“Today’s rooster is tomorrow’s feather-duster” — the saying rings as true in radio as in politics. In its glory days — the mid-sixties through to the early ‘eighties — 2SM was top dog, top cat and maximum rooster all rolled into one.

What did the 2SM of this era have going for it — beside great rock music, the Boomers’ demographic surge (and accompanying hormonal tsunami), fired-up DJ’s, risk-taking management and the rise of cultural “play power” (as Richard Neville called it)? It had great publicity!



During its peak years, and even up until the late-nineties, 2SM was renowned for its attention-earning publicity. Ranging from the Beatles’ tour in 1964 though to mega rock concerts and DJ jokes like the famous April Fool’s Day “Ice Blocks in Sydney Harbour” or “Fly a Jumbo Under the Bridge.”

So, where did it all go? Unfortunately, since Bill Caralis took over in 1999 (and pulled out of the A.C. Neilsen audience ratings), the good publicity has gone by the board. 2SM and the so-called Super Network are the subject of one negative story after another, reducing the station, sadly, to being the laughing stock of the radio industry, and with the reclusive Caralis often mocked by his rivals.

Today 2SM rarely runs promotions and most of the on-air talent have very little of it. The line-up consists of a mix of "past it" announcers and young people cutting their microphone teeth. Over the past few years, in lieu of good news stories, the network has too often featured negatively on mainstream media including Media Watch and The Daily Telegraph, and in industry online publications including Media Spy.