The station, now known as KIIS, began life as 2UW, commencing transmission on 13 février 1925 au 1125 kHz sur la bande AM. Sur 1 septembre 1935, the frequency changed to 1110 kHz and in 1978 changed again to 1107 kHz. 2UW was the home of many live radio plays and had studios for live programmes at Market Street in Sydney, near the intersection with George Street.
2UW was one of the most innovative AM radio stations in Australia during the mid-1960s through to the early 1970s thanks to the programming of Ray Bean. Ray introduced the NEW2UW ‘1110’ men comprising announcers John Melouney (breakfast), John Thompson (morning), Tony McLaren (afternoon), Ward “Pally” Austin (drive time), Rod Christopher (early evening), and Jeff Hall (late nights and Dial A Hit on Saturday nights).
They were later joined by ‘Baby’ John Burgess, Donnie Sutherland, Phil Hunter, Gary Stewart, Graham Sawyer and a range of others who took Top 40 radio to a new level as part of the NEW2UW format being broadcast from the Kent Street studios in Sydney.
The ‘1110 men’ also took their music to the streets with promotions in such places as beaches, parks and shopping centres. One of the most successful promotions was the NEW2UW studio at the Sydney Royal Easter Show at the old RAS showgrounds at Moore Park. This provided a unique opportunity for the radio stations stars to mingle with their listeners.
Dans 1969 the NEW2UW managed to lure announcer John Laws from his drive time slot at 2UE and gave Laws his first morning programme in Sydney radio which was an immediate success, but also brought much confusion to the audience as the radio station went through a series of breakfast announcers and format changes which sought to capitalise on the success of the John Laws programm, while trying to hang on its huge audience – many of whom were not ready for the introduction of talk-back radio by their beloved NEW2UW.
