Австралияның Ұлттық Triple J Радиосы: Тарихы мен Эволюциясы

Australian national radio station
the boy band formerly known as Triple J

Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government funded, national Australian radio station that began broadcasting in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays more Australian content than commercial networks. In his tenure as Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam wanted to create a youth focused radio station to extend the appeal of the ABC. Originally broadcasting solely to Greater Sydney as 2JJ and later Double J from 19 January 1975, the station quickly set itself apart from commercial networks by playing mainly Australian content as well as songs censored or banned elsewhere. From 1981, the station began broadcasting nationally as 2JJJ or Triple J as FM only, and continued to expanded regionally throughout the 1990s. From 2014, spin off digital radio station Double J was launched to appeal to more contemporary audiences. In 2015, Triple J dominated national ratings in the 25–39 demographic, but it has since been losing its audience due to the rise of streaming media. Triple J has had a significant impact on the national music landscape, being a major supporter of Australian music festivals and tours of domestic and international artists. Every year, they broadcast the Hottest 100, a public music poll known as the "world's greatest music democracy", as well as the J Awards, a listener voted music awards series. They annually champion Ausmusic Month and founded the nationwide Ausmusic T Shirt Day initiative in 2013. Further, the network's music discovery platform, Triple J Unearthed, provides pathways for independent artists to be broadcast on the network. However, the station has been criticised for promoting a homogenous Australian music scene.

The launch of a new, youth focused radio station was a product of the progressive media policies of the Whitlam government of 1972–75. Gough Whitlam wanted to "set the station up to woo young voters," and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), worried about its declining audience, "wanted a station for young people who would grow up to be ABC listeners." A new station was also a recommendation stemming from the McLean Report of 1974, which suggested expanding radio broadcasting onto the FM band, issuing a new class of broadcasting license which permitted the establishment of community radio stations, and the creation of two new stations for the ABC – 2JJ in Sydney, later known as Double J, and the short lived 3ZZ in Melbourne. 2JJ was initially intended to be the first link in Whitlam's planned national youth network; but the expansion was greatly delayed by the election of the Fraser government and the subsequent budget cuts it imposed on the ABC. By the time 2JJ went to air, the Whitlam government was in its final months of office. In the 1975 federal election, Labor was defeated by the Liberal National Party coalition that was led by Malcolm Fraser. During the more conservative media climate that emerged in the Fraser years, 2JJ staff were frequently accused of left wing bias.

2JJ commenced broadcasting at 11:00 am, Sunday 19 January 1975, at 1540 kHz (which switched to 1539 kHz in 1978) on the AM band. The new Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) station was given the official call sign 2JJ. The station was restricted largely to the greater Sydney region, and its local reception was hampered by inadequate transmitter facilities. However, its frequency was a clear channel nationally, so it was easily heard at night throughout south eastern Australia. After midnight the station would often use ABC networks – during their off air time slot – to increase its broadcasting range. Its first broadcast demonstrated a determination to distinguish itself from other Australian radio stations. The first on air presenter, DJ Holger Brockmann, notably used his own name, which, at his previous role at 2SM, was considered "too foreign sounding". After an introductory audio collage that featured sounds from the countdown and launch of Apollo 11, Brockmann launched the station's first broadcast with the words, "Wow, and we're away! ", and then cued Skyhooks' "You Just Like Me 'Cos I'm Good in Bed". Because Double J was a government funded station operating under the umbrella of the ABC, it was not bound by commercial censorship codes, and was not answerable to advertisers or the station owners. In contrast, their Sydney rival, 2SM, was owned by a holding company controlled by the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, resulting in the ban or editing of numerous songs. The internal politics of 2JJ were considered a radical departure from the formats of commercial stations. 2JJ's presenters had almost total freedom in their on air delivery, allowed to "access all areas". Both the presenters and the station staff participated in major policy decisions. For example, as Austin reflected: "In early March, women took over the station as announcers to celebrate International Women's Day", and "The listeners owned the station and if they wanted to come to the meetings and join the debate, they were welcome". and John J. Francis, and actor Lex Marinos. Francis commenced broadcasting in the Saturday midnight to dawn shift in 1975, and the program became so popular that it was expanded to include Friday and Sunday nights two years later. Other notable foundation staff and presenters in January 1975 were Webb and Ron Moss,

The station rapidly gained popularity, especially with its target youth demographic: media articles noted that in its first two months on air, 2JJ reached a 5.4% share of the total radio audience, with 17% in the 18–24 age group, while the audience share of rival 2SM dropped by 2.3%. Despite the poor quality of reception caused by the Sydney transmitter, the station still saw rapid growth. Austin explained that station staff threatened industrial action in July 1975 due to the transmitter issues, but officials of the BCB still refused to meet with 2JJ representatives. A new transmitter was not provided until 1980, following the transition to the FM band. The station regularly sponsored live concerts and organised a number of major outdoor concert events in the late 1970s, culminating in an outdoor, all day event in Parramatta Park, Sydney on 18 January 1981 to celebrate the end of Double J and the start of 2JJJ. Attended by 40,000 people, the historic concert featured Midnight Oil and Matt Finish.

On 1 August 1980, 2JJ began broadcasting on the FM band at a frequency of 105.7 MHz (again restricted to within the greater Sydney region) and became 2JJJ – later known as Triple J. Adapting to the digital streaming age, in 2004, the station began to release podcasts of some of its talkback shows, including Dr Karl, This Sporting Life, and Hack. In 2006, Triple J launched JTV, a series of television programs broadcast on ABC and ABC2 including music videos, live concerts, documentaries, and comedy, as well as a behind the scenes look at Triple J's studios. In 2008, JTV was rebranded as Triple J TV. In 2014, ABC's Dig Music digital radio station was rebranded and relaunched as Double J on 30 April 2014. The new station featured both new music and material from Triple J interview and sound archives. In ratings released in August 2015, Triple J was the highest or equal first in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth in the 25–39 demographic.

Triple J attracted significant news coverage in the lead up to the Hottest 100 of 2017, when the station announced they would move the countdown date to the fourth weekend of January, rather than on Australia Day, due to Invasion Day protests and the Change the Date debate. In November 2019, the station began a major overhaul of its hosts, replacing longtime presenters including Gen Fricker and Tom Tilley with younger talent including Bryce Mills and Lucy Smith. As radio ratings continue to decline across the board due to the rise of streaming media, Triple J has seen a 2.5% decline of listeners across the major capital cities between late April and June 2022. During his tenure, he doubled the amount of airtime given to Australian artists, from 30% to 60%, and increased the station's audience from 980,000 in 2006 to 3 million in 2022. According to The Music, a "heated meeting with staff in Sydney" regarding the changes involved audible "shock and disappointment", particularly over Kingsmill's redundancy. with Nathan Jolly of the latter calling the broadcaster "the most important single figure in the history of Australian music", on par with Michael Gudinski and Molly Meldrum. Ben Latimer, former head of the Nova network, was announced as the new head of radio at the ABC, amidst a major board restructuring. along with Breakfast newsreader Tim Shepherd, while Good Nights with Latifa Tee was axed.

In the station's early years, Triple J primarily played pop rock, but the range of music programmed was far wider than its commercial rivals, encompassing both mainstream and alternative rock and pop, experimental and electronic music, progressive rock, funk, soul, disco, the emerging ambient, punk and New Wave genres of the late 70s and reggae. The station played an unprecedented level of Australian content, and was a pioneer in its coverage of independent music. Early presenter Gayle Austin reflected in 2006: "At that time Australian music didn’t have much production put into it because there wasn’t much money made out of it."

Through the mid to late 80s, Triple J pioneered special interest programs including the Japanese pop show Nippi Rock Shop, Arnold Frolows' weekly late night ambient music show Ambience, and Jaslyn Hall's world music show – the first of its kind on Australian mainstream radio. Nowadays, as well as broadcasting a number of genre specific music programmes throughout the week, Triple J has several live music segments including Like a Version – a weekly programme which sees an artist perform an original and a cover song, and Live at the Wireless – broadcasts of exclusive concert recordings. Triple J's news updates are produced from a youth oriented perspective. Hack, the station's flagship current affairs programme, is broadcast every weekday evening and features investigations into relevant issues impacting young Australians.

In January 2014, Fairfax newspapers published a report questioning if Triple J could be blamed for the homogenisation of Australian music. Reporters interviewed a number of notable musicians who remained anonymous. One respondent talked of a certain "Triple J sound" that artists require to be played on the station. Music director of Triple J Unearthed, Dave Ruby Howe, acknowledged there were some similar sounds on the discovery platform, but said bands purely chasing airplay will get caught out. They have also been given credit for creating local audiences for overseas acts, like Blondie, Devo, Garbage and the B 52s – Double Jay was the first radio station in the world to play their debut single "Rock Lobster". Reflecting on the station's 30 year anniversary in 2005, former presenter Steve Cannane said "Plenty of musos, comedians, announcers and journos got their start courtesy of the station." In 1990, Triple J had been playing N. W. A's protest song "Fuck tha Police" for up to six months, before catching the attention of ABC management who subsequently banned it. As a result, the staff went on strike and put the group's song "Express Yourself" on continuous play for 24 hours, playing it roughly 82 times in a row. In 2014, when launching Double J on digital radio, the station played nothing but "Express Yourself" for 48 hours.

Triple J Unearthed is an online music discovery platform and digital radio station that features only Australian content and focuses on discovering hidden local music talent. Originally beginning as a talent competition in 1996, notable winners of the time included Killing Heidi, Missy Higgins and Grinspoon. The modern Triple J Unearthed was launched as a website in 2006, and in five years, grew to host 30,000 artists and 250,000 users. Musicians can upload their songs to the site, and users can rate tracks and leave comments. In 2011, Triple J Unearthed was launched as a digital station in five Australian capital cities. Unearthed hosts a number of competitions and initiatives to improve the recognition of independent artists. Unearthed High, for example, is an annual contest held since 2008 aimed at musicians and bands in high school. The winner receives mentoring, recording opportunities and airplay on Triple J. Recent acts to have found success with the initiative include Hockey Dad (2014), The Kid Laroi (2018), Genesis Owusu (2015) Japanese Wallpaper (2014) and Gretta Ray (2016).

Every November, Triple J, Double J and Unearthed celebrate Ausmusic Month, where Australian acts are heavily promoted across all three stations. A number of events are organised, including major concerts – in 2010 this included headlining acts Bag Raiders and Ball Park Music and in 2018 featured performances from Paul Kelly, Crowded House and Missy Higgins. and encourages listeners to wear their favourite band's T shirt on Ausmusic T Shirt Day, which the station founded in 2013.

The Hottest 100 is an annual poll of the previous year's most popular songs, as voted by its listeners. It has been conducted for over two decades in its present form, and in 2016 attracted 2.26 million votes from 172 countries. It is promoted as the "world's greatest music democracy" and has also spawned a series of compilation CDs released via ABC Music. The countdown of the poll had regularly taken place on Australia Day from 1998 to 2017. The station also runs irregular speciality Hottest 100 countdowns, such as the Hottest 100 Australian Albums in 2011, the Hottest 100 of the 2010s in 2020, and the Hottest 100 of Like a Version in 2023. In July 2023, the network launched Triple J Hottest, an online radio station featuring a playlist of tracks from all previous Hottest 100 countdowns. It is the first sister channel to not be available on digital radio, instead only available via streaming (including the website, app, and streaming services such as TuneIn and iHeartRadio).

The J Awards are an annual awards ceremony held at the start of December each year to celebrate Australian music. The four award categories are Australian album of the year, Australian music video of the year, Unearthed artist of the year and Double J artist of the year. The most recent J Award winners for Australian album of the year include 14 Steps to a Better You by Lime Cordiale in 2020, Smiling With No Teeth by Genesis Owusu in 2021, Angel in Realtime by Gang of Youths in 2022, and Drummer by G Flip in 2023.

In the early 2000s, Triple J occasionally ran a competition known as Beat the Drum, named after their logo of three drumsticks hitting a drum. It was a contest designed to promote the logo, whereby, whoever displays it in the most prominent place would win a prize. Notable entries included: a girl who distributed postcards of herself with the Triple J logo painted on her naked buttocks; one of the 2000 Sydney Olympics opening ceremony participants wearing a Triple J T shirt bearing the logo; and a farmer in Queensland who formed a drum logo shaped crop circle in his wheat fields. In late 2004, the station's promotion for that year's Beat the Drum contest caused a brief controversy after it released a series of promotional images featuring the logo, one of which including a mocked up image of the former World Trade Center draped with a huge Drum flag. In 2015, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Triple J, a one off, seven hour concert called Beat the Drum was held on 16 January at The Domain, Sydney. Hosted by Peter Garrett, the list of performers, all of whom are the beneficiaries of the station's support, included Hilltop Hoods, the Presets, the Cat Empire, You Am I, Daniel Johns, Joelistics, Ball Park Music, Adalita, Vance Joy, and Gotye. The majority of performers played a combination of their own music and cover versions, including Sarah Blasko and Paul Dempsey's rendition of Crowded House's "Distant Sun", and the Preatures covering "At First Sight" by the Stems and the Divinyls' "All the Boys in Town".

Broadcast annually from 2005 to 2008 was the Impossible Music Festival, a radio event that consisted of 55 live music recordings played consecutively over one weekend. The lineup of artists each time was decided by listeners, and recordings were derived from festivals, concerts, pub gigs and studio sessions.

Every year from 2004 to 2019, Triple J hosted One Night Stand, a free, all ages concert at a different small town, featuring three or four Australian musical acts, with each lineup curated by Kingsmill.

In November 2009, Triple J hosted the live show Before Too Long: Triple J's Tribute to Paul Kelly, which was run over two nights at the Forum Theatre in Melbourne, with various artists performing tracks by Paul Kelly. In 2011, another tribute live show was presented by the station, this time for Nick Cave, and packaged in the compilation album Straight to You – Triple J's Tribute to Nick Cave.

J Play was a B2B resource showcasing and tracking artists and songs played on Triple J. Launched in 2006 by Paul Stipack, J Play created a large archive of statistics of every song played by Triple J over 12 years. It showed an artist's trajectory from their first airing to full rotation. The privately owned site was acquired by Seventh Street Media (Brag Media) along with music publications Tone Deaf and The Brag, in early 2017. Owing to changes in the music industry, J Play's usefulness diminished, and it ceased operation in January 2019. The Brag Media retained the J Play database of 40,000 songs, 11,000 artists, and 15,000 playlists.