Eps 12 - 3GL Is Tops

In Episode 12 of "The Station," hosts Rod & Gary reminisce about 3GL's prominence in the 1980s. They discuss the station's successful license renewal in 1984, highlighting its comprehensive application praised by the Broadcasting Tribunal. Former manager John Humphrey shares insights from the era, reflecting on 3GL's local impact.

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Transcript

TS Eps 12
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[00:00:00] Hello, and, uh, on behalf of our sponsors, Nature's Cuppa, they've got a special coming up at Woolworths very soon, so everybody make sure you look out for that. And also, of course, Safe Solutions Care, we want to welcome you to episode 12 of the station, Remembering 3GL. I'm Gary Newton. And I'm Rod McClure, and that's a dozen.

That is a dozen. Goodness me. Uh, showing your age a bit there, aren't you? I don't guess you hear a dozen too often. 

And you know, next week, that'll be a baker's 

dozen. Ooh, well, well, okay. So, so we've decided to call this, uh, episode 3GL is tops. Well, you decided that, because you're the writer. So, could 

you explain that a 

little 

bit to me, please?

Well, it wasn't all that original, because that was the headline in the Geelong Addy back on March the 23rd, 1984. 1984. 

Ah, yes, okay. Uh, so the article went on to say, as I understand it, Radio 3GL continued to be the most [00:01:00] popular radio station in the Geelong region, according to evidence submitted to the station's license renewal hearing yesterday.

Yeah, and the, the advertiser at the time explained that, uh, under the provisions of the Broadcasting and Television Act, a public hearing must be held every three years before, um, a license can be renewed. 

So joining us again in this episode, the manager. Of the, of most of the, uh, 1980s. John Humphrey, welcome.

Thank you very much, Gary. Nice to be with you again. I 

should say, I suppose, that John is here to, um, well, because he was actually on hand during the public hearings back in the day, and obviously oversaw the very comprehensive application that 3GL put forward. In fact, in this episode, we refer to both 1984 renewal applications, and I think we'll get a pretty good idea as to, um, what was taking place in the early to mid 1980s.

very much. Uh, that made 3GL the most listened to station in the Geelong region. So John, are you up for that? 

To tell us all about the, uh, the [00:02:00] license renewal? 

Absolutely, Gary. It'll be my pleasure. 

Kudos. Well, for starters, at the, uh, the license renewal hearing on March of 19, March of 1984, the, uh, broadcasting tribunal member conducting the hearing was Miss C.

F. Weagle. Yeah, and 

Miss Weigel, Weigel, was more than impressed with 3GL's license renewal application. 

She certainly was. Miss Weigel was quoted in the Geelong Advertiser as saying the station should be congratulated for its written application, which is one of the most comprehensive I've ever seen. Any recollections of Miss Weigel, John?

Well, I certainly remember the hearing, uh, almost as if it was yesterday, in a way, Gary. Really? Yeah, because, um, it was the first one I'd ever attended. Were you nervous? Uh, I was tentative, um, but I, I looked upon it as Essentially a sales document, I had to tell on behalf of the station how we serve the community for [00:03:00] which we were in the fortunate position of having a license to serve.

So in doing it, uh, for the first and first time, cause I ended up doing it twice, I thought I need to tell the tribunal as much as possible about what we do, how we do it and why we do it. Uh, hence the application, uh, Was around three hundred and twenty force cap 

pages bound into a very nice looking book.

It 

was indeed, uh, 

hardcover too. 

And then just moving forward to nineteen eighty seven and having had the comment from the tribunal. earlier, I was able to present them with 360 force cap pages. 

You got a bore them to tears, weren't you? Just on the John, during the hearing, they, um, it was revealed that the McNair Anderson survey of Geelong and surrounding districts had showed that 3GL was the most [00:04:00] popular station during all time periods and with all age groups, which, you know, it was pretty, pretty good considering all of Melbourne.

You know, it booms into Geelong. So how do you feel about that? 

That's exactly right, Rod. Um, because of our unique position in Geelong and in fact, competing with a clear audible signal of all the Melbourne radio stations. In those days, we were up against 3UZ, 3DB, 3KZ, 3AW, 3MP, 3XY, 3AK, the new FM stations in E.

ON and Fox FM, together with the two ABC stations, uh, identified then as 3AR and 3LO. So we were in a very, probably the most competitive radio market at the time. in Australia, competing with a clear and audible signal of every Melbourne radio station. But we were up against the biggest and the best [00:05:00] in Australian radio, uh, delivered fresh to every home if you wanted it in Geelong.

So I saw the McNair Anderson survey as a most tool to indicate to me as manager how well we were doing and maybe identifying any areas where we, we might, uh, be able to improve our service to the community. But yes, uh, both surveys revealed that in any given week, two thirds of the Geelong population listened to 3GL.

Massive numbers. And we were the number one choice in breakfast, morning, afternoon, drive, and evening across 

every demographic. In 1984, 3GL employed 30 full time staff and 7 part timers. 

To have the licence renewed, um, the station had to tick, you know, a number of boxes, and when it came to community service, that was something else that Mr.

Weagle was more than impressed with John at 3GL. 

Yes, [00:06:00] well, part of the thing, as I said before, Rod, I saw having a license as a privilege, not a right, and as such, it was our responsibility to effectively, uh, serve and communicate and offer a service to the community, and part of that was the access to the airwaves, so that every, every service club, Uh, you know, Rotary, Apex, every not for profit organization, charitable organizations that had a product, service, or a function they wanted to promote, had access to our airwaves free of charge.

And that was, was the responsibility of David Coburn, Community Services 

Coordinator. It's interesting when you change from, you know, the block thing into, you know, 32nd It was revealed, I think, that 6, 000 worth of advertising each week donated free of charge. 

Yes, absolutely. Amazing. Such was our commitment to the community.

Now, Ms. Weigel was also quick to note that 3GL [00:07:00] had no trouble achieving the 20 percent Australian music performances requirement during 82 83, 26 percent of 3GL's music. was Australian. 

Well, there was a lot of, you know, good Australian talent and, um, it was good contemporary top 40 music, and we reflected that, which the audience wanted to hear and played it.

You mentioned about, you know, three yards programming was popular, contemporary music. 

Although, John, I gather you did tell the Tribunal, and I think I'm quoting you correctly here, there are many noisy songs in the top 40 which we might not consider playing. Could you, could you perhaps give us an example of that?

Noisy songs. 

Yes. Um, by way of definition, I would put the, uh, the material of Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. Not quite 3GL, huh? You still, you still don't 

like them either, do you? No. You've had chats about this privately. No, 

it, it, indeed I don't, and I, I felt for the 3GL audience at that time was much [00:08:00] better served with, let's say, soft pop, such as, uh, the Bee Gees, Olivia Newton John, Roy Orbison.

ABBA. Supremes, Abba, Elvis, 

and a bit of Abba. 

You remember like me as if it was yesterday. Very well done. Yes, indeed. 

And John, in your capacity as, uh, as station manager, did you ever attempt to influence the program manager in the terms, in terms of what music was actually being played or should be played?

99 percent of the time, I would say no. Uh, and let me clarify. Uh, on the basis of having been a program manager, uh, at, uh, 3BO and 4BH. And 4BH, yes. Uh, I didn't appreciate, uh, interference in my area as program manager. So I respected that with the one that, uh Uh, I worked with and very closely and have great regard for in Dennis [00:09:00] Scanlon.

The only time I helped Dennis with the programming was around Christmas time in a couple of weeks leading up to, um, Christmas, of course, we were in the fortunate position where we were broadcasting a maximum of 18 minutes of advertising an hour. Uh, and 

squeezing it that day 

and, and, and as a result of that, uh, to fit all the ads in and to make the money, which paid for all our salaries, which I saw was fairly important.

I was able to direct Dennis to some. Uh, short records. 

Oh, really? Yes, there was. So we can fit those 18 minutes in, right? Yes, I can, 

I can recall a couple. One was Elvis One Broken Heart for Sale, which went for one minute and 34 seconds. Oh, what a memory. There was, uh, Breakfast Song, if ever I've heard it.

Summer Nights. Yes. Uh, Mary and Faithful, that went for one minute and 45 seconds. And then there was Sgt. Pepper that went for one minute and 21 seconds. [00:10:00] So, I was able to assist Dennis in programming, so, oh, the letter went for 153 seconds. Yes, the box tops and the letter. That's it. So, I was able to assist him with the short records, uh, which we could play, and still get in the 18 minutes of commercials, uh, the ad lib, and of course, the news content.

No wonder you were the best. Noted about it. Now on a more serious note, there was a, uh, there was a catastrophic event in February of 1983, which was also referred to in the the license renewal application. That was um, the Ash Wednesday bushfires. 

And just as it had done 44 years earlier when um, Reg Gray was manager, during what became known as Black Friday, 3GL dispatched new staff to report live from the fires, keeping listeners uh, informed with the latest updates and information.

But when I say new staff, John, it was uh, you and Yes, and Rob Grant, 

how that happened, Rod, I was actually on holidays at the time and I noticed the smoke. I got into the car [00:11:00] and of course I had a two way radio, so I was able to contact the station, told what had happened, so, and then went into the radio station to see what we could and or should do.

So what did you do? Well, I gathered one of our journalists and because, see it's all before mobile phones, and the only way that we could get information direct to air was via the two way radio. Those two cars fitted with the radio. I had one and the chief engineer, John McConnell, had the other. Anyway, I felt it was my responsibility to act, and so I grabbed one of our journalists and he and I ventured into the bushfire.

Fortunately, he had his press pass, and as a result of that we got through a couple of fires. police blocks being media. We were allowed in and we then made our way to the Anglesea fire station where we were able to facilitate direct to air reports on the [00:12:00] progress of the fire, what people should do and what was expected.

Part of that message at the time was for people to leave their homes, Head to the beach, and if necessary, get in the water to protect them from the Ash Wednesday 

fires. Do you remember the sky that day? 

Oh. Burnt orange. The cloud and the horizon was all burnt orange from the smoke. 

You know, actually being there as such.

What was the feeling like amongst the fire people and that sort of thing? They were pretty anxious, I suppose. Well, 

I, I, I said to the journalist, I said, we could die here. You were that close. We were that close because we were allowed to go in. Mm mm Because the, the, the police had let us in so that we can tell the community what's, what's going on.

Yeah. It was so look. Yeah, I was scared, apprehensive, but I thought, well, this is part of the responsibility of being in control of a radio station. 

So the 1984 tribunal application included letters of appreciation of 3GL's commitment to providing reports and [00:13:00] updates when the fires were raging. And 

I know we've made fun of the fact that 1930 right through until Terry Taylor took over as manager in 1977, 3GL didn't have a news department as such.

Thank you very much. As David Coburn once said, the news department consisted of a copy of the Geelong Advertiser and a pair of scissors. Yeah, 

of course when, you know, major events did occur, the station always found a way to bring the story to the listeners. But come 1985, and a change took place, and that was a very positive change.

Yeah, and once again, this is something John can elaborate on because he and the news editor Norman Lay, or Norm Lay as we always called him, were instrumental in 3GL becoming, uh, the first Provincial radio station in Victoria to install an AAP, that's an Australian Associated Press, radio and television teleprinter.

John, your recollections of that? 

Yes, indeed, Gary. Prior to that, 3GL had two full time [00:14:00] journalists for local news, and our national news would come down the line from 3DB. The problem with the 3DB news, uh, in relation to the 3GL audience was Uh, for example, on a Wednesday, they would cover horse racing with Bill Collins.

So that meant that the on air news could be at 5 past or 10 past, depending on 

how the races were running. 

That's right. And 3DV's programming. So I felt that this for, uh, a radio station, uh, that wasn't 

directly involved in racing at that point was of no 

value to us. So we needed to. Change and improve.

That improvement included significant expansion of the newsroom where we went from two full time journalists to four full time and a part timer. Previously it had only been on a Monday to Friday basis. [00:15:00] So with the four and a half full time journalists, we provided local, national and international news from our own journalists and our own radio channel.

AAP teleprinter. The sort of, 

the teleprinter meant though that you could do a lot more, like, as I think looking back on it, it was, because it was a radio television printer, it actually printed out the stories ready to be read sort of thing. It did. Yes, it did. Whereas getting it from a newspaper is a bit different, you know.

Well it's 

not written for radio, it's written for the eyes of a reader, of course. Yes, so the teleprinter helped a lot in that way, yeah. 

And I guess the teleprinter really was one of the, probably the most major programming innovation that 3Geled did. 

Yes, indeed. And as an extension of our commitment, I installed a permanent landline into the headquarters of the State Emergency Service here in Geelong, so that if anything, after hours, the Uh, happen where a journalist might not be [00:16:00] physically in the building, it could go direct to air, uh, and, and thus have instant communication with the Geelong community.

With the, uh, addition of the radio, television, teleprinter, Free Geo was able to produce its own hourly news service covering local, national, international stories, uh, without having to rely on other news sources. But just as the news department, uh, was having a growth sprout 

under Terry Taylor and John Humphrey's 3GL's profit increased as well.

Uh, year on year, I think, uh, I'm right in saying, John, that, uh, in the six years that you were manager, the profit to revenue ratio stayed at 33 cents in the dollar. Uh, what did that mean exactly? 

Basically, Gary, it meant that, um, for every dollar of revenue that came in, 33 cents in that dollar went straight to profit.

We were, for seven years, one of the most profitable radio stations in regional Australia. Australia. [00:17:00] And in fact, we were more profitable on a profit to revenue basis than many of the metropolitan stations, some of whom even back then were in loss. So we were very much blue chip. So even bringing on those additional expenses, uh, over a period of time, profitability was maintained at that 33 cents in the dollar, absolute blue chip radio.

What about things like, um, the beach discos and that? Were they all, that was incorporated in that, in that figure as well, I gather? Oh, yes. And covered, covered by the sponsorship? 

Yes, indeed. Because, uh, for sponsors such as, say, Peter's Ice Cream, or Miss West Coast, West Coast Cooler, uh, they would pay for an advertising schedule, but they would also pay, uh, an operational cost as well.

So their sponsorship included airtime and a contribution to the cost of putting those events on. 

Now the football season was unique for Geelong, [00:18:00] with 3GL covering every Geelong game. Home, away, interstate, wherever, wasn't it John? 

Yes it was. Um, under, I mean the licence for 3GL was, um, to serve the Geelong community.

So, we had the agreement with the AFL that, uh, or VFL as it was then, um, to broadcast every Geelong game. But to, uh, as we expanded our coverage of football, we would at times do two broadcasts a week. So that whenever football was played on the weekend, 3GL covered every game. 

And of course, the football coverage had a couple of, well, almost what you'd call permanent sponsors, weren't they?

Yeah, in the early days, uh, Heath's Motors had a half and Murray's Men's Wear had a half. 

And our footy commentators were, of course, Mr. Football, Ted Whitten, Peter Legrand, Brian Brushfield. 

Yes. As our 

main commentators. 

They were, and that remained constant for quite a few years. 

And who paid for the, [00:19:00] um, you know, the occasional drink and something to eat that Teddy Witton and the boys might have had while they were on their travels?

Well, 

I think Ted was so well known that wherever they went, it was free. He didn't have 

to. That's right. Some good stories. He didn't even have to have 

Contra in those days with Teddy. 

You just needed to be out with him somewhere. Yeah. Around the football, of course, a lot of other packages during the footy season.

Now that people put their hands up for, like Ted Whitten's footy comments, which went to air Monday to Friday in the Brekkies session. There was the Sunday morning footy talk program, I think with Ted, Bob Davis, Brian Brushfield, and Don Dwyer of course hosted that. Thursday night, footy teams, with Bob Davis, 

the local league footy talk show, uh.

On Saturday mornings. 

Yeah, basically, if you love footy, and more importantly, if you love the cats, like John of course does. Yes, of course. If it was a man, a kindred man, yeah. Three gel was your station, there's no 

doubt about that. I mean, people listen from Tasmania and beyond, to all of that stuff, so. I'm not sure all of them love the cats, but [00:20:00] they like to listen to their footy.

That's for sure. 

So, uh, apart from the, uh, the stability with our football team, it's also worth noting that the station with the on air personalities remained, uh, largely constant with very little changes over a significant period of time. That was good for the station to have stability and the listener who got to know, uh, like and warmly embrace the different on air personalities.

Absolutely. So, Monday to Friday, got underway with Roger Kentz doing the breakfast session. Yeah, Dennis Gannon, he took care of, 

uh, the morning program. Yours truly. Yeah, Gary Newton. What did I do? I think you, well, you hosted. Oh, that's right. In the afternoons. Of course you did. Tim Hynde. Yeah, well, Tim was the drive time announcer.

Don Crawford. Good old Don, yeah. He pretty much looked after everything from 7pm to midnight, I guess. Then there was, of course. None other than Mr. Peter Bartlett was the midnight to dawn bloke, and he entertained the late night workers. 

And the insomniacs. And of course, [00:21:00] um, uh, before, uh, she slotted into the news department, Leslie Yeomans also bobbed up at various times during the day and night.

Just for a moment, harking back to where we started this episode, and that was talking about the License Renewal Application, the 1987 application contained 361 pages. Now, if it's okay, I'd just like to read it to you. Ah, no, hang on. Page one. Maybe you 

could just, uh, pick out a couple of things, you know, highlights, maybe.

360, oh, okay. Yeah, 

thank you 

Rodney. All right. Well, let's see. Here, um, here's one I found. Well, it's a letter. It's dated the 1st of December, 1983. And it says, Dear Ms. Arrigo, and Ms. Arrigo, of course, was Rose Arrigo. Rose Arrigo from the Record Library. Lovely Rose, who was assistant to Jeff Brown and Dennis Scanlon.

And the letter said, Dear Ms. Arrigo, I'm taking this opportunity to thank you for showing us over 3GL. We all enjoyed the time you spent guiding us and answering our questions. We now know a lot more about what it takes to run a [00:22:00] radio station and what people are needed. Once again, thank you from the Year 9 music students at Corio North High School.

Oh, what a, what a lovely 

letter. Who, 

who wrote that? 

Well, it was a young kid, um, Craig Nettings. Craig who? Craig Meddings. 

Oh, THE Craig Meddings. You know, the famous announcer now heard on Bay FM. Exactly. Dog and cat lover. Yeah. Marloo fanatic and, uh, kitchen 

home 

renovator. Yes, he's been busy. Is that the one?

He's been busy of late. Yeah, that's the one. The one and only. And, he owes it all to Craig. Well, of course, to the very lovely Rose Abrego. 

Yeah, isn't that 

right, Craig? I don't remember writing that letter, but I'm sure I did. I was always calling 3GL, winning prizes, going into Rosie and James Street and picking up those prizes.

And I can still remember that tour of 3GL and thinking to myself, one day I'm going to work in this place. And what do you know? I did. I actually went to radio school in the building next to Bay 93. 9 in Mirabal Street. I went to the Double D Don Dwyer [00:23:00] Radio School when I was 16 in 1985. And at the end of 1985, I landed my first job at 3BA in Ballarat, then went on to work at 3GL.

For a young boy of 17, 18 years of age to grow up listening to a stack of people like yourself, Gary, Don Dwyer, Tim Hynde, and suddenly be working amongst them was surreal and really exciting. They were great days. Keep up the good work on the podcast, boys. 

Well, there you go. Now, 1987 was, well, an interesting year, uh, not only for 3GL, but for the media landscape across Australia.

And there was one name that stood out. Wasn't Murdoch, 

by any 

chance? Oh, yes. Got it in one. Now, before we get, um, Mr. Humphrey's thoughts and recollections of the media madness that kind of ensued, let's just paint a bit of a picture as to what was going on. Rupert Murdoch 

and Robert Holmes, a court, were engaged in a battle to take over the Herald and Weekly Times and its collection of press, radio and television stations.

There were bids and counterbids, [00:24:00] 

wheelings and dealings. And the thing was, there was a bit of a problem confronting Mr. Murdoch. Because that year, or the year earlier, he had become an American citizen. And that was causing him problems in his bid to take over the Herald and Weekly Times. The rules in Australia placed restrictions on the amount of media that a foreigner could own.

So to appease the Australian Practices Commission and the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal, Mr Murdoch promised that if he gained control of the Herald and Weekly Times, he would He would sell off some of the company's newspaper interests and along with it his television and radio assets, which of course included 3GA.

So come, uh, January 29th, 1987, the front page headline of the Geelong Advertiser read News Limited seals 3GL 

sale deal. Yeah, and the Addy reported that um, News Limited had sold various assets, including 3GL, to West Australian businessman, Mr. Kerry Stokes. And quoted the chairman of the board at, at the Toronto Advertiser at [00:25:00] the time as saying, 

Uh, what a sad day this is.

The decision has been made by others and would never have been considered if the choice was in our hands. We can only hope that the new owner will maintain the magnificent record of 3GL in its service to the people of Geelong. So John, what are your thoughts and recollections of this time? And I gather that was John Morwood who made that that comment.

John Morwood was the chief executive of the Geelong Advertiser. He was also company secretary of 3GL and a board member. And um, when, when, when Murdoch took over the Herald and Weekly Times, which in turn gave him the ownership of the Geelong Advertiser and then 3GL as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Geelong Advertiser, it was necessary for 3GL to be sold under the cross media ownership Uh, provisions of the B and T Act.

So uh, there was six months [00:26:00] to basically find somebody to buy 3GL. Now for six months it was business as normal because Murdoch really had no interest in the radio stations. So uh, after about six months, we were sold for eight and a half million, uh, dollars to, uh, Kerry Stokes. Good price, eight 

and a half million, 

that was pretty good.

Yes, eight and a half million was a fair price for 3GL. It was a very profitable radio station. Stokes was very well versed in the media and acquired us and a number of other stations in the package. 

Now you went to a couple of the board meetings, didn't you? And, uh, got on quite well with Kerry Stokes.

Yes, indeed. In fact, the The buyout was, uh, what I would call as very professional, very cordial. Stokes, when he took over the company, simply expanded the board to embrace seven directors, uh, which retained the [00:27:00] three original, and then four appointed by himself, which included A himself, a fellow by the name of Jack Bendat, who'd been, uh, uh, Uh, instrumental with Stokes in getting the first FM license in Perth and also owned and controlled the, uh, Golden West Network in Western Australia.

So he was a radio man, understood the industry and a good acquisition to the board. There was Bill Rayner, who was his chief of, uh, technical. operations. And then another, uh, director who was the finance man and his name escapes me. So the board was expanded from three to seven to seven. And yes, on a couple of occasions to address the board, I flew once to Sydney, uh, to his headquarters there and another one to Canberra.

And on other occasions, the board would come and meet at James street. 

I wasn't aware at the time, but at one stage Capital Building Society in Geelong did show some interest [00:28:00] in buying 3Gio, but, um, you know, it didn't quite eventuate. Kerry Stokes, he was quoted as saying that a number of the radio stations, and 3Gio in particular, were turning out to be jewels and it, you know, and he wasn't really interested at that point in selling it to Capital.

As I said, because he was an experienced radio, uh, operator, he knew and understand, uh, the, uh, the service that, uh, A professional station needs to give to its local community and if it does that, it'll be well response, well, well respected, well responded to by advertisers and will be profitable as 3GL was.

But interesting though, John, because, um, he only actually owned 3GL for less than 12 months before selling it to, um, to, to Northern Star Holdings. 

Yeah, another interesting, very interesting story, Gary. Stokes was, at that stage, looking to build an empire of radio and television. Very ambitious, very early on.

Now, Bill [00:29:00] Rayner had phoned me and said, I've got some good news. Within 24, 48 hours, we believe we will have acquired the Seven Network. Um, and. within that time period. Murdoch had received a counter offer from Christopher Scase because a price had been offered by Kerry Stokes and Scase had upped the ante and Murdoch, who was simply interested in getting as much money as possible for his media assets, sold Scase, which as we know turned out to be an absolute scam.

disaster and Scase died overseas and left money owing to lots of people, but Murdoch got what he wanted. Now because Stokes had missed out on, uh, the Severn network at that stage, He stepped [00:30:00] out of the media. He, people were paying in his view, too much money for assets. He said they were overvalued because of what had happened with Skase.

So he sold. And he stayed out of the media. For quite a while, didn't he? For many years. And it was only when. Uh, things normalized after other companies had bought and sold and part and sold parcels of newspapers, radio stations, television stations. When he got out of it, the radio assets were sold to Northern Star and they had acquired, uh, some television stations.

Well, just on the jokers of doing one of us going through the drawing advertiser, it, this is quoting from the Addy. It reported that Northern Star had paid 842 million for network 10 holdings. And it said Northern Star only owned 3GL for a matter of a matter of weeks because it was really focused on that.

network, 10 side of things. So then [00:31:00] it sold 3GL. 

Yeah, Northern Star had bought different packages from different people to put together. And they were really interested in the 10 network. Yeah. But weren't interested in the radio stations. 

So they offloaded 3GL pretty quickly. Yeah, 

Northern Star only owned 3GL for four or six weeks.

Well, just moving on from that, so news limited. Uh, there was Kerry Stokes, Northern Star, so 3GL had been sold three times, and sale number four was, um, pretty much just around the corner. Tuesday, October the 13th in 1987, the headline on the front page of the Addy said, Hoyt's plans FM for 3GL. 

The story went on to say that Radio station 3GL had been sold for the fourth time in less than 12 months.

The new owner, Hoyts Media Ltd, had become the largest radio group in Australia when it bought 3GL and eight other stations for 151 million from Northern Star Holdings. 

There was a lot of money [00:32:00] changing hands back then. John, the Geelong Addy quoted you as saying at the time, um, the attitude of Hoyt's media was to allow successful radio stations to continue as they were.

It then quoted Hoyt's managing director, Mr. Glenn Wheatley, who reportedly said, there'll be some fine tuning on some stations, but we're not going to be like a bullet a gate. Anything you'd like to say about that, that time? 

It was sort of mixed feelings because whilst Murdoch had owned us for six months before divestiture, it was business as normal.

Then Carey Stokes owned us for the best part of a year, business as normal. Then we were passed to Northern Star Holdings for four to six weeks, which was pretty much a non event. And then, uh, we have the statement from Hoyts, and I think to myself, well, I [00:33:00] wonder what comes next. 

Well, on that note, it's time to wrap up this episode of The Station.

Remembering 3GL, thanks once again to our sponsors, Nature's Cuppa, look out for them at Woolies, and Safe Solutions Care. 

Safe Solutions Care is proudly offering batik specialist respite care for your loved ones across the stunning Otways Region, Goldfields and Warrnambool surf coast areas of Victoria.

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Yep, and thanks too to John Humphrey for his insights into 3GL in the 80s. It certainly was a decade of change, and thanks too to, like I've said, the Invisible Man, Geoff Brown, who helped put things together in a way that they, um, hopefully make sense.

And of course our, uh, Engineering guru, our sound engineer, Dean Gray. Thank you, Dean, for all you've done over the weeks. Of course, under the, uh, the ownership of Hoyt's Media, there were, were more changes on the [00:34:00] way for 3GL, but that will have to wait until another time. Hopefully, John might be able to join us again, because, uh, let's just say, interesting times lay ahead.

Until then, thanks for listening. Thank you. John, thank you. 

Yeah, thank you, Rob. Thank you, Gary. 3GL, on 

the West Coast.