Triple J cops a lot of flack in Australia, but it shouldn’t and not for the usual reasons.
Even with changes in media distribution, it still carries a hell of a lot of sway in exposing new acts and national exposure. So it’s no wonder people have a lot invested in the station.
Anyone who has followed music in Australia will have seen several rounds of people dismissing the station as selling/blanding out, but often in reference to the same periods – critics pine for the so-called golden era of the station in the ’90s, but while that era was playing out, the same sort of critics were pining for the freedom of the station in the ’80s.
Our memories are rose-tinted.
We find out about new music and think the source of that music is breaking new ground. You hear more and eventually exhaust that source – it can’t provide that depth AND provide for the broader audience. So you become a critic of the station or you listen to community radio and increasingly online options.
But whether or not Triple J cuts it musically isn’t my point. In fact, it’s got nothing to do with music.
I reckon one of the things the station does really well, is introduce a new way of operating to the rest of the ABC.
One of the things I like about Triple J is that because of its clear target audience, its presenters don’t get inculcated into the stuffy national broadcaster sound. They speak clearly, but like real people.
ABC GM Mark Scott tweeted recently that “All across the ABC I meet people who started at triple j.”
And as presenters like Steve Cannane and Fran Kelly move out into Radio National and ABC TV and the like – obviously a process that’s been happening a while – they’re taking with them quite a different audio aesthetic.