Austereo was an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

mass media Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit information ...

company based in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. It was founded in 1980 by Paul Thompson, and operated 16 radio stations in metropolitan and regional Australia under 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 ...

and

Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 40 radio stations broadcasting a mainstream rock music format and 5 digital radio stations. The network dates back to ...

brands. In 2011, the company's majority shareholder

Village Roadshow Village Roadshow Limited is an Australian company which operates cinemas and theme parks, and produces and distributes films. Before being acquired by private equity company BGH Capital, the company was listed on the Australian Securities Ex ...

sold its shareholding to

Southern Cross Media Group Southern Cross Media Group (formerly Macquarie Media Group) is one of Australia's major media companies, as the parent company of Southern Cross Austereo. Its headquarters are in South Melbourne. History On 3 July 2007 Southern Cross Broadca ...

, which began trading as

Southern Cross Austereo Southern Cross Media Group Limited, doing business as Southern Cross Austereo, is an Australian media company which operates broadcast radio and television stations. It is the largest radio broadcaster in Australia, operating 86 radio stati ...

from 21 July.

History

The company was founded by broadcaster Paul Thompson, who upon the commencement of

FM broadcasting FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is cap ...

in Australia acquired the first

commercial radio Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship. It was the United States′ first model of radio (a ...

licence for the metropolitan

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

area.

SAFM SAFM (official callsign: 5SSA) is a commercial FM radio station owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo as part of the Hit Network. The station is broadcast to Adelaide, South Australia from studios in Franklin Street. History The stati ...

commenced transmission in September 1980, with the

Austereo 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. Histo ...

established in 1986 following the company's acquisition of Fox FM Melbourne. In 1988, Austereo acquired FM104.7 and 2CA in Canberra as well as 4BK Brisbane and 6IX Perth. The company then bid to convert the BK and IX stations to the FM band. In Brisbane, the company was successful, relaunching 4BK as

B105 FM B105 (call sign 4BBB) is a commercial FM radio station broadcasting in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, on a frequency of 105.3 MHz, and is part of Southern Cross Austereo's Hit Network. The station has undergone numerous branding changes ov ...

in February 1990; in Perth, the company was outbid by

6KY Mix94.5 (official call sign 6MIX) is a commercial FM radio station owned by Southern Cross Austereo in Perth, Western Australia, and is part of Southern Cross Austereo's Hit Network. History The station originally began as 6KY, beginning broadc ...

and 6PM, and consequently sold the station to Radio West. In May 1989, the company extended its reach into Sydney with the acquisition of 2Day FM. In 1995, Austereo purchased the

network from Hoyts Media, adding a further five radio stations to the company's portfolio. The existing Austereo stations were rebranded to the

. Subsequently, rival cinema chain

acquired control of Austereo, with Thompson departing as CEO. On 22 January 1996, Austereo purchased KOFM and NXFM in Newcastle from Radio Newcastle Pty Ltd. Austereo would go on to sell 50% of its stake in these stations to

RG Capital RG Capital Radio in the radio industry was an Australian radio company, formed in 1995 by Reg Grundy with the acquisition of 90.9 Sea FM. Between 1996 and 2000, the group grew to 28 stations across regional centres, and was subsequently floated ...

. In March 1997 Austereo's managing director, Mr Peter Harvie, announced the network would be entering a joint venture with ARN to effectively amalgamate FM104.7 and Mix 106 in Canberra. Under competition laws, Austereo was required to sell 2CA, with Harvie commenting the station would be 'disposed of immediately'. At the time, Harvie stated that the deal was peculiar to the Canberra market and the company had 'no intention' of implementing similar ventures in other capitals. In September 1997 the ACCC ruled in favour of Austereo's acquisition Perth's highest rating radio stations of

PMFM Triple M Perth (official callsign: 6MMM) is a commercial radio station owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo as part of the Triple M network. The station is broadcast to Perth, Western Australia from studios in Subiaco. The station comm ...

and 94.5FM from

Jack Bendat Jack Bendat (6 May 1925 – 17 February 2022) was an American-born Australian businessman most known for his ownership of the Perth Wildcats basketball team between 2007 and 2021. Previously involved in construction and media businesses with lo ...

, selling

Triple M Perth Triple M Perth (official List of radio station callsigns in Western Australia, callsign: 6MMM) is a commercial radio station owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo as part of the Triple M (radio network), Triple M network. The station is b ...

Southern Cross Broadcasting Southern Cross Broadcasting (Australia) Limited was a diversified Australian media company, that owned and operated a variety of media businesses, primarily in radio and television. History Tony Bell was managing director of the business betwe ...

. The ACCC required that the new owners of Triple M change the call sign, with Austereo retaining the right to rebrand either of its new stations to Triple M. This finally occurred when the 92.9 FM frequency (originally PMFM) was rebranded to

in December 2020. Village Roadshow partially floated the company on the Australian Securities Exchange in 2001 under the

ticker symbol A ticker symbol or stock symbol is an abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded shares of a particular stock on a particular stock market. In short, ticker symbols are arrangements of symbols or characters (generally Latin letters ...

AEO, increasing its share in the company to 61.8% in 2004. In January 2011, industry publication ''Radioinfo'' reported Village Roadshow were "in discussions" to sell its majority shareholding in Austereo. On 31 January,

announced it had offered to purchase Village Roadshow's 52.5% shareholding for $741 million. The bid was approved by the

Australian Competition & Consumer Commission The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is the chief competition regulator of the Government of Australia, located within the Department of the Treasury. It was established in 1995 with the amalgamation of the Australian Trad ...

on 18 March and formally accepted by Village Roadshow later that month. On 6 April, Austereo shareholders accepted the takeover bid, and on 27 July Southern Cross Media Group commenced trading as

, merging the Today and Triple M radio networks with the group's regional radio stations.

Assets

Today Network

* 2Day FM * 92.9 * B105 * Fox FM *

* 104.7 (joint-venture with Australian Radio Network) *

NXFM hit106.9 (call sign: 2XXX) is a commercial FM radio station broadcasting in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, on a frequency of 106.9 MHz, and is part of Southern Cross Austereo's Hit Network. Triple M is a sister station sharing the ...

(joint-venture with

)

Triple M

Triple M Sydney 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 frequency. History The Early Days Triple M commence ...

Triple M Melbourne Triple M Melbourne is a radio station broadcasting in Melbourne, Victoria. Its target demographic is the 18-54 age group. Triple M Melbourne is part of Southern Cross Austereo's Triple M Network and broadcasts on the 105.1 MHz frequency. Th ...

Triple M Brisbane 4MMM (identified on air and in print as Triple M) is a commercial FM rock radio station in Brisbane, Australia. It broadcasts on the Triple M network on 104.5 MHz frequency. Station history 4MMM started on the FM band at 104.1 MHz on August ...

Triple M Adelaide 5MMM (identified on air and in print as Triple M) is a radio station broadcasting in Adelaide, Australia. Its target demographic is the 30-54 age group. Triple M Adelaide is part of Southern Cross Austereo's Triple M Network and broadcasts on ...

* Mix 94.5 * KOFM (joint-venture with Southern Cross Media Group) *

Mix 106.3 Mix 106.3 (call sign: 1CBR) is a commercial radio station in Canberra, Australia and is owned by the Australian Radio Network and Southern Cross Austereo. Mix 106.3 plays current hits and a variety of 1970s, 1980s and 1990s music (Hot Adult Co ...

(joint-venture with Australian Radio Network)

Digital radio

Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...

Radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...

* The Main Stage ;Former * Choose the Hits (2009–2010) *

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 ...

(2010) *

Radio Gaga ''Radio Gaga'' is a comic strip created by the Norwegian people, Norwegian humourist "Flis" (Øyvind Sagåsen). The series started in 2001, and is about characters who run a local radio station called Radio Gaga. Although the action takes place ...

(2010) * I See Red Radio (2010) * Caravan Radio (2010) * U20 (2010)

References

External links

* {{National radio networks in Australia Southern Cross Media Group Companies formerly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange Mass media companies established in 1980 Mass media companies disestablished in 2011 Australian companies disestablished in 2011 Australian companies established in 1980