Triple J

For the boy band formerly known as Triple J, see Union J.

"JJJ" redirects here. For other uses, see JJJ (disambiguation).

Triple J

Australia
Broadcast area	Australia and internationally online
Frequency	FM: Various DAB+ or DVB-T Ch. 28
Programming
Language(s)	English
Format	Alternative music, with specialist programming weeknights
Ownership
Owner	Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Sister stations	Double J Unearthed Hottest
History
First air date	19 January 1975; 49 years ago (1975-01-19) as 2JJ
Technical information
Licensing authority	Australian Communications and Media Authority
Links
Webcast	Web stream
Website	www.abc.net.au/triplej/

Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian radio station founded 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.

The station was set up under the Gough Whitlam government, wanting to extend the appeal of the ABC to young Australians. Initially broadcasting as 2JJ or Double Jay^[A] from 19 January 1975, it stood apart from commercial stations with its lack of private advertising and its fringe music programming. Following a transition to FM in 1981, the station rebranded as 2JJJ or Triple J as it expanded regionally throughout the 1990s. Two spin-off digital stations were launched in the early 2010s: Triple J Unearthed, which plays only local, unsigned musicians; and Double J, which aims to appeal to more contemporary audiences. Triple J used to dominate national ratings in the 18–24-year-old demographic, but its audience has declined since 2015 with the rise of streaming media.

Triple J continues to have a significant impact on the Australian music landscape, supporting major music festivals and domestic tours, and organising its own events like One Night Stand. Every year, it broadcasts the Hottest 100, a public poll of the years' most popular music, and runs the J Awards, a music awards series. Triple J annually champions Ausmusic Month and founded the nationwide Ausmusic T-Shirt Day initiative in 2013. Unearthed, the network's online music discovery platform, provides pathways for independent artists to be broadcast on the network. However, Triple J has been criticised for promoting a homogenous national music scene.

History

1970s: Launch and early years

Plans for a new radio station

Triple J was established under the government of prime minister Gough Whitlam, pictured in 1972.

The launch of a new, youth-focused radio station was a product of the progressive media policies of the Whitlam government of 1972–75.^[3] Prime minister Gough Whitlam wanted to set the station up to appeal to the youth vote, 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."^[4] 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, referred to as Double Jay,^[A][1] and the short-lived 3ZZ in Melbourne.^[5][6]

2JJ was intended to be the first link in Whitlam's planned national youth network, however his administration was not re-elected in the 1975 federal election. The succeeding Fraser government's budget cuts to the ABC also halted this plan from moving forward.^[7][8] By the time 2JJ went to air, the Whitlam government was in its final months of office, and presenters on the station were frequently accused of left-wing bias in the months that followed.^[9]

First broadcasts and radical policies

2JJ commenced broadcasting at 11:00 am, Sunday 19 January 1975, at 1540 kHz on the AM band.^[5] 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, 2JJ would use off-air ABC networks to increase its broadcasting range.^[10]

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 montage 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 played Skyhooks' "You Just Like Me 'Cos I'm Good in Bed".^[11] The choice of this song to introduce the station was significant, as it represented several important features of the 2JJ brand at the time. Choosing an Australian band reflected the network's commitment to Australian content at a time when American acts dominated pop stations. Further, the song was one of several tracks from the Skyhooks' album that had been banned on commercial radio for its explicit sexual content.^[7][12][13] Because 2JJ 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.^[14][15]

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, and all staff participated in major policy decisions. For example, as former announcer Gayle 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".^[4]

In its early years 2JJ's on-air staff were mainly recruited from either commercial radio or other ABC stations. In another first for the industry, their roster also featured presenters who did not come from a radio background, including singer-songwriters Bob Hudson^[16] and John J. Francis,^[17] and actor Lex Marinos.^[18] Other notable foundation staff and presenters in January 1975 were Chris Winter, Marius Webb and Ron Moss,^[8] Arnold Frolows, Mark Colvin, Jim Middleton, Don Cumming and Mac Cocker.^[8][19]

Rise in popularity

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%.^[20] Despite the poor quality of reception caused by the Sydney transmitter, the station still saw rapid growth.^[21] 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.^[4]

Controversy emerged after the station hosted an open-air concert in Liverpool, New South Wales, in June 1975, featuring Skyhooks and Dragon. The city's Sun newspaper claimed that attendees were shocked" by "depictions of sexual depravity and shouted obscenities", which allegedly caused women in the audience to clap their hands over their ears, prompting Coalition frontbencher Peter Nixon to call for the station to be closed down.^[22]

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 on 18 January 1981 to celebrate the re-launch of 2JJJ. Attended by 40,000 people, the historic concert featured Midnight Oil and Matt Finish.^[23][24]

1980s: National expansion

On 11 July 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, referred to as Triple J.^[3][25] The first song played was another track then banned from commercial radio, "Gay Guys" by the Dugites.^[26]

On 19 January 1981, the AM transmissions ceased, and Triple J became an FM-only station. It was not until the 1989 that the ABC was finally able to expand to Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Newcastle and Perth.^[27]

In the late 1980s, Triple M director Barry Chapman was appointed as general manager to oversee Triple J's network expansion. His tenure generated controversy, most notably in 1990, when all senior announcers in the Sydney office were fired, including the most popular presenters Tony Biggs and Tim Ritchie.^[26] Several protests were held outside its William Street studios, including a 105-hour vigil,^[4] and a public meeting that packed the Sydney Town Hall with angry listeners spilled out onto the street.^[26] Listeners were concerned Chapman would bring a more commercial flair to Triple J with music programming that was less dominated by Sydney acts.^[28]

1990s–2000s: Regional and digital expansion

Throughout the 1990s, Triple J commenced expansion to more regional areas of Australia and, in 1994, it was extended to another 18 regional centres throughout the country. In 1996, the total was brought to 44, with the new additions including Launceston, Tasmania; Albany, Western Australia; Bathurst, New South Wales and Mackay, Queensland. Triple J's most recent expansion was to Broome, Western Australia in 2005.^[29]

In May 2003, Arnold Frolows, the only remaining member of the original 2JJ staff of 1975, stepped down after 28 years as Triple J music director. He was replaced by presenter Richard Kingsmill, who joined the station in 1988.^[30][31]

In late 2004, the station's promotion for their annual Beat the Drum contest– in which listeners were to send in the most remarkable places they could promote the Triple J logo– caused brief controversy after it issued a promotional image of the former World Trade Center draped with a huge drum flag.^[32] Meanwhile, a notable winner of the competition was a Queensland farmer who formed a drum logo-shaped crop circle in his wheat-fields.^[33]

Triple J launched its own music magazine, JMag (later known as Triple J Magazine), in 2005.^[34] It was initially published quarterly, then monthly, but in 2013 the magazine ceased publication by News Custom Publishing. It returned as an annual edition, produced in-house, until 2016.^[35]

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.^{[citation needed]} In 2006, Triple J launched JTV (later rebranded to Triple J TV),^[36] a series of television programs broadcast on ABC1 and ABC2 including music videos, live concerts, documentaries, and comedy, as well as a behind-the-scenes look at Triple J's studios.^[37]

2010s: Double J and Unearthed relaunches, Hottest 100 controversy

In 2006, the website for Triple J Unearthed was launched. It remains a hub for unsigned Australian artists to upload their music and be heard by the Triple J team.^[38] A digital radio station, which only plays content from the website, was launched in 2011.^[39]

In 2014, ABC's Dig Music digital radio station was rebranded and relaunched as Double J on 30 April 2014.^[40][41] The new station featured both new music and material from Triple J interview and sound archives.^[42] Former Triple J announcer Myf Warhurst, who hosted the inaugural shift, said "it's for people who love music, and also love a bit of music history."^[42]

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.^[43]

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 (26 January), due to the Change the Date debate.^[44][45]

2020s: Kingsmill's departure and restructuring

Triple J began 2020 with a major overhaul of its hosts, replacing longtime presenters including Gen Fricker and Tom Tilley with younger talent including Bryce Mills and Lucy Smith.^[46]

In August 2021, the Triple J Twitter account posted "did it hurt? when you aged out of the youth radio station", riffing on a popular pick-up line. The tweet attracted widespread criticism, with accusations of ageism.^[47][48] Writing for NME, journalist Andrew Street said the controversy renewed discussion about the lack of airplay of older artists on the station, with many being "deemed Double J-ready" in their mid-20s.^[49]

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.^[50] Compared to the audience share of 7.7% in the Sydney 18–24 year-old demographic in 2021, the station had dropped to 4.4% in 2022.^[50]

Triple J logo until 2024.

In December 2023, it was announced that Richard Kingsmill, who had been the music director of Triple J, Double J and other related stations, would be leaving after 35 years at the ABC.^[51] 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.^[52][53] According to The Music, a "heated meeting with staff in Sydney" regarding the changes involved audible "shock and disappointment", particularly over Kingsmill's redundancy.^[54] Several news outlets including The Guardian and Mumbrella wrote pieces about Kingsmill's importance to the Australian music scene,^[55] 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.^[31]

Further, the corporation's head of music and creative development, Meagan Loader, announced her departure.^[54] Ben Latimer, former head of the Nova network, was announced as the new head of radio at the ABC, amidst a major board restructuring.^[54] Several presenters including Jess Perkins and Tim Shepherd also announced their departures,^[56] and Good Nights with Latifa Tee was axed.^[57]

In May 2024, Triple J hosted the inaugural Bars of Steel Live event in Parramatta, showcasing hip hop and rap artists from all across Western Sydney.^[58] In September, the station also revived its One Night Stand regional music festival, which hadn't previously run since 2019. It took place in Warrnambool, Victoria to a sold-out crowd.^[59]

Music and identity

In the station's early years, Triple J primarily played alternative rock and 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, reggae, and the emerging ambient, punk and new wave genres of the late 1970s.^[60][61] Today, the station mostly plays modern rock, alt-pop, hip-hop and electronic music.^[62]

Triple J initially positioned itself as a "punk" brand due to its fringe and often controversial music programming, especially in its early years. Evidence of this was in its first played song– at the time, Skyhooks' "You Just Like Me 'Cos I'm Good in Bed" was banned from other Australian broadcasters due to its salacious content.^[63][64] Further, the station had been playing N.W.A's protest song "Fuck tha Police" for six months before catching the attention of ABC management who subsequently banned it in 1990. 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.^[65][66]

Indie pop band Lime Cordiale were the most played act on Triple J in 2024.

The station also set itself apart by playing an unprecedented amount of Australian content,^[67][68] and it 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."^[8] Staff at the station were expected to "provide an alternative to the mainstream, with a heavy emphasis on Australian content".^[8] This is because the station has always had a 40% minimum Australian content quota, well above commercial radio's 25%.^[50]

In 2024, out of the 50 most played artists on Triple J, 33 were Australian, including eight in the top 10. Further, more than half of the acts included a non-male member. The most played act was indie pop duo Lime Cordiale.^[69]

In recent years, Triple J has been "dominated by garage-pop bands," according to Shaad D'Souza of The Guardian. The journalist interviewed longtime listeners who thought the station played too much of the likes of "Spacey Jane, Lime Cordiale, Skegss and Ball Park Music" who "are consistently among the most played artists on the station every year." Another respondent said the "station's programming is consistent to a fault."^[50]

For decades, Triple J has been criticised for sounding too much like commercial radio and losing its distinct identity that initially set the station apart.^[63] Sam Whiting of The Conversation calls the community critiquing the broadcaster in this regard a "national pastime".^[63] D'Souza argued that generally, Triple J's music programming has become increasingly commercial, with international pop stars Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo and Lil Nas X all becoming playlist mainstays and the former even taking out the 2018 Hottest 100 in "an outcome that would have been unthinkable even a few years earlier."^[50][70]

Music data

Launched in 2006 by Paul Stipack, J Play was an archive 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.^[71][72] 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.^[73]

In June 2024, Sydney software engineer Harrison Khannah launched Triple J Watchdog, a similar online resource that tracks each week's top songs, musicians and genres, with additional statistics like artists' country of origin, pronouns and their amount of Spotify monthly listeners.^[74]

Branding

The Triple J name is stylised in all lowercase, a marketing decision made in 1981^[75] that according to writer Ben Eltham of Meanjin, is one that reflects "a particular world-view that takes brand identity seriously". Marketing staff will vet press releases and posters to ensure the broadcaster name is written as triple j.^[76] In November 2024, the logos of Triple J and its sister stations were updated for the first time in 15 years.^[77]

The Triple J news theme introduced in 1991 is a remix of the ABC's "Majestic Fanfare".

The Triple J news theme is a "very 90s remix" of the classic ABC News theme "Majestic Fanfare". It was written and produced by Paul McKercher and John Jacobs in 1991, and is still used as of 2024. It contains a drum sample from Prince's "Get Off" and the record scratch from N.W.A's "Fuck tha Police", a nod to the track after it was banned by ABC management.^[78] This unconventional news theme is another core element of the Triple J brand identity– McKercher wanted to create a sound that was distinctly uncommercial.^[79]

Programs

Main article: List of Triple J programs

Through the mid-to-late 1980s, 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, the station continues to broadcast several genre-specific music programs throughout the week, including:

• Soul Ctrl: playing neo soul and rhythm & blues music^[80]
• The Racket: playing heavy metal music
• Short Fast Loud: playing punk rock, hardcore punk, metalcore and post-hardcore music^[81]
• Hip Hop Show: playing hip hop music.

Currently hosted by Ash McGregor, Home & Hosed is another flagship Triple J program that plays only Australian music, typically from local and unsigned artists. It is broadcast most weekday evenings, whereas other specialist shows are only scheduled for once a week.^[82] Triple J also has several live music segments, including Like a Version– a weekly program which sees an artist perform an original and a cover song, Live at the Wireless– broadcasts of exclusive concert recordings, and Bars of Steel, a web series featuring up-and-coming rappers freestyling.^[83]

News updates on Triple J are written and edited from a youth-oriented perspective. Hack, the station's flagship current affairs program, is broadcast every weekday evening and features investigations into relevant issues impacting young Australians.^[84]

Presenters

Main article: List of Triple J presenters

Many early Triple J presenters went on to successful careers with commercial stations, the most notable being Doug Mulray, who honed his distinctive comedy-based style at the ABC before moving to rival FM rock station Triple M in the 1980s, where he became the most popular breakfast presenter in Sydney, and one of the highest-paid radio personalities in the country. Presenter Annette Shun Wah went on to host the popular Rock Around the World series on SBS and is now a program executive with SBS TV and producer of The Movie Show.

From July 2024, presenters on daily programs include:^[85]

• Breakfast: Concetta Caristo and Luka Muller
• Mornings: Lucy Smith
• Lunch: Bryce Mills and Dave Woodhead
• Drive: Abby Butler and Tyrone Pynor
• Hack: Dave Marchese

Initiatives

Triple J Unearthed

Main article: Triple J Unearthed

Missy Higgins says her 2001 Unearthed success led to her initial record deal and subsequent success.^[86]

Triple J Unearthed is an online music discovery platform and digital radio station that features only unsigned Australian artists, focusing on discovering new local acts. Originally founded as a talent competition in 1996, notable winners of the time included Killing Heidi, Missy Higgins and Grinspoon.^[87][88] The Triple J Unearthed website was launched 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.^[89] In 2011, Triple J Unearthed was launched as a digital station in five Australian capital cities.^[90]

Unearthed hosts a number of competitions and initiatives to improve the recognition of independent artists. For example, Unearthed High is an annual contest held founded in 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).^[91]

Ausmusic Month

Every November, Triple J celebrates Ausmusic Month, where Australian acts are heavily promoted across all its stations.^[92] 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.^[92] Triple J hosts the J Awards during the month,^[93][94] and encourages listeners to wear their favourite band's t-shirt on Ausmusic T-Shirt Day, an initiative which the station founded in 2013.^[95]

J Awards

Main article: J Awards

The J Awards are an annual awards ceremony held in November each year to celebrate Australian music. As of 2024, the five award categories are Australian Album of the Year, Australian Music Video of the Year, Australian Live Act 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 were Smiling With No Teeth by Genesis Owusu in 2021, Angel in Realtime by Gang of Youths in 2022, Drummer by G Flip in 2023, and Zorb by Sycco in 2024.

Radio events

Hottest 100

Main article: Triple J Hottest 100

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.^[96][97] 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.^[97] In response to controversy surrounding the Australia Day debate, it was announced in November 2017 that future countdowns would be aired on the fourth weekend of January to avoid associations with the public holiday.^[98]

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.^[99][100]

In July 2023, the network launched Triple J Hottest, an online radio station featuring a playlist of tracks from all previous Hottest 100 countdowns.^[101] 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).^[102]

Requestival

Broadcast annually from 2020 until 2022, Triple J held Requestival, where they only played listeners' song requests for five days straight.^[103] Significant airtime was given to songs and artists that would never usually be played on the station, including "Symphony No. 5" by Ludwig van Beethoven, "Shake It Off" by Taylor Swift (which was notably banned from the 2014 Hottest 100), "Rasputin" by Boney M., the theme songs to TV programs Antiques Roadshow and Saddle Club, the entirety of Julia Gillard's misogyny speech, and the Geelong Cats club song, "We Are Geelong".^[104][105] In 2021, more than 80,000 song requests were submitted by listeners.^[106]

Impossible Music Festival

Main article: Impossible Music Festival

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.

Live events

One Night Stand

Main article: One Night Stand (festival)

Beginning in 2004 and happening annually almost every year since, Triple J has hosted One Night Stand, a free, all-ages concert in a different small town.^[107] It is up to the audience to nominate their regional towns to host the event, needing to provide examples of local support, including community (signatures), local government (council approval), and a venue for the concert.^[108] The most recent One Night Stand was hosted in the coastal town of Warrnambool, Victoria in September 2024.^[10][59]

Bars of Steel Live

Based on the station's Bars of Steel web series, the station hosted a free concert in Parramatta in May 2024, featuring hip hop and rap artists from all across Western Sydney.^[58] Billed as the inaugural event, the 2024 lineup included Youngn Lipz, A.Girl, Becca Hatch and Unearthed competition winners. Triple J also hosted several songwriting and music production workshops coinciding with the live performances.^[109]

Beat the Drum

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".^{[110][111][112][113]} Live recordings of the concert were made available on the CD compilation Beat the Drum – Celebrating 40 Years of Triple J.

Tribute concerts

In November 2009, Triple J hosted the live show Before Too Long: Triple J's Tribute to Paul Kelly,^[107] which was run over two nights at the Forum Theatre in Melbourne, with various artists performing tracks by Paul Kelly.^[114] 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.^[115]

Impact

In the Australian music scene

On any given day, hundreds of thousands of listeners across the country are tuned in. Label owners, promoters, publicists and musicians follow the station with relentless fascination, as its playlist and musical preferences can literally make, delay, or break careers in the notoriously fickle music business.

— Andrew McMillen, The Discovery Channel^[116]

Triple J, according to Whiting, "retains substantial influence over Australia’s music market and the capacity for local artists to gain an audience," and has done since its inception.^[74] With a more adventurous music catalogue than that of commercial radio, especially throughout the 1980s, Triple J were responsible for popularising some of Australia's most well-known acts, including Midnight Oil, Nick Cave, Silverchair and the John Butler Trio.^[117] They have also been given credit for creating local audiences for overseas acts, like Blondie, Devo, Garbage and the B-52s – 2JJ was the first radio station in the world to play the latter's debut single "Rock Lobster".^[118] 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."^[117]

Triple J also had a significant effect on record distribution in its early years. Labels would previously only import recordings that they knew would yield good commercial return, leaving them often unwilling to take risks on local releases from unknown acts. For example, Australian distributors initially refused to offer 801's 1976 live album 801 Live in the country, but constant airplay on 2JJ made the record the highest selling import album of the year. Thus, the label decided to release it locally.^{[citation needed]}

Triple J has sponsored Australian live music events since its inception, and has organised its own festivals like Bars of Steel Live and One Night Stand, the latter of which has run in small regional towns since 2004.^[63] In 2024, Triple J and Double J supported over 60 festivals and tours of international and domestic artists. They promote such events in their radio programs and commercials and on their social media channels.^[119]

As cringe-worthy as Triple J can sometimes be, the network is irreplaceable; it fills a unique niche in the Australian cultural landscape.

Ben Eltham, The Curious Significance of Triple J^[76]

In January 2014, Fairfax newspapers published a report questioning if Triple J could be blamed for the homogenisation of Australian music.^[120] 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.^[121] 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.^[121]

In radio

Triple J's programming approach was copied by succeeding commercial stations. Notably, Nova, who had also branded themselves as a competitor youth station, had a "clearly borrowed" catalogue from Triple J, but was slightly more conservative with its song selections.^[122]

Former Australian Recording Industry Association staffer Danny Yau said that Triple J's nationalisation from the early 1990s created a new role for local community radio stations, particularly Sydney's FBi and Melbourne's 3RRR, to fill the broadcaster's gaps with more niche regional content.^[123]

See also

• List of radio stations in Australia
• BBC Radio 6 Music, British alternative music station
• CBC Radio 3, Canadian indie music station
• FM4, Austrian youth broadcaster
• MDR Sputnik, German youth broadcaster
• Mouv', French youth broadcaster

Notes

1. The station's original name was 2JJ, also referred to as Double Jay^[1] or Double J,^[2] not to be confused with sister station Double J, formerly known as Dig Music.

References

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2. Hope, Cathy (19 January 2015). "Happy birthday Triple J: Australian radio's enfant terrible turns 40". The Conversation. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
3. "About triple j". triple j. abc.net.au. Archived from the original on 12 January 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2008.
4. Austin, Gayle (12 January 2005). "Off the dial". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 21 March 2024. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
5. Dawson, Jonathan (1992). "JJJ:radical radio?". Continuum: The Australian Journal of Media & Culture. 6 (1). Archived from the original on 5 September 2008. Retrieved 9 March 2009.
6. "Bob Hope-Hume, A History of Community Radio". webcitation.org. 11 March 2009. Archived from the original on 20 October 2009. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
7. "The Almanac: 1975". MILESAGO. Retrieved 3 February 2008.
8. Levin, Darren (9 April 2014). "12 things you should know about Double J". Faster Louder. Faster Louder Pty Ltd. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
9. Griffen-Foley, Bridget (23 March 2015). "From murky beginnings, Fraser became a friend of diverse media". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 15 August 2023. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
10. Ricquish, David. "Radio Power Plays 1975–81 Melbourne, Sydney & Wellington". Radio Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 4 February 2008.
11. Marius, Webb (10 January 2015). "Triple J's 40th birthday: High times with the department of youth". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
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External links

• Official website – includes live audio streaming of the station's broadcast, as well as archives of recent editions of shows.
• Conference paper: Fandom, Triple J and the Unearthed competition: a regional perspective by Kate Ames, Central Queensland University
• Triple J's 30th Anniversary webpage featuring historical information about key events in the station's history as well as vintage audio and video
• Jplay Archived 10 February 2021 at the Wayback Machine JJJ Playlists
• Link to Triple J frequency finder
• Meet the Team : Triple-J Archived 28 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine – [PIAS]'s Blog, 18 March 2015