18 July 2026
By former 3MP announcer Greg Allen
When Melbourne radio station 3MP first went to air on 22 July 1976, the first song it played was that week’s #1 hit, Howzat by Sherbet.
By choosing that particular record to launch with, 3MP was laying down a challenge to 3XY for ratings dominance. And for a brief time in the late ’70s, 3MP was indeed the #1 station in Melbourne.
The announcer who played Howzat 50 years ago was John Burgess, who went on to host TV game shows like Wheel of Fortune. 3MP also launched with announcers Brian Bury (later a Today weather presenter), Richard Coombe (previously of 3LO), Dean Matters and Richard Perno.
Licenced to serve the Mornington Peninsula and greater Melbourne, the first studios of Bay City Radio 3MP were in the Bayside Shopping Centre, Frankston. It started out on 1380 kHz before adjusting to 1377 in 1978*. 3MP was the first new commercial licence in Melbourne since 3XY in 1935.
3MP initially played a blend of solid gold and current top 40 records, skewed slightly older than the market leader 3XY with its Top 40 format. By the final survey of 1976, 3MP with “That Summer Feeling” had achieved an impressive 10.1% share of the Melbourne radio market.
3MP continued to rate well for the rest of the decade, even reaching #1 at one point. However, new FM stations began asserting themselves in the 1980s, causing audience numbers for 3MP, 3XY and other AM stations to slip. By 1986 it was clear that a change of direction was needed and 3MP adopted an “easy music” style. This saw the station return to a roughly 10% share within the same year.
Initially owned by a consortium of private investors and media figures, 3MP was sold to AWA in 1980. Further ownership changes followed, until its current owners, ACE Radio, purchased it from SEN/Pacific Star in 2020.
Two years after 3MP commenced, a station with an outer-suburban focus launched in Sydney. 2WS went to air on 23 November 1978 with Western Sydney as its primary broadcast area, which is why they chose Dragon’s Blacktown Boogie as their first song. 2WS, which began at 12.24am on 1224 AM, is now an FM station called Gold 101.7.
3MP today with Dave Ferguson for Breakfast.
Ferg’s life-long passion for radio was ignited during his high school years when he watched 3MP announcers at work through the station’s Bayside Shopping Centre studio window.
Songs from 1976 on Bang a Gong
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*In 1978, all AM stations in Australia moved from 10 kHz spacing on the dial to 9 kHz, when the Geneva Frequency Plan was implemented. For example, 3XY moved from 1420 to 1422, and 2UE moved from 950 to 954.