2SM

Radio station

2SM

* Sydney, New South Wales

Broadcast area| Sydney
Frequency| 1269 kHz AM
Programming
Format| News talk
Ownership
Owner|

* Broadcast Operations Group
* (Radio 2SM Pty Ltd[1])

Sister stations

| Dance Super Digi
Fun Super Digi
Gorilla Radio
Zoo Digital
History

First air date

| 24 December 1931 (1931-12-24)[1]

Former frequencies

| 1270 KHz AM (1931–1978)

Call sign meaning

| St Marys Cathedral
Technical information
Power| 5kW[2]

Transmitter coordinates

| 33°50′01″S 151°04′12″E﻿ / ﻿33.8336°S 151.0700°E﻿ / -33.8336; 151.0700
Links
Website| 2sm.com.au

2SM is an Australian radio station, licensed to and serving Sydney, broadcasting on 1269 kilohertz on the AM band. It is owned and operated by Broadcast Operations Group. The SM call sign is taken from the initials of Saint Mary's.[3][4][5]

2SM's programs are heard across the 2SM Super Radio Network in regional New South Wales, the Northern Territory and Queensland, consisting of over 60 AM and FM stations.

2SM unveiled its denim zipper logo in 1975. Although the logo is inextricably linked to 2SM, it was, according to radio historian Wayne Mac, actually created for Brisbane pop station 4IP by a company called Eagle Marketing and subsequently adopted by other stations including 2SM, 3XY and 2NX.[6]

## History

[edit]

This section needs expansion with: pre-1992 & post-1996 history. You can help by adding to it. (May 2010)

|

James Meany, a parish priest at St Mark's Drummoyne, raised funds to allow Archbishop Michael Kelly to form the Catholic Broadcasting Co. Ltd, and it obtained a licence for radio 2SM in 1931.[7] The station, owned by the Roman Catholic Church, was opened by Kelly on 24 December 1931.[8] Apart from the regular Question Box program of Dr Rumble, religious content was, for most part, not its focus; but for most of its life 2SM followed a conservative line in its programming, and it was promoted as "The Family Station".[6]

In 1958 2SM moved to premises at 257 Clarence Street, Sydney, maintaining its style. At the time, the station was run by General Manager Bill Stephenson, who started his radio career at 2UE in the 1940s before moving to 2SM in the 1950s. In September 1963 Stephenson oversaw a radical overhaul of 2SM's format. It started 24-hour service, and was relaunched as a Top 40 station. It had Australia's first team of disc jockeys, dubbed "The Good Guys"—a US-radio inspired format subsequently copied by 3AK, 5KA, 6PR and others. It relied heavily on adaptations of formulaic programming strategies sourced from American commercial radio.[6]

Then in early 1967 2SM became the first station in the country to adopt the new "talkback" technology which enabled presenters for the first time to broadcast phone conversations with members of the public. In November 1968 2SM reverted to an all music format. In 1969 2SM aggressively fought to regain the youth audience it had lost to 2UW. During 1970 2SM established itself as one of the most promotionally active and innovative commercial stations. Rod Muir successfully transplanted the American "More Music" format to Sydney, making minor adaptations for the Australian market. With stringent format policies applying to music flow, commercial content, what announcers said and the placement of jingles, 2SM redefined the whole premise of music based radio in Australia. Key to the More Music philosophy was a strictly limited, high rotation play list of around 30 songs and which at peak times reputedly included as few as 15 songs in one three-hour shift. The new format had several significant effects. First and foremost, it brought to an abrupt end the days of the true "personality" DJs, as exemplified by 2UW's Ward "Pally" Austin and 3XY's legendary Stan "The Man" Rofe. The rigid formatting restricted the on-air presentation, replacing it with a highly affected, American-style presented by a largely faceless and interchangeable roster of "rock jocks". But even more significantly, the "More Music" format took programming decisions out of the hands of DJs and put them into the hands of consultants and back room programming executives.[6]

## Rock of the 80s

[edit]

From around 1970 until the mid-1980s, 2SM dominated Sydney commercial radio. At its peak in the late-1970s it was the highest rating and most profitable station in the history of Australian radio. It epitomised and defined commercial AM Top 40 radio practice around the country for fifteen years and long after 2SM itself lost popularity, its successful programming formula was still influencing its FM band successors.[6]

The introduction of new AM station, 2WS in 1978, and FM stations 2Day and Triple M at the start of the 1980s saw 2SM's glory days slowly come to an end. In the early 1980s the station retained reasonable ratings with contemporary music formats and slogans such as "Rock of the 80s", "More Music" and "The Power".

Ian Grace who was the drive announcer in the early 80s, became the Program Director (and eventually went on to become the Group Program Director of the Triple M Network in the 1980s/90s). The on-air line-up at 2SM Rock of the 80s in 1984 included: By this stage its studios were at 186 Blues Point Road, McMahons Point.[9][10]

Time  | Show name

|

6:00 am – 9:00 am  | Phil Lentz
3:00 pm – 7:00 pm  | Charlie Fox

From 1980 until 1984, 2SM owned a 34% shareholding in Brisbane television station TVQ.[11][12]

In 1988 the station dropped its Top 40 format as well as the 2SM brand when it became "Lite & Easy 1269". Its final rating as a Top 40 station had been 6.9%. The years since have seen its format undergo numerous changes, including easy listening and country formats (KICK AM). The ratings never again surpassed 4%.

## The 1990s

[edit]

In the 1990s, the station regained its original callsign (2SM) and recorded some of the lowest ratings ever by a Sydney commercial radio station. In February 1992 a commercial syndicate headed by John Brown attempted to purchase the station.[13][14] In July the station was finally sold to Wesgo, who sacked the entire on-air staff and put the station into automation.[15] Wesgo relaunched the station with a country music format in October.[16] With the station still last place in the ratings, it went back to easy listening in May 1994, adopting the new name Gold 1269 and by Survey 8 1994 hit the heights of 7.1%.[17] In late 1994 Wesgo was purchased by Australian Provincial Newspapers, who later purchased the Australian Radio Network in March 1995, requiring some stations to be sold due to media ownership rules.[18] The station was sold to Kick Media, headed by former INXS manager, Chris Murphy.[19] It was rebranded Kick AM in mid-October with a format comprising country, rock and blues.[20] RG Capital bought a 40% stake in February 1996.[21] By the end of 1996 the station still had low ratings, causing the owners to relaunch it on Christmas Eve 1996 as The New 2SM, with a format of hits from the 60s to 80s.[22]

In 2002 the night time show, hosted by Graeme Gilbert, scored a rating of just 0.1%, the lowest rating ever recorded for a commercial program in a metro market in Australia. 2SM subsequently withdrew from the Sydney radio ratings.

## Line-up

[edit]

Monday to Friday

* Talk Overnight with Rotational Hosts Monday 12pm to 5am
* Talk Overnight with Gary Stewart Tuesday-Friday 12pm to 5am
* Breakfast with Tim Webster (5 am to 9 am)
* Chris Smith (9 am to 12 pm)[23]
* Afternoons with Brent Bultitude (12 pm to 3 pm)
* Talkin' Sport (3 pm to 6 pm)
* Sportsday NSW with Matt Rogers & Scott Sattler (6pm to 8pm)
* The Nightline with Cheralyn Darcey (8 pm to 12 am)

Weekends

* Talk Overnight With Dave Sutherland Saturday 12pm to 4am
* Rotational Hosts (Saturday 6 am to 12 pm)
* Off The Bench (Saturday 12 pm to 2 pm)
* Barry Hill or Live Sport (Saturday 2 pm to 6 pm)
* David Gubbay (6pm to 12pm)
* Talk Overnight with Rotational Hosts (Sunday 12pm to 4am)
* Reel Adventures (Sunday 5 am to 6 am)
* Rotational Hosts (Sunday 6 am to 12 pm)
* Tony Vidray or Live Sport (Sunday 12 pm to 6 pm)
* Cheralyn Darcey ( Sunday 6 pm to 12 am)

2SM airs news bulletins every hour and half-hourly during breakfast.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "Commercial Radio Broadcasting Licences" (PDF). Australian Communications & Media Authority. 21 November 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 July 2008. Retrieved 24 December 2007.
2. ^ Radio and Television Broadcasting Stations Archived 31 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Australian Communications & Media Authority: October 2011. p. 8.
3. ^ "Broadcasting Station".
4. ^ "31 Dec 1931 - New Catholic Broadcasting Station (2SM) Inaugurated". Freeman's Journal. 31 December 1931.
5. ^ "R.C. Broadcasting Station". Barrier Miner. 17 November 1931.
6. ^ a b c d e "MilesAgo - Radio - 2SM (Sydney)".
7. ^ "Meany, James (1879–1953)". Biography - James Meany - Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
8. ^ "Broadcasting Station 2SM (St Mary's)". Sydney Morning Herald. 26 December 1931. p. 6. Retrieved 26 April 2010.; Bridget Griffen-Foley, Monsignor James Meany, the Catholic Weekly and 2SM, Journal of the Australian Catholic Historical Society 34 (2013), 58-71.
9. ^ When radio was a nasty business Radio Info 13 January 2019
10. ^ History 2RPH
11. ^ ABT told of plans to warehouse TVQ shares Canberra Times 9 August 1980 page 21
12. ^ Qld TV channel pursuing media interest Canberra Times 6 May 1984 page 3
13. ^ Watson, Bronwyn (14 February 1992). "New Boss Silent on 2SM's Future". News and Features. Sydney Morning Herald. p. 4. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
14. ^ Lecky, Sue (22 May 1992). "Church Ends Talks on Sale of Radio Station". Business. Sydney Morning Herald. p. 27. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
15. ^ Lecky, Sue (4 July 1992). "DJs Fired as 2SM Turns up the Muzak". News and Features. Sydney Morning Herald. p. 1. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
16. ^ "Sydney station takes the country road. (2SM radio station features country music) (Radio)". Billboard. Vol. 104, no. 45\. 7 November 1992. p. 72\. ISSN 0006-2510.
17. ^ Lecky, Sue (9 May 1994). "2SM Lights Out as City Station Gives up on Country". News and Features. Sydney Morning Herald. p. 2. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
18. ^ "O'Reilly Link Firm Sells Radio Stations". Irish Times. 11 August 1995.
19. ^ Lecky, Sue (11 August 1995). "Ex-INXS Manager Is Going For Gold". News and Features. Sydney Morning Herald. p. 3. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
20. ^ Freeman, Jane (11 September 1995). "Kick Radio". The Guide. Sydney Morning Herald. p. 6.
21. ^ Strickland, Katrin (1 October 1996). "Spin Master". The Australian. p. 23.
22. ^ Freeman, Jane (6 January 1997). "Sultan of Breakfast Swing Puts His Zing into 2SM's Zipper". News and Features. Sydney Morning Herald. p. 5. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
23. ^ “This is a story of redemption” CONFIRMED: Chris Smith on Mornings at Super Radio Network Radioinfo, 13 December 2024

## External links

[edit]

* 2SM 1269AM

* v
* t
* e

Radio stations in Sydney

AM and FM stations with an asterisk are also available on digital (DAB+) radio

AM stations|

* ABC Radio National 576*
* ABC News 630*
* ABC Radio Sydney*
* 2GB 873*
* 2UE 954*
* Sky Sports Radio 1017*
* SBS Radio 1 1107*
* 1170 SEN*
* 2RPH 1224*
* 2SM 1269*
* SEN Track 1539*
* Vision Christian Radio 1611
* 2moro Radio 1620
* 2ME Radio Arabic 1638
* 2MM 1665
* Hellenic Radio 1683

SW stations|

* 2.355
* 2.3685
* 3.21 (AXA225)
* 3.21 (Unique Radio)
* Yolŋu Radio 5.045

FM stations
(Sydney wide)|

* Muslim Community Radio 92.1*
* ABC Classic FM 92.9*
* Koori Radio 93.7*
* FBi 94.5*
* Smooth 95.3*
* Nova 96.9*
* SBS Radio 2 97.7*
* 2000FM 98.5*
* 2RPH 100.5*
* Gold 101.7*
* Fine Music 102.5*
* Hope 103.2*
* 2Day FM 104.1*
* Triple M 104.9*
* Triple j 105.7*
* KIIS 106.5*
* 2SER 107.3*

FM stations (local)|

* Northside Radio 99.3 (North Shore)
* Vintage FM 87.8/88.7 (Penrith, Hawkesbury and Camden)
* Voice of Islam 87.6
* Radio Austral 87.8
* 2RDJ 88.1 (Burwood)
* WSFM 88.3* (Camden)
* 2RRR 88.5 (Ryde)
* Radio SkidRow 88.9 (Inner West)
* Radio Blue Mountains 89.1 (Katoomba)
* 2GLF 89.3 (Liverpool)
* Eastside Radio 89.7 (Waverly)
* Pulse 89.9 (Hawkesbury)
* 2NBC 90.1 (Narwee)
* Radio Northern Beaches 88.7/90.3 (Manly)
* Alive 90.5 (Cumberland)
* C91.3 (Campbelltown)
* CADA (96.1)* (Katoomba)
* WSFM 99.1* (Richmond)
* SWR Triple 9 FM (99.9) (Blacktown)
* Triple H 100.1 (Hornsby)
* 2MCR 100.3 (Campbelltown and Camden)
* WOW FM 100.7 (Penrith)
* BFM 100.9 (Bankstown)
* 2LT 101.1 (Wentworth Falls)

Digital-only stations|

ABC
ABC Country
ABC Grandstand
ABC Extra
ABC Jazz
Double J
Triple J Unearthed
ARN
Chemist Warehouse Remix
KIIS 90s
WSFM 80s
BOG
Dance Super Digi
Fun Super Digi
Gorilla Dance Hits
Zoo Music Variety
Kinderling Kids
Kinderling Kids
Nine
News Talk Sports
Nova
Coles Radio
Smooth Chill
SBS Radio
SBS Arabic24
SBS Chill
SBS PopAsia
SBS PopDesi
SBS Radio 3
SCA
Easy 80s Hits
Blender Beats
Dance Hits
RnB Fridays
Oldskool 90s Hits
Triple M 90s
Triple M Classic Rock
Triple M Country
Triple M Hard n Heavy
Triple M Soft Rock
SEN
2CH
SEN Vic
Rete Italia
Sky Sports Radio
Sky Sports Radio 2
Sky Thoroughbred Central
Community
Inspire Digital

By call sign|

* AXA222
* AXA225
* 2ABCFM*
* 2BCR
* 2BL*
* 2BLU
* 2CBA*
* 2CCR
* 2CH*
* 2DAY*
* 2EA*
* 2FBI*
* 2GB*
* 2GLF
* 2HHH
* 2JJJ*
* 2KY*
* 2LND*
* 2MAC
* 2MBS*
* 2MCR
* 2ME
* 2MFM*
* 2MM
* 2MMM*
* 2MORO
* 2MWM
* 2NBC
* 2NSB
* 2ONE*
* 2OOO*
* 2PB*
* 2PTV*
* 2RDJ
* 2RES
* 2RI
* 2RN*
* 2RPH
* 2RRR
* 2RSR
* 2SBSFM*
* 2SER*
* 2SM*
* 2SYD*
* 2UE*
* 2UUS*
* 2VTR
* 2WFM*
* 2WOW
* VKD960 Ozy Radio

Previous and
aspirant stations|

* Apna Digital
* Community Development Radio Service 5.03
* Cool Country 2KA 1476/88.0/88.7
* Macquarie Sports Radio 954
* NovaNation
* Ozy Radio 3.21/5.045
* Radio 2 1611
* Radio Symban 2.36847

Australian radio markets
Adelaide
Brisbane
Canberra
Darwin
Gold Coast
Hobart
Melbourne
Perth
Sydney

See also
List of radio stations in Australia
List of Sydney radio stations

* v
* t
* e

Broadcast Operations Group

Branded as the Super Radio Network

AM Network|

* 2AD 1134 Armidale
* 2BH 567 Broken Hill
* 2BS 95.1 Bathurst
* 2DU 1251 Dubbo
* 2EL 1089 Orange
* 2GF 1206 Grafton
* 2HC 639 Coffs Harbour
* 2HD 1143 Newcastle
* 2LF 1350 Young
* 2LM 900 Lismore
* 2MG 1449 Mudgee
* 2MO 1080 Gunnedah
* 2NZ 1188 Inverell
* 2PK 1404 Parkes
* 2RE 1557 Taree
* 2SM 1269 Sydney
* 2TM 1287 Tamworth
* 2VM 1530 Moree
* 4GY 558 Gympie
* 4WK 963 Warwick
* Radio 531/FM 93.5 Kempsey
* Radio 97 (972) Murwillumbah

FM Network|

* 4AK 1242 Oakey
* 92.9 Tamworth
* B-Rock FM 99.3 Bathurst
* FM100.3 Armidale
* FM104.7 Grafton
* Gem FM 95.1 Inverell
* Hill FM 96.5 Broken Hill
* Max 107.3 Taree
* New FM 105.3 Newcastle
* Now FM 98.3 Moree
* Real FM 93.1 Mudgee
* Roccy FM 93.9 Young
* The Rok 95.5 Parkes
* Triple G 97.5 Gunnedah
* Zoo FM 92.7 Dubbo
* ZZZ FM 100.9 Lismore

DAB+ digital radio|

* Fun Super Digi
* Dance Super Digi
* Gorilla Radio
* Zoo Super Digi

* v
* t
* e

2SM Good Guys

* John Brennan
* John Fryer
* Phil Haldeman
* Phil Hunter
* Sam Kronja
* Mad Mel
* John Mahon
* Tony Murphy
* Bob Rogers
* John Thompson
* Mike Walsh

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