Hitz FM Melbourne memories, photos, and recordings.
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?
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”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)”25 years ago tonight, a certain youth radio station was broadcasting live from Inflation Nightclub. It was the final night of Hitz FM’s 6th Broadcast. Time to celebrate. The station had come back onair, it had a new CD in the shops, and it had one of those brand new “webpage” things on the “internet”.
Yes – it was clearly 1995.
He’s back.
James Ash (Rogue Traders, Union State, former Hitz FM announcer and committee member) has come back to where it all began. He’s re-signed with legendary Melbourne-based dance label Vicious Vinyl. And his first release – is a cover of a true Hitz-era classic.
But what I found most interesting about all this – is that it’s NOT the first time he’s tried to cover this song…
Continue reading “James Ash is Right in the Night!”Dreams (and it’s performer, Gabrielle) seemed to come out of nowhere.
When the song was released in Australia in late 1993, the charts were dominated by romantic R&B (Freak Me – Silk), reggae-flavoured pop (Can’t help falling in love with you – UB40 / Sweat – Inner Circle) and adult rock (What’s Up – 4 Non Blondes / I’d do anything for love – Meatloaf). Dreams – with it’s romantic soul-tinged pop sounds… seem to arrive from another planet.
It also seemed to remind me of another song, and 27 years later I know the answer.
Continue reading “Smash Hitz: Dreams – Gabrielle”Time to salute another mid-90s dancefloor classic – U Sure Do.
We all know the song – but did you know it was composed of samples from a number of other tracks? (Don’t worry, neither did I. All but one of them are pretty obscure.) Even more interestingly… did you know about Strike’s strong Australian connection?
Read on, and all will be revealed.
Continue reading “Smash Hitz: U Sure Do”Back in 1996, On the Bible by Deuce was everywhere. Actually the ‘Wand remix’ of the track was everywhere. But we’ll hear more about that later. On the Bible was being thrashed during Hitz FM’s 9th broadcast. They played it at the Sydney Mardi Gras. You’d hear it booming out of your local Sanity music store.
But who are Deuce?
Continue reading “Smash Hitz: Deuce”On this day, back in 1992 – a song debuted at the very bottom of Australia’s ARIA charts. Number 100. A song by Boyz II Men.
And the next week, it was gone.
By any normal measure, this song was one of the least successful tracks of the 1990s in Australia. It couldn’t have charted any lower. And yet, for Hitz listeners – its importance vastly outweighs its chart success.
“Oh my god. Becky, look at her…” (Yep, we’re back on 9th August 1992)
I’m sure you know the rest.
Today was the day, back in 1992 that Sir Mix-a-Lot debuted on the ARIA charts at number 29, with a song that was big on Hitz FM and everywhere else.
