Back in April, Tone Deaf reported on the findings of the then-latest Australian radio ratings survey, which illustrated the continued dominance of national youth broadcaster Triple J, particularly for 18-24 and 25-39 year olds, two of the most highly coveted demographics among advertisers.
The situation is ironic for the radio industry. While Triple J is dominating the two main advertising demographics, even coming in ahead of commercial giants like Fox, Nova, and Triple M, since Triple J is a non-commercial, government-owned station, advertisers are not able to run ads on the network.
However, while the news may not be all that welcome for advertisers or for commercial radio stations, we here at Tone Deaf speculated that the news did bode well for the future of Australian music. Triple J’s numbers, we noted, should serve as another wake-up call to broadcasters to play more local music.
As we wrote, that a station with a proud and strong commitment to Australian music can do so well in the ratings proves that commercial outlets ignore Australian music at their own peril and that of their advertisers, whose most coveted demographics are switching over to Triple J.
It seems we’re not the only ones who hope one day to see commercial broadcasters, who often shy away from playing Australian music in favour of a Top 40 format or rotating overseas hits, make a return to playing local music and putting homegrown artists before imported artists.
Members of The Hard Rock Society, who are behind Channel 31 music program The Hard Rock Show and the online radio station THRS Radio, have banded together to call on Triple M, Australia’s premier rock station, to begin playing more local music.
“Australia and the genre of rock music go back a long way,” the movement, which has dubbed itself Triple M Give Us Back Our Rock Music, write on their new Facebook page. “To say Aussies are passionate about rock is an understatement. To a lot of us, it’s in our blood and we live and breathe it.”
“But over the past few years (or even longer) you seem to have lost your way. Sure, there’s the odd great, classic song but overall you have become bland, boring and horribly ‘safe’. In other words, everything that rock should not be!” they continue.
Their push to get more local music on the airwaves has been rapidly generating steam, having amassed just under a thousand likes since launching on Thursday. According to Dave Smiles, one of the ringleaders of Triple M Give Us Back Our Rock Music, this is a multi-pronged assault.
“During a recent episode of my show I played ten new songs from local bands and asked the question, ‘Why aren’t these songs being played on Triple M on regular rotation?’ As a result of this some members of The Hard Rock Society, myself included, started calling the Triple M number 133353 requesting local songs,” he writes.
“After discussing various ideas of what we could do next a Facebook page was soon created by the frontman of a local band, with the three hosts of The Hard Rock Show and myself as administrators.”
Smiles and other members of The Hard Rock Society are calling on venues around Melbourne to bolster the movement. “With the amount of attention the page has already received, now is the time to capitalise on it. If fans, musicians and venues all pool our collective endeavours and work together we could really achieve something,” writes Smiles.
[include_post id=”419996″]
In an open letter posted to their Facebook page, the group cite the success of Soundwave Festival as an indication that Aussie music fans are hungry for real local rock music. “Did you know that Australia has some of the best, new rock bands in the world?” they letter reads.
“Sadly these bands are getting far more radio play overseas than in Australia. Isn’t that a real shame? Would there be any harm in increasing your Aussie music quota and supporting local talent. We go back a long way Triple M, please bring us back our rock music.”
If you wish to show your support for the campaign, head on over to the Triple M Give Us Back Our Rock Music Facebook page here.
Back in September, Triple M reaffirmed their commitment to playing rock music whilst taking a thinly veiled stab at Triple J. The head of the Triple M Network, Mike Fitzpatrick, accused Triple J of being “elitist” and focusing on music that is “on trend right now” at the expense of songs that are great but not “cool”.
“Cut Triple M open and we bleed rock music. It’s a beautiful, ever-evolving art form created by the hands of musical craftsmen and women,” Fitzpatrick said. “The evolution of rock is such that we’ve built a place where the new sounds and varied styles of the genre can live.”
“Unlike our Taxpayer-funded ‘youth network’, Triple M Modern Rock Digital isn’t elitist. We don’t care about ‘cool’ music or ‘on trend right now’ styles. If it’s a great song, we’ll play it.”
Dear Triple M,Australia and the genre of rock music go back a long way. To say Aussies are passionate about rock is an…
Posted by Triple M Give Us Back Our Rock Music onThursday, July 9, 2015
