Triple M Sydney (callsign 2MMM) is a radio station broadcasting in Sydney, Australia. Triple M Sydney is part of Southern Cross Austereo's Triple M network and broadcasts on the 104.9

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

frequency.

History

The Early Days

Triple M commenced broadcasting on 2 August 1980. Together with then rival station

2Day FM 2Day FM (call sign 2DAY) is a commercial FM radio station broadcasting in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, on a frequency of 104.1 MHz, and is part of Southern Cross Austereo's Hit Network. History 1980s 2Day FM was one of three radio st ...

, it was one of the first two commercial FM radio stations in Sydney. The Government-owned Triple J began broadcasting on the FM band just one day earlier. The station has always been primarily a rock music station. In the 80's, Triple M was one of the highest-rating radio stations in Sydney, spearheaded by its breakfast show presented by

Doug Mulray Douglas John Mulray (born 1 December 1951) is an Australian comedian, radio and television presenter. He grew up in the Sydney Northern Beaches suburb of Dee Why. Radio career Mulray began his career at 2AD in Armidale, after doing a broadca ...

and featuring the writing of and occasional appearances by

Andrew Denton Andrew Christopher Denton (born 4 May 1960) is an Australian television producer, comedian, Gold Logie-nominated television presenter and former radio host, and was the host of the ABC's weekly television interview program '' Enough Rope'' an ...

. From 1988 until the early nineties,

Club Veg ''Club Veg'' (initially called ''The Morning After Show'' on Triple J) was an Australian radio show created and presented by the comedic duo Vic Davies and Mal Lees (with writing contributions in the early years from Stephen Quinn). They start ...

with Mal Lees and Vic Davies hosted the Night show before moving to Perth to host the breakfast show at 96FM/Triple M. For all of this period and into the 1990s, Triple M's promotional campaign featured the character ''"Dr Dan"'', a guitar-playing

satyr In Greek mythology, a satyr ( grc-gre, σάτυρος, sátyros, ), also known as a silenus or ''silenos'' ( grc-gre, σειληνός ), is a male nature spirit with ears and a tail resembling those of a horse, as well as a permanent, exa ...

with wings, and a theme song that was an extended reworking of the Mike Batt track "Introduction (The Journey of a Fool)", from his 1979 album ''Tarot Suite''.

1990s to Early 2000s

After the Departure of Doug Mulray at breakfast, 2MMM tried a variety of breakfast show hosts, including Rob Duckworth and Sammy Power, and the

Richard Stubbs Richard Stubbs (born 4 November 1957) is an Australian radio and television presenter, writer and comedian. Career Stubbs was educated at Wesley College, Melbourne, where he was school captain. He then completed a Bachelor of Economics degree ...

Breakfast Show (broadcast from 3MMM in Melbourne). It was not until the late 1990s when

, a previous contributor to Mulray's program took the chair and became the host of Triple M's breakfast slot, with

Amanda Keller Amanda Rose Keller (born 25 February 1962) is an Australian television and radio presenter, comedian, writer, actress, journalist and media personality, best known as the hostess of the popular Australian lifestyle program ''The Living Room''. ...

joining him as a co-host, that 2MMM once again enjoyed ratings success. Club Veg with Mal Lees and Vic Davies also returned in 1998 and enjoyed instant ratings success in their morning slot of 9:00am–12:00pm before being moved to the Drive shift 4:00pm–7:00pm. This was also the time that Keller would work with Brendan "Jonesy" Jones who was doing afternoons at the time. Denton called in unwell one day Jones was called in to fill in with Keller, five years later they are working at WSFM. FM Talk was tinkered with via Talkback Host and journalist

Brian Carlton Brian Carlton (born 27 December 1962) is an Australian radio announcer, producer and journalist. He is known professionally on Triple M Hobart, as The Spoonman. Biography Carlton was born in Australia, into a Catholic household. He grew up in ...

, using the on air name of

The Spoonman ''The Spoonman'' was an Australian late night talk back show hosted by radio personality Brian Carlton. Carlton is known professionally as "Spoonman". The show ran from 1998 to 2008, and was rebooted in 2019. The Show The original version of ...

, derived from the Soundgarden song "

Spoonman "Spoonman" is a song by the American band Soundgarden. Written by the band's frontman, Chris Cornell, "Spoonman" was released on February 14, 1994, as the first single from the band's fourth studio album '' Superunknown'' (1994). "Spoonman" is c ...

". This show got axed at the end of the 1990s. Andrew Denton left the M's in the early 2000s, and many breakfast teams were tried out, with the likes of

Peter Berner Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a s ...

, Mikey Robins, and a return of Amanda Keller also during this period. The Triple M Freq Club was discontinued nationally during 2004.

2006–2008

A new breakfast program, '' The Cage'' emerged on the Triple M network, which included talents such as

James Brayshaw James Antony Brayshaw (born 11 May 1967) is an Australian media personality and retired cricketer working in television for the Seven Network and radio for Triple M. For Seven Sport, he hosts and calls Test cricket during summer and Australian ...

, Fitzy,

Brigitte Duclos Brigitte Duclos (born 13 December 1964) is an Australian television and radio presenter. Personal life Duclos, one of three sisters, was educated at Shelford Girls' Grammar. In December 2007, Duclos announced that she had split with husband ...

, these hosts being in various Triple M studios across the network. This went on in Sydney until the end of 2006, with the popular drive show ''

The Shebang ''The Shebang'' was a radio show broadcast weekday mornings from 6 am to 9 am AEST in Sydney, Australia, on Triple M. It was hosted by Marty Sheargold, Fifi Box and Paul Murray with Anthony Maroon as the show anchor. The producer, A ...

'' taking up the breakfast slot in 2007, to a low degree of success.

Returned in 2005, once again doing nights, using

name. In 2007, night show host Paul Murray was added to the Shebang breakfast team in the hope of increasing ratings, to no avail. The show abruptly ended in November 2008. The decision to axe ''The Shebang'' breakfast program and

Marty Sheargold Martin Donald Sheargold (born 19 June 1971) is an Australian stand-up comedian and radio broadcaster. Sheargold was part of Nova FM's national drive show '' Kate, Tim & Marty'' with Kate Ritchie and Tim Blackwell until 11 September 2020. He ...

taking leave from the show, led to Triple M's lowest ratings ever, slipping behind competitor Vega for the first time and leaving the former top-rating station last in the commercial radio station ratings. The Triple M Street Team (aka Street Freq or Rock patrols) were discontinued from visiting locations (such as parks and reserves) regularly – during mid 2006, to focus on a different brand. Though at present, there are Triple M Street Team locations on an occasional basis - visiting businesses only. . During mid 2006, Triple M introduced an interactive survey encouraging Triple M listeners to have a say in the music they play through the Triple M Music Jury. In October 2008, the station had changed the format temporarily (''Awesome '80s'') to play only 1980s music and use the old promos, news and traffic themes and the old station name ''Triple M FM 105''. The ''Spoonman Show'' and drive team Wil and Lehmo were also axed at the end of 2008. Morning DJ

Anthony Maroon Anthony Maroon is a Sydney-born radio personality at Triple M Sydney as an NRL commentator. Career Maroon graduated from Max Rowley's Media Academy in 1989. His first on-air radio job was at station 2NZ in Inverell, where he worked on the we ...

(who moved to Vega 95.3) was removed from the on-air DJs, along with Rob Duckworth who was in the afternoon slot. The re-branding of Vega saw the return of Maroon to Triple M on-air crew.

December 2008 – present

After the "Awesome 80s" format had wrapped up on 30 November 2008, "The All New Triple M" was launched, replacing the old slogans of "Triple M Rocks" and "Best of the Old Stuff, Best of the New Stuff" with "Music That Rocks". This launch came with a demographic shift, moving away from the "working class" mid 30s to 40s to a younger, 25–39 key demographic, targeting younger listeners. A new Breakfast Team was launched, with

Ugly Phil Ugly Phil O'Neil (born Phillip Surridge on 14 March 1963) is a radio DJ/announcer. He was born in the United Kingdom, and lived the majority of his life in Australia. Before adopting the on-air name of Ugly Phil he was known on-air as Phil O'Nei ...

and

Sami Lukis Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise net ...

, along with new drive programs, '' Roy & HG'' (Mondays and Fridays), and Tuesday to Thursdays drive slot being hosted by ex Shebang anchor Byron Cooke, called ''Live Line''. The Peter Berner Experiment returned from Tues to Thursdays at 6 pm. The ''Paul Murray Night Show'' returned, with the name "The All New Paul Murray Show", with the co host Rachel Corbett, playing nothing but recent music, with a slant towards a youth audience. Artists which feature prominently on Triple M include Nickelback, Powderfinger,

Kevin Rudolf Kevin Winston Rudolf (born February 17, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, rapper, and multi-instrumentalist from New York City, New York. He is best known for his 2008 single " Let It Rock". Early life Kevin Winston Rudo ...

Silverchair Silverchair were an Australian rock band, which formed in 1992 as Innocent Criminals in Newcastle, New South Wales, with Ben Gillies on drums, Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars, and Chris Joannou on bass guitar. The group got their big brea ...

Coldplay Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey (manager), Phil H ...

The Fray The Fray is an American rock band from Denver, Colorado, formed in 2002 by schoolmates Isaac Slade and Joe King. Their debut album, ''How to Save a Life'' released in 2005, was certified double platinum by the RIAA and platinum in Australia ...

, Snow Patrol, Kings of Leon, Faker,

AC/DC AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and heavy metal, but the band calls it s ...

Cold Chisel Cold Chisel are an Australian pub rock band, which formed in Adelaide in 1973 by mainstay members Ian Moss on guitar and vocals, Steve Prestwich on drums and Don Walker on piano and keyboards. They were soon joined by Jimmy Barnes (at the ...

and

Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American rock band formed in 1983 in Sayreville, New Jersey. It consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Hugh McDonald. Original bassist Alec John such quit t ...

amongst others. During May 2009, Triple M introduced "The Music That Made Triple M Famous", playing music from the eras of the 1970s and 1980s. During June 2009, Phil O'Neil and

had been axed from the breakfast slot just over six months since they started broadcasting in December 2008. Paul Murray and Rachel Corbett continued in the breakfast slot until mid-August when the new breakfast show would commence broadcasting. ''

Paul & Rach Paul & Rach was an afternoon drive time radio program that broadcasts on Triple M Sydney. It commenced broadcasting in that timeslot on 8 September 2009. Previously they were in the breakfast timeslot from June to late August previously hosted by ...

'' moved to the Tuesday-Thursday drivetime slot from 8 September 2009. As of 17 August 2009, Gus Worland,

Stuart MacGill Stuart Charles Glyndwr MacGill (born 25 February 1971) is an Australian former cricketer who played 44 Test matches and three One Day Internationals for the Australian national cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler, who has been cred ...

and

Mark Geyer Mark Bradley Geyer (born 7 December 1967) is an Australian radio host and former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000. An Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin representative sec ...

were named the hosts of the new Triple M's breakfast show called ''

The Grill Team ''The Grill Team'' was an Australian breakfast radio show that broadcasts weekday mornings from 6 am to 9 am AEST on Triple M Sydney. It commenced broadcasting on 17 August 2009. On 21 December 2018, it was announced that the show would ...

''. They were joined by anchor Byron Cooke, news reader

and contributor Rachel Corbett. On 3 September, ''The Peter Berner Experiment'' aired its final episode as Berner has finished up with the station for a possible move to the Nine Network. On 23 November 2009, Triple M's slogan changed to "Sydney's Best Rock". On 2 August 2010, Triple M turned 30 and asked slash to remake the Dr Dan Theme to a 2010 format. Byron Cooke left The

Grill Team ''The Grill Team'' was an Australian breakfast radio show that broadcasts weekday mornings from 6 am to 9 am AEST on Triple M Sydney. It commenced broadcasting on 17 August 2009. On 21 December 2018, it was announced that the show would b ...

at the end of 2010 and moved to the

Today Network The Hit Network is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 41 radio stations broadcasting a hot adult contemporary music format, as well as 6 digital radio stations. Histor ...

to anchor Fifi and Jules. He was replaced by former Hot30 Countdown host

Chris Page Chris Page is a radio presenter, previously with Triple M Sydney. Page originally worked for NXFM announcer and then moved to SAFM. On 6 December 2009 Page moved to Sydney's 2Day FM, following the top rated Kyle and Jackie O Show. Page has fi ...

also left Triple M at the end of 2010, replaced by Rachel Corbett in the breakfast newsreader role. On 28 March 2011

Matthew Johns Matthew James Johns (born 27 July 1971) is an Australian rugby league media personality, commentator and former professional player. An Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin representative , Johns played his club footba ...

brother of

Andrew Johns Andrew Gary Johns (born 19 May 1974) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest players in rugby league history. Johns captained the Newcas ...

joined The

, while Brian "Spoonman" Carlton took over the newsreader role and Rachel Corbett became a regular contributor. On 28 September 2011, it was announced that

Merrick Watts Merrick Watts (born 18 November 1973) is an Australian comedian, radio and television presenter. He is best known for performing stand-up comedy and radio works as part of the comedy duo Merrick and Rosso with Tim Ross. Career Stand up Watts b ...

will join Triple M during drive in 2012. He was joined by Rachel Corbett and

Julian Schiller Julian "Jules" Schiller is an Australian TV and radio personality. Schiller currently hosts ''Drive'' on ABC Radio Adelaide. He previously worked at Nova 91.9, Triple M, Fox Sports, and The Project. Radio In 1993 Schiller started writi ...

as part of the

Merrick and the Highway Patrol ''Merrick and the Highway Patrol'' was an Australian radio show, presented by Merrick Watts, Julian Schiller and Rachel Corbett which aired on Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cros ...

drive show. It was cancelled at the end of 2013. On 20 January 2014, Triple M's new national drive show "The One Percenters" premiered, hosted by ex- Fox FM Breakfast host

Matt Tilley Matt Tilley (born 4 March 1969 in Melbourne) is an Australian ex-radio presenter and stand-up comedian. Personal life Tilley was raised in Mount Eliza. He completed his secondary school education in 1986 at The Peninsula School in Mount Eliza ...

and journalist/

Studio 10 ''Studio 10'' is an Australian morning talk show on Network 10. The show airs between 8:30am and noon on weekdays and a highlights show airs between 9:30am and noon on weekends. ''Studio 10'' is broadcast live from Network 10 Studios in Pyrm ...

host

Joe Hildebrand Joe Hildebrand is an Australian journalist, television and radio presenter. Hildebrand writes for Sydney's ''The Daily Telegraph'' and is also known to contribute to a number of other News Corp publications, including Melbourne's Herald Sun an ...

. The station changed its slogan to "Sydney's Modern Rock" around this time, with a playlist focussed on music released since 1990.

Current On Air Schedule

Weekday shows: 12:00am–5:30am: Night Shift With Luke Bona 5:30am–9:00am: Mick and MG in the Morning 9:00am–12:00pm: Mornings With Brendo 12:00pm–3:00pm: Afternoons With Cat 3:00pm–4:00pm: The

Marty Sheargold Show ''The Marty Sheargold Show '' is an Australian breakfast radio show on Triple M. The show is hosted by Marty Sheargold with anchor Troy Ellis, producers Will Ralston and Loren Barry and executive producer Matthew Thomson. A one-hour highlights pa ...

4:00pm–6:00pm: The Rush Hour With Gus, Jude & Wendell 6:00pm–7:00pm: The Greatest With Dave Ferrier 7:00pm–10:00pm: The Dave Gleeson Show 10:00pm–12:00am: Aussie Rock With Matty O Weekend shows: Dead Set Legends Saturdays: 10:00am–12:00pm Triple M NRL: Saturday Scrum 12:00pm–6:00pm Almost Acoustic Sundays: 6:00pm–10:00pm Triple M NRL: Sunday Sin Bin 12:00pm–6:00pm Fill in announcer: 12:00pm–6:00pm Saturday & Sunday (Off Season)

News

Natarsha Belling Natarsha Belling (born 29 May 1970) is an Australian journalist. Belling has previously worked at Network 10 as a television presenter, news presenter and reporter. She spent over two decades with the company until being made redundant in Augu ...

(breakfast) *Sacha Barbour Gatt *Siobhan Caulfield *Kim Braddish *Micaela Savage *Amy Goggins *Jeff Tyler

Digital Radio

Triple M is simulcast on

Digital Radio Digital radio is the use of digital technology to transmit or receive across the radio spectrum. Digital transmission by radio waves includes digital broadcasting, and especially digital audio radio services. Types In digital broadcasting s ...

in Sydney. Triple M launched

High Voltage Radio High Voltage Radio (identified as Triple M's High Voltage Radio in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide and Mix 94.5's High Voltage Radio in Perth) was a pop up Digital Radio station broadcasting nationally in Australia while AC/DC were to ...

, a "pop up" Digital Radio station that exclusively plays

for the duration of the band's 2010 tour of Australia. High Voltage stopped being on air on 15 March 2010. On 25 November 2013, Triple M Classic Rock Digital radio station was launched. The station format is exclusively

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prima ...

, with no announcer talkback.

References

External links

* {{Sydney Radio Active rock radio stations in Australia Radio stations in Sydney Radio stations established in 1980