TV – inspired by Hitz”It was Melbourne Cup Day – this week in 2001. The day we heard the final hour of Hitz FM.
Not that the Hitz crew – or their listeners – were particularly interested in horseracing. But for such an important part of Melbourne culture in the 90s, its probably fitting for one of the station’s anniversaries to coincide with a public holiday.
Continue reading “The final hour of Hitz FM”It was this week, back in 1996 when Hitz’s 9th broadcast wraps up. Songs like On the Bible (Deuce), Passion (A-Man), Born Slippy (Underworld) and Keep Pushin’ (Boris Dlugosh) battled it out for the end of broadcast countdown.
And a LOT had happened since the broadcast began on September 14.
Continue reading “Out with a bang: Hitz’s 9th Broadcast wraps up”Just like today, it was the second Sunday in October, back in 1997. Time for Paul Dowsley’s Weekend Siesta – the Dance Classics edition. For a couple of years it had been one of Hitz FM’s most well-loved programs. But this week in 1997, was its final one. Paul was about to hit 25 – and Hitz FM’s famous age ceiling for presenters was non-negotiable.
Before I jump into the streaming audio, a quick look at Paul’s wonderful career at Hitz might be in order…
Continue reading “STREAM: The FINAL Weekend Siesta Dance Classics”Over 9 years, the Hitz FM newsletter The Hitlist evolved from a single black & white page to a 24 page full colour magazine. From a single writer/editor (Anton Vanderlely) to 10 volunteers, headed by editor Tracey Wooding.
But how did The Hitlist begin? How did it develop? What sort of cool content did it feature over the years?
Continue reading “Read all about it: The Hitlist”September 22. Not today – I mean September 22 in 1995. When the defence team for the OJ Simpson case was just wrapping up. When the real life battles of the film “Black Hawk Down” were happening in Somalia. And Hitz FM returned for Hitz Broadcast 6.
All morning, a recording of “test tone” (a long ‘beep’) played onair, with the occasional announcement by Adele Cookson – asking for listener requests and sponsorship enquiries.
And most excitingly, I’ve found a recording.
Continue reading “Today: OJ’s defence finished and Hitz broadcast 6 began”One of the most exciting things to bring you on this blog has been recordings of Hitz FM. Often they’re 60-90 minute cassettes recorded by the announcers themselves. Sometimes they’re 8 hour “logger tapes” which were recorded in the station (to be kept in case of legal issues).
But even more exciting – are the recordings that were made back in the 90s by Hitz FM fans themselves. They’d listen to them over and over when the station was offair. Listen to them as they got ready to go out – or when driving.
And today’s mystery surrounds a fan’s cassette.
Continue reading “The mysterious story of the Essendon tape”September 1996. Some of us were watching the first ever series of Friends on TV. At the movies it was all about Independance Day and The Nutty Professor. And on the radio, it was the first day of Hitz FM’s 9th Broadcast.
We were smashing Inspiration (Strike), Wannabe (Spicegirls), Macarena (Los Del Rio), Ready or Not (The Fugees), Professional Widow (Tori Amos) and a tonne of other great tracks.
Continue reading “On this day: Hitz FM’s 9th Broadcast blasts into life”It’s time to to celebrate the first birthday of GabeMcGrath.com.
Back in June 2020 I had an idea. I’d been working on my Hitz FM book – but I had tonnes of other cool stuff that wouldn’t fit. How about I share it with the world?
After two months of boring technical stuff – GabeMcGrath.com was born on August 6th, 2020. And it’s been a very busy 12 months, full of lost tapes, photos, videos, mashups and more.
Time for a monster recap – with links galore!
Now let’s go back exactly one year…
July 18, 1993. 28 years ago – TONIGHT! After two fun-filled weeks, Hitz’s 2nd broadcast ends. The station had yet again managed to stay onair 24 hours a day using voluntters and borrowed equipment. And I’ve got 120 minutes of audio to share with you.
Looking back… compared to Hitz FM’s first broadcast – we’d made some great improvements.
When Hitz FM’s 2nd broadcast kicked off on July 3rd, 1993 – things were a bit different from the first time around. The music was a bit broader; less rock (sorry Guns n Roses), more pop (hello Sub Sub) and hip hop (hello Informer). The announcers sounded a bit more polished too. But the biggest change was the location.
Hitz FM’s 1st broadcast was held at a government school, John Gardner Secondary College. It was chosen for the location (near public transport) and the cost – free. But this time around, the station was a little further north – in the rather fancy Xavier College in Kew. Picture lots of big old buildings in a slightly Harry Potter style.
Continue reading “On this day: Hitz FM’s 2nd broadcast fired off”June/July 1996 – the time of Hitz FM broadcast 8.
On TV.. fans of hot men and women in uniform had a choice of new shows… Jag or Water Rats. Comedy fans were loving Good News Week on the ABC and 3rd Rock from the Sun on Seven.
In the cinemas we were spotting flying cows in Twister, watching Tom take on Mission Impossible, laughing at The Cable Guy and going Trainspotting.
Meanwhile, on 89.9 – the Hitz returned.
Continue reading “Stream this from Winter ’96: Hitz FM broadcast 8”This week marks a special anniversary for the Hitz team. It’s the week Anton Vanderlely and Nick Karlas won a Tattersall’s ‘Enterprise and Achievement’ award for their groundbreaking idea of creating a youth radio station in Melbourne.
And this time… “that’s enough from me”.
I’m handing this post over to other members of the Hitz crew. They’re all very grateful to Anton and Nick, for creating that ‘Sliding Doors’ moment when their lives changed…
March 11th is an important date on the Hitz FM calendar. It’s the anniversary of the final night of the history-making 3rd broadcast. And this year, I wanted to make it special.
So over a number of weeks, I organised a Zoom catchup with many of the original Hitz gang. But I had no idea how much work the entire project would take.
At the end of this post you can watch the full 30 minute documentary.
But how did it happen?
And what did I stuff up?
Over the years, I did a few McHappy Days in community radio. In 1992, the ECB FM team helped out at Nunawading McDonald’s with Greg Evans (Perfect Match) and Ian McFadyen (Comedy Company). Many of ECB’s Night Crew (under 25s) went on to participate in Hitz FM. So it wasn’t a big surprise, when Hitz did a bit of McHappying of our own.
Continue reading “When Hitz Supersized McHappy Day”The youth station’s 5th broadcast went quite smoothly until the day Hitz FM got hacked.
And if you scroll to the bottom of this post- you can HEAR the recording!
We’d tweaked the music to add a bit more hiphop and alternative to the mix. We were smashing out the big pop/dance tracks of early ’95 like The Bomb (The Bucketheads), Living in Danger (Ace of Base) and the Hardfloor remix of Yeke Yeke [Mary Kante]. We had fantastic Jeep Renegade vehicles for giving out prizes. And the Hitz team were living on a very healthy (?) diet of Jolt Cola and Kettle Chips.
But one day in the final week of the broadcast, a little “beep” changed everything.
Continue reading “LISTEN: Today in history, Hitz FM got hacked”For many Aussie kids in the 80s, watching ABC TV after school was an addiction. Monkey, Star Blazers, The Goodies, Inspector Gadget, Secret Valley, Astroboy, Metal Mickey, You can’t do that on Television. And then, there was Press Gang.
This show hit our screens just as the 80s were ending. A story of a bunch of schoolkids making their own little splash in the world of media. Becoming more sucessful than the adults imagined. Hmm, reminds me of another story…
Today’s post is the first of a series called The DNA of Hitz. We’ll be saluting shows, films and books with strong echoes of the Hitz FM story.
Continue reading “The DNA of Hitz: Press Gang”On this day in 1998, the Hitz CD series had a ‘reboot’ of sorts. No more ‘Original Hitz’. No more single CD releases. The Hitz One CD modernised the series, going to a two disc format, and adding an exclusive megamix with each release.
Today we look back on this historic CD, and I’ve invited a few of the team who put it together to share some memories.
Continue reading “Remembering Hitz One CD (1998)”After the fun of creating my first Hitz FM Top9 (the Top 9 controversial 90s songs) it’s time to do it again. With the big bass 90s songs.
This time around, we’re pressing the ‘bass boost’ button on our ghetto blaster. We’re plugging in the subwoofer and saluting the top 9 tracks with the biggest bass played by Hitz FM in the 90s.
Continue reading “The Top 9 big bass 90s songs”Right now, it seems a lifetime since I posted about the anniversary of the start of Hitz FM’s 3rd broadcast. And back on this night, March 11 in 1994 – it felt the same. Ninety days felt like ninety weeks.
Our planned 2 month broadcast – had been extended to three months. Our borrowed school classroms had become a proper office. We knew we’d be able to be heard all over Melbourne – but we didn’t realise people would LISTEN all over Melbourne.
Continue reading “LISTEN: On this night: Hitz FM’s 3rd broadcast ends”In February this year, Australians were caught in a media war between Facebook/Google, the Australian Government and traditional media. For about a week, Facebook blocked all Austalian ‘news sites’ and many others.
When the ‘news’ returned, I made a little funny video on my Gabe McGrath Facebook Page to celebrate. You can watch it below.
The thing is though – whilst I’m clearly teasing our news team, it was made with much respect. Let me explain…
First of all, happy Valentines Day. The day that Peter Andre visited Hitz FM.
Tonight I bring you news of a February 14 like no other. And for the first time ever on GabeMcGrath.com – I’ve invited a few of my old Hitz friends to help me.
As I noted the other day in our A Current Affair post, early 1994 was a pretty crazy time at Hitz FM. We had tonnes of media coverage. Hundreds of phone calls every day.
Then one night, Peter Andre dropped in…
Continue reading “Madness panic PANDEMONIUM when Peter Andre visited Hitz FM”It was one crazy Summer. The Summer of ’93/’94.
When Hitz FM appeared on A Current Affair.
Sure, every day during the 3rd broadcast, things seemed to be getting bigger.
First we noticed when we stopped at traffic lights – other people listening to our youth station. Other people we didn’t even know. Then the phone calls kept coming in… soon we had 4 telephone lines ringing all day.
Then, ACA arrived…
If a youth radio station’s 100% approved by parents – is it a real youth station? That’s what I thought to myself as I gathered these controversial 90s songs.
Hitz FM certainly didn’t set out to shock or offend. But if we thought our audience was going to like a track, you can be damn sure we played it. Especially if the requests were rolling in. And throughout our 9 year run, we played… some… doozies.
