As we previously covered, triple j is hot on the heels of its most successful year yet. Having consistently smashed commercial radio in ratings surveys throughout 2015, last year saw Australia’s national youth broadcaster earn countless more achievements and accolades.
We all know the station is influential and there’s a good chance you and everybody you know listens to triple j, but you may not be so up to speed on just what makes triple j, well, triple j. What is it like behind the scenes and what decisions go into each day of broadcasting?
A good person to ask would be Zan Rowe. A 10-year veteran of the station, the presenter is best known as the host of Mornings With Zan as well as regularly filling in for triple j Music Director Richard Kingsmill on the station’s new releases show.
Zan recently appeared on the Anatomy podcast, during which she went in-depth on her work at triple j, including how she researches and finds new music, as well as giving some rare insights into the strategies that made 2015 triple j’s most successful year to date.
“We’re not gonna jump on a trend and just play that trend to the detriment of others,” Zan says of triple j in the episode, which you can stream below. “If we’re playing things at the same rotation [as commercial radio], we’re not doing what we’re supposed to be doing.”
[include_post id=”467978″]
“We started playing [Drake’s ‘Hotline Bling’] and when we saw that commercial radio was really thumping it, I think a friend of mine at Unearthed said, ‘Yeah, I think ‘Hotline Bling’ has had the full rinse on triple j now.'”
Zan also explains why she thinks commercial radio is wrong about Aussie music and we’re currently enjoying a new “golden age of Australian music” and why triple j is able to take risks that commercial stations simply can’t, making triple j the forecast for what listeners will soon be hearing on commercial radio.
“There’s this joke: the Hottest 100, aka what all the commercial stations are about to start playing. They’re songs that have been around for six to 12 months,” she says in the ep.
Check out the full episode below or stream it via iTunes or the Anatomy Podcast website.
