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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.

The station was Australia's first commercial FM station, originally known as Eon FM, broadcasting on 92.3 MHz.

In late 1979, a consortium, members of which included recording entrepreneur Bill Armstrong, band manager Glenn Wheatley and stockbroker Bill Conn, successfully bid on one of two Melbourne FM licenses and set about creating a commercial FM radio station. Armstrong headed the consortium, having seen the commercial opportunities of FM radio in the US and the UK.

Despite what their license application read, they had no blueprint at all with regard to marketing, programming, administration or promotion. The next six months was then spent building a radio station from scratch. A makeshift studio was set up in Bank Street, South Melbourne, draped with hessian to deaden the noise. Late-night dummy runs were performed a week before the on-air date to test the equipment.

On 11 July 1980, Australia's first commercial FM radio station, Eon FM, began broadcasting on 92.3 MHz, beating Fox FM to the title by two weeks. Peter Grace, formerly a DJ for 3XY (now Magic 1278) was the first voice heard on the station; he later said he was given that late night spot by default. "It's one past midnight and this is 92.3, E-O-N FM, I'm Peter Grace and this is the beginning of a long, long time..." The first song was "New Kid in Town" by The Eagles.

Armstrong was the first managing director; Clyde Simpson, the first general manager; Lee Simon, also ex-3XY, the first program director; Billy Pinnell, first music programmer – all names to circulate the Australian music industry for years. Other announcers included Mike Nicholls, Karl Van Est, Joe Miller, John Peters, Andy McLean, Jan Cannon, Paul Cashmere, Kenny The Paper-Boy, Kent Forbes, John Hood, Gavin Wood, Trish Mulholand, Craig Huggins and Mark Irvine. Newsreader Jennifer Keyte also began her career as a cadet at Eon FM.

At first, Eon FM played songs that "would not be played elsewhere", having no playlist and avoiding Top 40 songs. Said Armstrong, "we thought we were going to be the beginning of a new era. It took us a while to realise we were wrong."

Eon FM performed better than the other non-commercial FM stations, but was easily beaten by the AM stations. Management was worried, and shareholders were asked to invest another $1 million between them only a year after the station was launched.

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