On March 9 1976 5AA commenced service on 1390AM, from Kent Town in Adelaide‘s inner city, with a Beautiful Music format. With no real competition except ABC Classic FM the station quickly went to No 1 in the ratings and moved to 1386 and finally 1395AM where you’ll find it today.
The station officially was launched on March 14 by the then South Australian Premier Don Dunstan who said:
“Individuals, employee organisations, public companies, private companies and professional people have all bought shares. It’s encouraging that union groups have joined in this venture because employee groups should take a greater social and financial interest in the organisation of society.
5AA offers great potential for community involvement and this emphasises not only the role of radio as a public service, but also the responsibilities of commercial organisations to make sure facilities are available to the people.
I’m pleased to declare 5AA open.”
Ownership went through several hands, including the TAB including a horse and dog racing phase, and South Australian Government who were forced to sell it in 1996 to repay state debt.
The buyer was DMG Radio Australia, with CEO Paul Thompson and the headquarters in Adelaide. With Radioinfo celebrating its 30th anniversary this month too, Paul shared with this publication in 1999 some of the challenges of the then fledgling and largely regional radio company saying:
“Firstly, the effect of competition in markets which have historically been considered too small to support multi-ownership and secondly, how to bring national revenue up to the excellent level being generated from local district advertisers. DMG is working on strategies which will provide higher standards of programming on a more cost-effective basis.”
In 2004, FIVEAA moved to Hindmarsh Square alongside Nova 919, which had only recently launched and was also owned by DMG. Five years later 50% of the station was bought by Lachlan Murdoch‘s company Illyria and in September 2012 Illyria took over the entity entirely. Lachlan, the oldest son of global media mogul Rupert Murdoch, has continued to have strong ties with Australia and a soft spot for Adelaide, as back in 1952 The News, a small Adelaide newspaper, was the first that Rupert ever ran, after taking it over from his late father.
Since DMG became NOVA Entertainment, FIVEAA has remained the only talk station within the organisation and has enjoyed healthy ratings and a impressively stable lineup. Breakfast with David Penberthy and Will Goodings (a very early pic of the two above) notched up a a decade on air together last October. Will’s dad Graeme hosts mornings (pictured below) and Matthew Pantelis in the newsroom has been there three decades too. Pantelis is also wonderfully involved in Adelaide Christmas activities via a beautiful old bus he possesses (that pic is also below).
FIVEAA Station Manager Craig Munn said:
“It’s an exciting year for the station as we celebrate 50 Year of FIVEAA. We’re a station that has such a rich heritage that’s been synonymous with South Australia and it was fantastic to celebrate the milestone with our leadership team, announcers, business leaders from around the state and of course our longstanding clients and partners. We’ve got some big plans to reflect the occasion across the year and look forward to raising another glass across the weekend.”
Further mention has to be made to the legendary Ken Cunningham who hosts sports programs on the weekend and who is so beloved he has part of Adelaide Oval named after him as well as being inducted into the South Australian Sport Hall of Fame. Graham Cornes OAM who is often found alongside Ken on the weekend, is a former AFL footballer, coach and Hall of Famer, as well as a Vietnam veteran. And to the late Leon Byner who died, aged 77, in November last year. Leon started at FIVEAA in 1994 on afternoons, then hosted the morning show for 22 years until his retirement at the end of 2022.
Bazz and Pilko reunited to mark the occastion too:
The station celebrated with a quiet gathering including current Premier Peter Malinauskas (the Premier and David Penberthy below).
There are more festivities to come, but after the South Australian local elections on March 21. Wishing Adelaide’s only talk commercial station a very happy 50th.
Images supplied.