newcastle central coast wollongong branding sydney s 104.9 triple m slogan sydney s best rock frequency 104.9 mhz fm dab first air date 12 july 1980 format active rock erp 150 000 watts haat 224 m 1 transmitter coordinates 33 48 20 s 151 10 51 e 33.80556 s 151.18083 e 33.80556 ; 151.18083 affiliations triple m network owner southern cross austereo sister stations 2day fm website official website 2mmm identified on air and in print as triple m is a radio station broadcasting in sydney australia . triple m sydney is part of southern cross austereo s triple m network and broadcasts on the 104.9 mhz frequency . contents 1 history 1.1 the early days 1.2 1990s early 2000s 1.3 2006 2008 1.4 december 2008 present 2 current on air schedule 3 list of current music presenters 4 news 5 digital radio 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit the early days edit 2mmm the first triple m station commenced broadcasting on 2 august 1980 . together with then rival station 2day fm now also owned by southern cross austereo and triple j fm it was one of the first two commercial fm radio stations in sydney . the government owned triple jjj began broadcasting on the fm band just one day earlier . the station has always been primarily a rock music station . triple m was one of the highest rating radio stations in sydney spearheaded by its breakfast show presented by doug mulray and featuring the writing of and occasional appearances by andrew denton . from 1988 until the early nineties club veg with mal lees and vic davies hosted the night show before moving to perth to host the breakfast show at 96fm triple m. for all of this period and into the 1990s triple m s promotional campaign featured the character dr dan a guitar playing satyr with wings and a theme song that was an extended reworking of the mike batt track introduction the journey of a fool from his 1979 album tarot suite . 1990s early 2000s edit after the departure of doug mulray at breakfast 2mmm tried a variety of breakfast show hosts including rob duckworth and sammy power and the richard stubbs breakfast show broadcast from 3mmm in melbourne . it was not until the late 1990s when andrew denton a previous contributor to mulray s program took the chair and became the host of 2mmm s breakfast slot with amanda keller joining him as a co host that 2mmm once again enjoyed ratings success . club veg with mal lees and vic davies also returned in 1998 and enjoyed instant ratings success in their morning slot of 09 00 12 00 before being moved to the drive shift 16 00 19 00 . this was also the time that keller would work with brendan jonesy jones who was doing afternoons at the time . denton called in unwell one day jones was called in to fill in with keller five years later they are working at wsfm . fm talk was tinkered with via talkback host and journalist brian carlton using the on air name of the spoonman derived from the soundgarden song spoonman . this show got axed at the end of the 1990s . andrew denton left the m s in the early 2000s and many breakfast teams were tried out with the likes of peter berner mikey robins and a return of amanda keller also during this period . the triple m freq club was discontinued nationally during 2004 . 2006 2008 edit a new breakfast program the cage emerged on the triple m network which included talents such as james brayshaw peter berner fitzy brigitte duclos these hosts being in various triple m studios across the network . this went on in sydney until the end of 2006 with the popular drive show the shebang taking up the breakfast slot in 2007 to a low degree of success . brian carlton returned in 2005 once again doing nights using the spoonman name . in 2007 night show host paul murray was added to the shebang breakfast team in the hope of increasing ratings to no avail . the show abruptly ended in november 2008 . the decision to axe the shebang breakfast program and marty sheargold taking leave from the show led to triple m s lowest ratings ever slipping behind competitor vega for the first time and leaving the former top rating station last in the commercial radio station ratings . 2 3 the triple m street team aka street freq or rock patrols were discontinued from visiting locations such as parks and reserves regularly during mid 2006 to focus on a different brand . though at present there are triple m street team locations on an occasional basis visiting businesses only . . 4 during mid 2006 triple m introduced an interactive survey encouraging triple m listeners to have a say in the music they play through the triple m music jury . in october 2008 the station had changed the format temporarily awesome 80s to play only 1980s music and use the old promos news and traffic themes and the old station name triple m fm 105 . the spoonman show and drive team wil and lehmo were also axed at the end of 2008 . morning dj anthony maroon who moved to vega 95.3 was removed from the on air djs along with rob duckworth who was in the afternoon slot . the re branding of vega saw the return of maroon to triple m on air crew . december 2008 present edit after the awesome 80s format had wrapped up on 30 november 2008 the all new triple m was launched replacing the old slogans of triple m rocks and best of the old stuff best of the new stuff with music that rocks . this launch came with a demographic shift moving away from the working class mid 30s to 40s to a younger 25 39 key demographic targeting younger listeners . a new breakfast team was launched with ugly phil and sami lukis along with new drive programs roy and hg mondays and fridays and tuesday to thursdays drive slot being hosted by ex shebang anchor byron cooke called live line . the peter berner experiment returned from tues to thursdays at 6 pm . the paul murray night show returned with the name the all new paul murray show with the co host rachel corbett playing nothing but recent music with a slant towards a youth audience . artists which feature prominently on triple m include nickelback powderfinger kevin rudolf silverchair coldplay the fray snow patrol kings of leon faker ac dc cold chisel and bon jovi amongst others . during may 2009 triple m introduced the music that made triple m famous playing music from the eras of the 1970s and 1980s . during june 2009 phil o neil and sami lukis had been axed from the breakfast slot just over six months since they started broadcasting in december 2008 . paul murray and rachel corbett continued in the breakfast slot until mid august when the new breakfast show would commence broadcasting . 5 paul & rach moved to the tuesday thursday drivetime slot from 8 september 2009 . as of 17 august 2009 gus worland stuart macgill and mark geyer were named the hosts of the new triple m s breakfast show called the grill team . 6 7 they were joined by anchor byron cooke news reader sami lukis and contributor rachel corbett . on 3 september the peter berner experiment aired its final episode as berner has finished up with the station for a possible move to the nine network . 8 on 23 november 2009 triple m s slogan changed to sydney s best rock . on 2 august 2010 triple m turned 30 and asked slash to remake the dr dan theme to a 2010 format . byron cooke left the grill team at the end of 2010 and moved to the today network to anchor fifi and jules . he was replaced by former hot30 countdown host chris page . sami lukis also left triple m at the end of 2010 replaced by rachel corbett in the breakfast newsreader role . on 28 march 2011 matthew johns brother of andrew johns joined the grill team while brian spoonman carlton took over the newsreader role and rachel corbett became a regular contributor . on 28 september 2011 it was announced that merrick watts will join triple m during drive in 2012 . 9 he was joined by rachel corbett and julian schiller as part of the merrick and the highway patrol drive show . it was cancelled at the end of 2013 . on 20 january 2014 triple m s new national drive show the one percenters premiered hosted by ex fox fm breakfast host matt tilley and journalist studio 10 host joe hildebrand . the station changed its slogan to sydney s modern rock around this time with a playlist focussed on music released since 1990 . current on air schedule edit weekday shows grill team 06 00 09 00 . jacqui kassulke 09 00 13 00 . becko 13 00 16 00 . merrick & australia 16 00 18 00 . rush hour 18 00 19 00 . the rubber room with ugly phil 19 00 22 00 weekend shows woody 07 00 09 00 . dead set legends 09 00 12 00 saturdays . the offload rugby league season only 12 00 15 00 . a few good sportsmen off season 12 00 15 00 . sunday offload 12 00 15 00 rugby league season . fill in announcer 12 00 15 00 sunday off season . queer pete 15 00 18 00 off season . list of current music presenters edit jacqui regular weekday presenter and music director at triple m classic rock digital becko regular weekday presenter and assistant music director brendan fill in presenter and producer of the rush hour woody fill in presenter weekend presenter and producer of the grill team queer pete fill in presenter weekend presenter and producer of merrick and the highway patrol news edit deborah clay news director and breakfast newsreader hugh finanne sport writer and workday newsreader sasha tannock drive alexandra bryant fill in talitha cummins fill in jeff tyler weekend sport digital radio edit triple m is simulcast on digital radio in sydney . triple m launched high voltage radio a pop up digital radio station that exclusively plays ac dc for the duration of the band s 2010 tour of australia . 10 high voltage stopped being on air on 15 march 2010 . on 25 november 2013 triple m classic rock digital radio station was launched . 11 12 the station format is exclusively classic rock with no announcer talkback . see also edit triple m network 3mmm 4mmm 5mmm references edit haat estimated from http www.itu.int srtm3 using ehaat . sydney morning herald triple m tactic takes the spoon daily telegraph vega topples triple m for first time in radio ratings . news.com.au . archived from the original on 18 june 2009 . austereo changes its brand . theaustralian.news.com.au . archived from the original on 13 october 2007 . the australian 2 august 2007 matty johns for radio revival . news.com.au . archived from the original on 3 july 2009 . the daily telegraph 1 july 2009 gus worland signed to be a part of triple m . news.com.au . archived from the original on 14 july 2009 . the daily telegraph 10 july 2009 the grill team triple m sydney peter berner leaves triple m mumbrella 2 september 2009 merrick watts joins triple m for new drive show . triplem.com.au . archived from the original on 11 may 2012 . austereo adds fourth digital radio band perth now 10 february 2010