_Triple J
triple j is a government-funded, national Australian radio station that began broadcasting in January 1975, intended to appeal to young listeners of alternative music. The network also places a greater emphasis on playing Australian content compared to commercial stations. The station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The station regularly supports major music festivals and Australian tours of domestic and international artists. They annually broadcast the Hottest 100, a public music poll that has been called "the world's greatest music democracy", as well as the J Awards, a listener-voted music awards series. The network's music discovery platform, triple j Unearthed, provides pathways for local independent artists to be broadcast on the station.
The launch of a new, youth-focused radio station was a product of the progressive media policies of the Whitlam government of 1972–75. Gough Whitlam wanted to "set the station up to woo young voters," and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), worried about its declining audience, "wanted a station for young people who would grow up to be ABC listeners." A new station was also a recommendation stemming from the McLean Report of 1974, which suggested expanding radio broadcasting onto the FM band, issuing a new class of broadcasting license which permitted the establishment of community radio stations, and the creation of two new stations for the ABC – 2JJ in Sydney and the short-lived 3ZZ in Melbourne.
All this led to the formation of 2JJ, known later as Double J. 2JJ was initially intended to be the first link in Whitlam's planned national youth network; but the expansion was greatly delayed by the election of the Fraser government and the subsequent budget cuts it imposed on the ABC.
By the time 2JJ went to air, the Whitlam government was in its final months of office. In the 1975 federal election, Labor was defeated by the Liberal-National Party coalition that was led by Malcolm Fraser.