Final siren for Triple S FM ?

Canberra radio station Triple S FM ceased broadcasting at midnight on the 31 of January. It had been on air since Melbourne Cup day 1986. 2SSS has advised the ABA that it is “currently reviewing their long term operational status.” The station has not surrendered its licence at this stage, but is no longer on air.

The story of the Canberra community station with a racing and sports format is told for radioinfo by Terry Giesecke, who looks at the station’s history and what led it to switch off its transmitter last month:

It is rare event. Very few Australian radio stations have gone off the air. Most have survived war recession, corporate mismanagement and the introduction of new media. Although many have undergone name and frequency changes. TripleS FM is the first Canberra station to succumb.

Why?

The impetus for TripleS FM came from a decision by 2CA (Canberra’s first commercial broadcaster) to drop racing broadcasts in the 1970s. 2CA was under pressure from a new rival- 2CC. Commencing operations in late 1975 2CC had grabbed a huge chunk of 2CA’s audience with a 24 hour top 40 format. At the time 2CA programming was typical of regional commercial radio. Comprehensive news, a mix of musical genres and lots and lots of racing, dogs and trots. 2CA’s only opposition was the ABC’s 2CN (now 666) and 2CY (now radio national). Both had a hotch-potch of programming rather than their current focussed formats.

2CA set out to recapture audience by dropping racing and moving to an all music format.

Except for a limited coverage by the ABC, the racing, trotting and greyhound interests were now without racing descriptions. They together with the ACT TAB (ACTTAB) expressed their concern. But racing was finished on 2CA. Commercial radio was dropping racing all over Australia in response to a new generation’s preference for contemporary music.

ACTTAB decided to fill this gap thtough community station 2XX. ACTTAB bought Wednesday afternoon airtime to broadcast key mid week race meetings. However, 2XX could not provide much more without compromising its obligations to other community groups who relied on it to get access to the airwaves. As TABs were moving into the era of nationwide seven day a week betting 2XX was not a solution.

The solution was a new broadcaster. No commercial licenses were available. In any case the viability of racing on a commercial station was now doubtful. When the then broadcasting authorities decided to allocate two additional community licenses in the Canberra area ACTTAB and the racing clubs saw an opportunity. These licenses were to be contested in 1985. As community licenses could only be held by incorporated “not for profit” organisations, the racing community and ACTTAB decided to create a new body Canberra District Racing and Sporting Broadcasters to contest the license hearings. If successful this organisation would broadcast all race, trots and dog meetings covered by ACTTAB. Any time left over could be dedicated to local sports.

There bid was successful and the then 2SSS (the name was changed to Triple S-FM later) went to air on 4 November 1986 broadcasting all race meetings covered by ACTTAB. It was also the first FM station to broadcast popular music in Canberra and was able to obtain a significant audience share. Although the “official” radio ratings never specifically included 2SSS. They were covered by “other FM” but then “other FM” was 2SSS. In the first survey “other FM” registered about 5 per cent, a big share for a community station.

Jim Paterson was appointed as manager in 1985 and remained in that position until the end, some 18 years. Jim was a veteran of ABC and Commercial radio but adopted to the community sector without missing a beat. He had a close call with cancer in the early 1990s but survived 10 hours of surgery to make a remarkable recovery.

Problems for Triple S started to arise when racing went to Sundays and effectively prevented the station diversifying into other sports such as Rugby League and Basketball. As well costs become a problem. ACTTAB insisted that racing coverage be sourced from Melbourne to fit in with ACTTAB’s affiliation with Super TAB. The 2KY racing service was primarily linked with the NSW TAB which operated on its own. The Melbourne service was more expensive but attempts to persuade ACTTAB to increase its contribution met with stiff resistance. As a consequence in the late 1990s the station started to incur losses that had to be met from its cash reserves.

Many community stations rely on volunteers who provide their services free. While Triple S had many of these they still needed paid staff. Coordinating racing is generally accepted as being one of the most difficult jobs for radio announcers. To maintain standards expected by punters Triple S had to employ experienced and competent staff.

ACTTAB has always had a curious attitude to radio racing. Its official line is that it does not have much impact on betting one way or the other. This view is belied by the fact that it has always sought to have broadcasts, firstly on 2XX then on Triple S and has been prepared to pay.

The dispute with ACTTAB reached a point of no return in 2002 when failing to obtain a better deal Triple S decided to drop racing altogether. Unfortunately, it left a huge hole in the station’s programming. Replacing it with other sport proved difficult. Professional sports such as Rugby, Rugby Leauge, Australian Football and Cricket cost a lot to broadcast, costs that need to be recovered from advertising. Not an easy task in Canberra where four commercial radio stations, three commercial television stations and printed media are chasing limited advertising dollars. Amateur sports are mainly for participants and are of limited interest to radio audiences.

It is to be regretted that Canberra is losing one of its locally owned and controlled media assets. In an age of globalization and media conglomerates the small independent operator is facing a severe challenge. Young people looking for a media career will also miss out. According to Jim Paterson Triple S, over the last 17 years, has provided training for at least 100 people who are now in either the ABC or commercial media. These include Rosemary Church (CNN), Gavin Morris (CNN), Craig Lorenburgs (SBS Sport), Chris Coleman (ABC Central West), Peter Newlands (ABC Tasmania) and Geoff Knobel (WIN News).

Triple S is not broke but unlike HIH or One Tel has ceased operations before defaulting on any creditors. According to Jim Paterson Triple S has not surrendered its license and may come back. Only time will tell.

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Responding to this article, former 2SSS volunteer Rod Johnson also pays tribute to Triple S:

Guys,

It was with a saddened heart that I read of the closure of Triple S-FM today. I was in the Rothman’s van out in the street on that Tuesday 4Nov 86 and went to air with the very talented and now famous (unlike me) Farren Hotham as my panel Op sitting in the not quite completed studios of 2SSS. They were great days in radio.

I was still in the RAAF and working every spare minute I could grab (and some that the RAAF didn’t know about) to work with a very talented bunch of men and women.

Every time I see Rosemary Church on CNN I think back to her “Church on Sunday” shift. It was all a part of our Race Free Sunday’s and the one time we got to play music much to the disgust and censure from 2CA and 2CC.

I am happy to say that I was in on the concept almost from the beginning and never have I seen a more dedicated and hard working radio executive than Jim Patterson. He wanted 2SSS to be the most professional amateur radio station in Australia and in the early days, that’s all I can comment on, (I left Canberra to join 4MK in 1987) it was that and more. I still have contact with some of the originals and I know they will all feel this loss to radio.

Let us all hope that there can be a solution to what seems to be insurmountable problems and that very soon the station is back servicing Canberra and that Jim has not lost his drive for great sports radio.

Johnno – Rod Johnson