The World’s Newest New No. 1 AM Music Station

For years, ARN’s 4KQ Brisbane, Australia was “The Number 1 Music AM on Earth,” an ROR readers’ favorite, averaging a 10 share in 2021 with a ’70s-centered version of Classic Hits. In 2022, 4KQ was sold and went all-sports, prompting two other changes.

• SCA’s longtime Classic Rock FM, Triple M 104.5, began imaging itself as “good times and greatest hits” and incorporating more pop titles.
• Ace’s Soft AC AM 4BH quickly segued to Classic Hits as well, newer than 4KQ but still more ’60s/’70s-focused than most comparable stations.

When we followed up in 2022, 4BH was building quickly, up 4.6-6.8, but radio’s new AM music leader was ARN’s Cruise 1323 Adelaide, playing a similar version of 4KQ’s older-leaning format and pulling a 9.8.

Now, in Australia’s just released Survey 3 of 2026, Triple M is the Brisbane leader with a 13.0. 4BH has become firmly the world’s No. 1 music AM, up 10.9-11.8, the best showing of any commercial AM in the market since 2001, according to Chris Huff.

(Cruise remains healthy with an 8.3 share. ARN has announced plans to modernize and rebrand it, following its syndication of Gold 104.3 Melbourne’s Christian O’Connell, but at this writing, the older-skewing format remains.)

We took a Fresh Listen to both 4BH and Triple M, as well as the Gold format as now heard on ARN’s Classic Hits stations in Melbourne and Sydney and on DAB in other markets. (DAB’s greater Australian success is one reason AM music outlets remain competitive. 4BH sweepers also emphasize its availability “in stereo” on Australia’s Listnr app.)

When 4BH launched as Classic Hits, we clocked it at about 45% ’70s, with an equal amount of ’60s and ’80s on either side. Now, the mix is just under 45% each ’70s and ’80s with the remainder from the ’60s — still more than you’d hear on a comparable U.S. outlet or on Australia’s FMs. Several times an hour, the station talks about playing songs “you’ll not hear anywhere else.”

In mornings, 4BH is running its version of the classic “don’t say hello” contest, urging listeners to answer the phone with “4BH is my station.” 

Here’s 10 a.m., June 16 with middayer Scott Menz:

• Philip Bailey & Phil Collins, “Easy Lover”
• Rod Stewart, “The First Cut Is the Deepest”
• Bruce Springsteen, “Brilliant Disguise”
• Dusty Springfield, “Son of a Preacher Man” — frontsold by Menz as “timeless” — a description also used before other older titles
• Cutting Crew, “(I Just) Died in Your Arms”
• Bob Seger, “Still the Same”
• Steve Perry, “Oh Sherrie”
• Carpenters, “For All We Know”
• Electric Light Orchestra, “Turn to Stone”
• Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes, “(I’ve Had) the Time of My Life”
• Babys, “Every Time I Think of You” — Menz noted how that song “starts off small but becomes huge by the end.”
• Bob Welch, “Ebony Eyes” — kicked off the next hour; a lost hit in the U.S., but also heard on Cruise 1323 shortly thereafter

I also heard a stretch of 4BH just before 11 p.m. June 17 that had more ’70s and more Australian music:

• Australian Crawl, “Errol” (Australian, 1981)
• Dr. Hook, “Cover of the Rolling Stone”
• Go-Betweens, “Streets of Your Town” (Australian, 1988)
• Aretha Franklin, “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”
• Cars, “Let’s Go”
• Crowded House, “World Where You Live”
• Beach Boys, “Good Vibrations”
• Patti Smith Group, “Because the Night”
• Paul Simon, “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”
• Skyhooks, “Jukebox in Siberia” (Australian, 1990)
• Elton John & Kiki Dee, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”
• Blondie, “Call Me”
• 1927, “When I Think of You” (Australian, 1988)
• Eagles, “Peaceful Easy Feeling”
• Beatles, “Twist and Shout”
• Eurogliders, “Heaven (Must Be There)” (Australian, 1984)
• Cat Stevens, “Morning Has Broken”

National brand Triple M had evolved from heritage rock to Classic Rock in most of its markets. Much of what it played here still qualifies, but with outliers, ranging from Roxette’s “The Look” to Tal Bachman’s “She’s So High.”  The next hour’s teaser included “a song we haven’t played in years” – Phil Collins’ “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)” – and Robbie Williams’ “Let Me Entertain You.”

Here’s Triple-M at 11 a.m., June 16, with Ben Dobbin in between the first and second play of “Bitter Sweet Symphony” by the Verve, the money song in the station’s “$50,000 No Repeat Workday” contest:

• Jon Bon Jovi, “Blaze of Glory”
• Underworld, “Underneath the Radar” — ’80s new-wave pop from their pre-EDM era
• Mumford & Sons, “Little Lion Man”
• Angels, “No Secrets” (1980)
• Angels, “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again” (1976) — “Two for Tuesday” from the Australian band known here as Angel City during its brief early-’80s radio moment here
• Scorpions, “Winds of Change”
• Kate Bush, “Running Up That Hill”
• Queen, “Bohemian Rhapsody” — preceded with a soundalike jingle declaring that “when you hear Queen on the radio, it can only be Triple M”
• Foo Fighters, “Learn to Fly”
• Pseudo Echo, “Funky Town” (Australian, 1986; 1987 in U.S.)

Station veteran Dave “Higgo” Higgins was hosting middays on Gold 104.3, but much of the hour was still devoted to O’Connell. The station’s “pay my bills” contest is the “Bank of Christian”, and O’Connell is the one calling winners. The show is also doing a “Save Our Pubs” promotion with listeners nationwide nominating their local to receive $5,000 in renovations. Former Australian Idol Shannon Noll was set to play at the first grand reopening of a hotel bar near Brisbane.

The recent breakup of ARN’s Kyle and Jackie-O is a cautionary tale against any notion that big names are more important than local talent. The Sydney superstars came to Melbourne and failed to beat either O’Connell or the show they’d displaced to a rival CHR. 

Now, O’Connell is being syndicated to Sydney and that market’s successful WS-FM has been rebranded to Gold 101.7, while the station’s Jonesy & Amanda have become a national afternoon show. Both stations also appear to be on the same music log. 

In Sydney, mornings have rebounded 5.5-7.2, but are still a share lower than a year ago; in Melbourne, they’re off 10.5-10.0. Gold Sydney is up 7.6-9.0 overall, but behind market-leading soft AC Smooth FM (13.3-13.1). In Melbourne, Gold goes 13.0-11.5, while Smooth is up 9.9-10.3. (The Nova-owned Smooth format is DAB only in Brisbane, where there’s no obvious FM home for it.)

Both the former WS-FM and Gold 104.3 were newer than their U.S. counterparts, having moved into the ’90s well ahead of Classic Hits here. So, it’s unsurprising that the ’10s are part of the current format, imaged as “just great songs.” Gold 104.3 also had a hook promo talking about how “some songs never leave you; they just wait for the right moment to turn them up again.”

Here’s Gold 104.3 just before 10 a.m., June 16:

• Oasis, “Don’t Look Back in Anger”
• Billy Joel, “We Didn’t Start the Fire”
• Ed Sheeran, “Thinking Out Loud”
• John Mellencamp, “Hurt So Good”
• George Michael, “Faith”
• Cranberries, “Zombie”
• Beatles, “Let It Be”
• Bon Jovi, “Livin’ on a Prayer”
• Charles & Eddie, “Would I Lie to You?”
• Crowded House, “Fall at Your Feet”
• Europe, “The Final Countdown”
• Donna Summer, “She Works Hard for the Money”