Happy Australia Day!

Typically this day for us is spent outside, having a bbq and listening to Triple J’s Hottest 100. Today is slightly different because the weather is lousy. Instead, we are inside listening to Triple J’s Hottest 100. Today also marks the day that Mr Shallot has told me of his epiphany – that he’s now too old for this radio station (admittedly he said that I was too old too).

His realization came after hearing the station referred to as “Australia’s youth network” and he thinks we’re passed it. His point is that approaching 40 is not youth. This got me to thinking how my radio habits have evolved since I was really young.

It started out on the Gold Coast listening to the only other station we had there at the time, aside from ABC. Everyone listened to 4GG. Then FM came so the station changed to 4GGG, Gold FM. This radio station then lost market share to a new, younger player – Sea FM (90.9 on your FM dial). I was part of that market share.

Early in my high school years I was given a stereo system and with that came the freedom to choose my own stations. One night, I discovered FM104 (Rock in Stereo) and Vanessa the Undresser (she seemed to be on every late night request program). This station then evolved into TripleM and I wondered how Agro could do both breakfast TV and then late night radio – does that puppet never sleep? The highlight for me was Take 40 Australia (sponsored by Coca Cola) with Barry Bissell. I miss him but have found a replacement in Richard Kingsmill on Triple J. While he doesn’t do a countdown program (except for his portion of the Hottest 100 each year), he is certainly an expert in music.

Later in high school, I found Triple J and only deviated due to lack of quality reception. University in Armidale meant no access to Triple J so I made the switch to 2UNE, the university radio station where one of the best women and I co-hosted an afternoon show for a while.

Moving to Sydney saw Mr Shallot and I once again hooked onto Triple J. With many road trips between Sydney, Armidale and the Gold Coast, Mr Shallot knows all the settings for Triple J to see us through the trip (now that radios have automatic programming, the pressure is off him to remember). Only in a few spots is there no reception.

It’s been many years that we’ve been avid listeners of Triple J. Testimony to our dedication is we even listen to it in HK streaming over the net – I could write a whole other article about the local radio stations.

The problem is, where to from here? We’re not ready for ABC National and neither of us are big on radio talkback but there seems to be a need for a station in between Triple J and ABC National.

Looks like we’ll be staying with Triple J for a while. Perhaps until we’re ‘really’ old…

* Thanks to Youth Group for the title to this post. It was Number 21 in the 2006 Hottest 100.