Frequently Asked Questions

They'll then release a document called an "L.A.P."
for each metropolitan city, which will say how many
new community and commercial radio licenses should
become available.

The L.A.P. for the Sydney area was released in September 1999.
It includes plans to allocate 2 new commercial FM licenses
and 3 new community FM licenses!

And before you ask.. no decision has been made yet,
as to which groups/companies will receive any license.

To find out more about the Sydney L.A.P.,
read the ABA's press release

Once an L.A.P. is released for an area,
all groups who wish to have a license must go through
an application process to show why they deserve it.

For a more detailed explanation.. go to www.aba.gov.au

Therefore - for new Hitz CD - see Hitz dates. 
For a new Wild compilation: see Wild dates.

(1) You get a newsletter.. discounts at stores,
and you can help out at the station, and help decide
what the station should be doing.

(2) The station gets a little bit of money,
it also gets another member, so they can go to the ABA
and say "this many people think we should get a license",
and more volunteers means better stuff coming
out of your speakers!

-But when they were about to start showing 
the first series (13 episodes), it seemed to be a case of 
"if it goes well, we'll make another series". 

Unfortunately, the ABC is NOT making another series.

This is hardly surprising, considering the creators of the show employed researchers who interviewed lots of people in community radio.. (and spent heaps of time with Hitz staff, even coming to our nightclub OB's) 

However, you've got to remember that Raw FM 
was NOT a documentary. 
Most of the story lines concern things that might have happenned at Hitz.

Throughout the 80's and early 90's, 
the stations that kids were likely to listen to in Melbourne were.. 

• FOX FM (commercial) - Played Classic Rock eg Pink Floyd, Cold Chisel, etc
• MMM (commercial) - Also Classic Rock
• TTFM (commercial) - Soft Adult Contemporary eg Michael Bolton, Celine Dion, etc
• Triple J (Government owned youth network)- played mostly 'alternative' music

To put it simply, Hitz was playing music that other stations weren't. The commercial stations were aiming at listeners 25-39. (good advertising revenue) and Triple J played an extemely diverse range of songs, 
but very few were Top 40, pop or dance. 
Hitz didn't sound safe.. it sounded fun, and challenged you to guess what you'd hear next.. or what they'd say. 

By the third broadcast however (Summer 93-94), Hitz FM seemed to be 5 minutes ahead of a big commercial dance/pop explosion. It was this broadcast that really put Hitz on the map, so as far as most people were concerned, this 'youth station' was just 'the dance station'. 

I guess that Ollie must have been trying to format similarly 'challenging' music into Raw's music selection, in order to make it sound different enough to what you get on most radio radio stations.

Perhaps you can ask them yourself if you ever bump into them at a your local shopping centre.

It's now hard to find the Raw CD. Most ABC shops (in Australia)
don't stock it.
Your local 2nd hand music store may be worth trying..
or leave a message in aus.music perhaps?