Fox FM (Melbourne)

Fox FM (call sign: 3FOX) is a radio station that serves the Melbourne, Australia, broadcasting on the FM band at a frequency of 101.9 MHz. Licensed to Mount Dandenong, Victoria, the station is currently owned by the Austereo Radio Network. The station's transmitter is located on the ATV-10 transmission tower on top of Mount Dandenong, Victoria.

Station history

Fox FM started life at 5:00:00 PM on August 1, 1980. The station was put together by radio consultant Rhett H. Walker, who also acted as first General Manager. This followed a successful stint for Walker as a consultant for Radio 3KZ in 1979. One of Fox FM's original advertising lines was 'Catch the Fox' (at one-0-one-point nine).

The first song to be played on air, George Benson's "Breezin'," was played at the wrong speed by the station's first presenter, John Aimes. Aimes suggested this was due to harassment by studio manager Gary Collins, who was allegedly fussing around him in the studio right before the station went on air.

The first station studio equipment was a 16 channel Poul Kirk mixing desk, four cuemaster cart decks, JBL studio pro speakers and (then brand new) Technics turntables. The studio was pleasant to work in with a floor-to-ceiling window giving a view of filming of such Channel Ten programs as Neighbours, Prisoner and the short-lived Holiday Island.

The first two years of the station's life were not easy. Melbourne listeners did not initially flock to the new FM stations, sticking to...
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