107.7 Triple M celebrates its golden anniversary as the Central Coast’s first radio station for 50 years.
At the end of 2021, the Central Coast’s 107.7 Triple M celebrated its golden anniversary as the Coast’s oldest local radio station.
On Friday, 19 November 1971, the Coast saw the birth of its very own radio station, 801 AM 2GO. Broadcasting live for the first time right from the lush Gosford Hills in the heart of the coast, on Henry Parry Drive, this still remains the location for the Coast’s first local frequency, on the air from Lake Macquarie to the Hawkesbury.
‘Everything is beautiful’ by Ray Stevens was the first song Coasties heard on their local radio station, led by its first ever on air announcement by then General Manager, Keith Graham.
Since then, 107.7 Triple M has been home to some of Australia’s most well–known radio personalities including Doug Mulray, John Kerr, comedian Akmal Saleh, Mike Duncan, Rick Julien, Dwayne Jeffries, Bob Peters, Cam Humphreys, Sarah King, Paddy Gerrard, Rob Palmer and many more!
During the 70s, the station was always present across the Coast, from cutting the ribbon at Old Sydney Town theme park in 1975, to seeing Midnight Oil perform at the Doylo and ACDC rock the stage at the Wyong Memorial Hall before the band became a global phenomenon.
In the 80s, the Damien Gerard Recording Studios relocated from Sydney to Gosford where iconic bands such as Hoodoo Gurus, Grinspoon and Mental as Anything recorded some of their most famous tracks. Becoming more of a recording hub for some of Australia’s best homegrown acts, the 2000s saw INXS’s Gary Beers build a studio in Somersby called the Grove, which saw bands like Birds of Tokyo, Eskimo Joe and Silverchair record their music, and who are still played on Triple M’s airwaves today.
The original 801 AM frequency switched to 107.7 FM back in 1992, and as it’s known today, the Coast’s own 107.7 Triple M.
Group Content Director, James Speed, said: “It’s an honour to be a part of this historic celebration for the Coast. Being the Coast’s station for over 50 years is a long time, and 107.7’s presence has played such an important part in Coastie history.
“As the first ever radio station to broadcast here, we’ve lived through and experienced every major event over the past five decades. We’re still broadcasting from the original studios on Henry Parry Drive and continue to offer a product and content that matters to the Coast, those that have been born and bred here just like us.”
The Coast’s 50th birthday celebrations saw Diesel and Mark Gable of Choirboys return to the historic studios this morning for live on air performances.
1970s
- 1971 the start of the station, it became the Central Coast’s first local radio station
- In 1973 one of the first to drive over the brand new Hawkesbury River Bridge on the F3
- Helped cut the ribbon at Old Sydney Town theme park in 1975
- Said goodbye to an old local in 1977 when the Prince Edward Theatre at the Entrance Closed
- Midnight Oil rocked the stage at the Doylo – in the 70S
- ACDC, before they became a global phenomenon, played an iconic gig at the Wyong Memorial Hall in 1975
1980s
- The 80’s started with a huge petrol strike on the coast which saw locals running on empty finally got some petrol
- In 1981 Coasties all went to the newly opened Entrance Cinema to watch Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark!
- In 1982 things got electric, The Gosford to Newcastle train line was electrified
- In 1984 the Brick Co West Gosford and the Gosford Abattoir closed down, seeing too many Coastie jobs lost
- Mid 80’s the Damien Gerrard Recording Studios relocated from Sydney to Gosford, bands like Mental As Anything, Hoodoo Gurus and Grinspoon had work made here which Triple M plays to this day
- The biggest festival the coast has ever seen, Narara Music Festival in 83 and 84 saw some of the world’s biggest acts right in our own backyard.
- INXS, The Pretenders, Def Leppard, The Divinyls, Men At Work, Cold Chisel, The Church, Australian Crawl, Simple Minds, Talking Heads, Eurythmics, Mental As Anything, The Hoodoo Gurus and so many more played live in Somersby, one of the most iconic performances at Narara was the Angels, at the time one of Australia’s biggest bands. Their famous set at Narara saw a blood red moon rise behind the stage, it was actually made into a DVD special and marked as one of the most iconic Aussie gigs of all time
1990s
- We went from AM to FM! Said goodbye to 801 AM and switched over to 107.7 FM
- In 1991 a local Coastie legend David Fairleigh made his state of origin debut
- In 1995 a bridge linking Gosford and West Gosford was named in honour Brian McGowan
- 1995 that same year Westfield Tuggerah opened its doors
- In 1996 Ploddy the dinosaur went for a walk, she and the Reptile Park relocated from Wyoming to Somersby and the whole town turned up to do the walk up the hill with them
- It was also the decade where born and bred Coastie Mark Skaife won his first ever V8 Championship
- We had some pretty cool acts rock the coast in the 90’s as well including, Crowded House playing at the Central Coast Leagues Club and Diesel played at every single venue we have
- 1996 Powderfinger gave us a gig to remember at the Long Jetty Pub!
2000s
- The Olympics were held in Sydney in the year 2000, which means several Coastie locations become training grounds, including the Terrigal Basketball Stadium which became a training hub for many athletes
- That same year the Central Coast got a stadium
- In 2003 we were robbed of our childhood when Old Sydney Town Theme Park closed its doors for the last time ever
- In 2008 we got our celebration on when the Mariners became A League Premiers
- The Central Coast started to become the recording hub to more and more amazing Aussie acts, in the year 2000 INXS’s Gary Beers built a recording studio in Somersby called The Grove, it’s still there, and still producing some amazing albums.
- The Grove saw bands like Birds of Tokyo, Eskimo Joe and Silverchair all travel to the Coast to record
- ‘Black Fingernails Red Wine’ song recorded on Central Coast
2005 – Now
- We said goodbye to 2GO and hello, to Triple M
- In 2011 we all lined the shores of North Avoca Beach to watch the HMAS Adelaide get sunk to create an artificial reef
- In 2012 the Mariners became A League Premiers for the second time, then backed it up the next year by becoming A League Champions
- In 2015 the Coast population was over 320,000 people, making it the third largest urban area in New South Wales
- 2018 we brought Lionel Ritchie to the Central Coast, 2GO as we were at the time, presented Lionel Live at Central Coast Stadium
- Towards the end of the decade two crazy blokes were given the keys to Triple M Breakfast and the Paddy & Rob Palmer show was born