Magic 1278 History
Magic sprang to life at 12 Noon on March 26th 1994, just in time for the first round of the AFL season that year (Ian Major and Allan Jeans headed the footy-call team), but back then it was called Magic 693, with the station broadcasting at 693 kilohertz on the AM dial. The first song played was 'Magic Moments' by Perry Como, but Magic's history goes back a little further than that!
Believe it or not, Magic was created from the remnants of Melbourne's top rock station of the 1970's, 3XY.
Unfortunately, 3XY's crown had become well and truly tarnished by the end of the 1980's, and several ownership changes - including an unsuccessful and ultimately fatal transplant to Geelong - led to the one-time ratings leader being put in the hands of an administrator. Sydney company AWA bought the station at a bargain basement price of just $600,000 in September 1991 and promptly pulled the plug. The station disappeared from the Melbourne airwaves for four months.
AWA asked the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) to approve a change of call letters from 3XY to 3EE, and change the AM frequency from 1422 to 693. Both requests were granted and 'The Breeze' was born in early 1992, with an adult focussed format combining news, talk and music.
Unfortunately 'The Breeze' was more of an ill wind, and just 8 months after it began 3EE was sold to another Sydney based company, Wesgo (then owners of 3MP) who decided to dump the "Breeze" format and simulcast the 3MP signal on both 1377 (its allocated position on the dial) and the newly acquired station.
Protests from the other commercial stations in Melbourne about what was arguably an illegal "simulcast" were quickly lodged with the ABA, which instructed Wesgo to broadcast - within 6 months - an entirely separate format on the 693 frequency. The owners opted for a music format featuring songs from the 1930's, 40's and 50's, and "Magic" was on the dial.
In 1995, Wesgo merged with the Australian Radio Network (ARN) which owned Melbourne FM stations 3TT (now called MIX) and Gold 104, but the ownership limit in any one market was two stations, so two had to go!
Southern Cross Broadcasting (SCB) stepped in to buy both Magic 693 and 3MP from ARN, but because SCB already owned two stations itself (3AW and 3AK) two stations still had to be sold. 3AW was already the news/talk powerhouse in Melbourne so the decision to keep that station was easy, but which of the other 3 stations to retain? SCB decided to keep Magic 693 as the sister station to 3AW, after concluding that 693 may be a viable frequency for 3AW at some time in the distant future.
(Then) General Manager Graham Mott quickly added the slogan "Unforgettable Songs" to an updated Magic 693 logo and broadened the range of music to include songs from the 60's and 70's.
In the late 1990's, Magic 693 evolved into a full service radio station with increased emphasis on news, weather and lifestyle information, but of course the core of the format was still those "Unforgettable Songs", although the playlist continued to expand and develop to become the biggest and most varied of any commercial radio station in Melbourne. And a new more contemporary logo was unveiled in 2002 to better reflect the evolving sound of the station. 2002 was also marked by the launch of the first Magic 693 website.
By 2005 Southern Cross Broadcasting had developed into a large media company with radio and TV stations covering most of Australia. The SCB board was keen to develop the "Southern Cross" Brand, so it was decided that all its stations would include the company name in their logo's. The downside for Magic was that its well-known positioning statement - "Unforgettable Songs" had to make way.
In late March 2006 it was announced that Magic 693 and its sister station 3AW would swap frequencies on the AM band, to take effect on May 1st 2006.
At 7.15am, the breakfast team of Andrew McLaren & Ann Gilding officially signed off from the 693 frequency after playing "Magic Moments" by Perry Como, the first song played on the station 12 years earlier. The very last item played by Magic 693 - for old times sake - was one of the original jingles, a fitting farewell.
At 10am, 1278 - The "New" Magic was born, with a specially recorded production piece announcing the arrival (LISTEN HERE: Historical Magic 1278 audio) of a fresh, new sound called "The Best Songs Of All Time".
Whilst the frequency change presented many challenges to Magic, including a sharp dip in ratings as listeners struggled to find its new location on the dial, the sound of the "New" Magic bedded in nicely as the audience gradually caught up with the frequency change. In late October 2006 - as listener numbers continued to grow, The New Magic modified its on-air identification to the more conventional "Magic 1278", and was well and truly back in town!
In July 2007 it was announced that the entire Southern Cross Broadcasting network would be sold to the Sydney based Macquarie Media, but in a separate deal the radio division would then be on-sold to the giant newspaper group Fairfax Media (publisher of the Melbourne Age). Fairfax took control in November 2007 and immediately indicated there were no plans to change the formats of any of the newly purchased radio stations.
Over the next few months fresh new logo's for all stations were designed, which in Magic's case included - for the first time - the stations updated positioning statement "The Best Songs Of All Time".
In October 2008 Magic 1278 launched its new website, created by Fairfax Digital.
