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Triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The station places a heavy emphasis on Australian music and new music, and generally plays more alternative music than commercial stations.^[1][2]

Station history[link]

Foundation and early years: Double Jay[link]

The first incarnation of what became Triple J was established in September 1974 as the AM-band radio station 2JJ or Double Jay. The first broadcast commenced at 11.00 am on Sunday 19 January 1975.

Double Jay was a product of the progressive media policies of the Gough Whitlam Labor government of 1972-75^[3] and was one of a series of innovations that stemmed from the recommendations in the Independent Inquiry into Broadcasting (1974) report. These included the expansion of radio broadcasting onto the FM band, the issuing of a new class of broadcasting licenses—which finally permitted the establishment of community radio stations, the long-awaited third tier of the Australian radio industry—and the creation of two new stations for the ABC: 2JJ in Sydney and the short lived 3ZZ in Melbourne.^[4][5]

By the time Double Jay went to air the Whitlam government was in its final months in office. On 11 November 1975 Prime Minister Gough Whitlam's commission was controversially revoked by Governor-General Sir John Kerr, sparking a double dissolution of parliament. In the subsequent federal election, Labor was defeated by the Liberal-National Party coalition led by Malcolm Fraser. In the more conservative media climate that emerged in the Fraser years, Double Jay and some of its presenters and commentators were frequently accused of left-wing bias.

2JJ was initially intended as the first link in a new national "youth network", although this expansion was long delayed by the electoral defeat of the Whitlam government at the end of 1975 and subsequent budget cuts imposed on the ABC by the incoming Fraser government.^[6] Its establishment marked an historic change in Australian radio — it was one of the first rock stations in the world to hire female disc jockeys and, excluding the first experimental FM licences, was granted the first new radio licence issued in any Australian capital city since 1932.^[7]

2JJ commenced broadcasting on 19 January 1975, at 1539 kHz - (call sign 1540kHz in 1978) on the AM band.^[4] The station was largely restricted to the greater Sydney region, and its local reception was hampered by inadequate transmitter facilities. It was later relayed to other stations in the ABC network after midnight, when their regular programming ceased.^[8]

In its early years Double Jay's on-air staff were mainly recruited from either commercial radio or other ABC stations but in another first the roster also featured presenters who did not come from a radio industry background, including singer-songwriters Bob Hudson and John J. Francis and actor Lex Marinos.

The foundation staff of January 1975 were Marius Webb and Ron Moss (coordinators), Ros Cheney, David Ives, Sam Collins, Holger Brockman (aka Bill Drake), Caroline Pringle, Bob Hudson, Mike Parker, Iven Walker, Arnold Frolows, Di Auburn, Margot Edwards, George "Groover" Wayne, Graeme Berry, John Arden, Colin Vercoe, Alan McGirvan, Pam Swain, Graham Bartlett, Mark Colvin, Keith Walker, Michael Byrne and Jim Middleton.^[9] Other popular presenters of the Double Jay period included Russell Guy, Mac Cocker (father of musician Jarvis Cocker), Gayle Austin (a former producer for talkback radio king John Laws and the first female rock DJ in Australia), Tom Zelinka, Lawrie Zion, and Keri Phillips. Several of the original team went on to successful careers in the ABC: Pam Swain is now a producer with ABC TV; Mark Colvin hosts ABC Radio National's nightly current affairs show PM; Jim Middleton was for many years the ABC's senior political correspondent in Canberra; Ros Cheney rose to become Arts Editor of ABC radio until her dismissal in 2001 (during the controversial regime of Jonathon Shier).^[10]

Double Jay's programming policies were in many ways a radical departure from the narrow formats and restrictive playlists then in place in commercial rock stations. Its programming style drew on a variety of models, including British pirate radio rock programs such as John Peel's The Perfumed Garden, early BBC Radio 1 programming and the American Album Oriented Rock (AOR) format. Although there was a playlist, presenters originally were given a wide latitude in choosing the music they played, and few restrictions were placed on music, lyrics or topics discussed on programs. In the early days of Double Jay, the station was run co-operatively and all staff (including office staff) were given a say in programming decisions.

The station played an unprecedented level of Australian content, favoured long album cuts, played tracks banned by other stations because of drug or sexual references, championed many styles of local and overseas music that were being excluded from commercial pop playlists (including reggae, punk rock, electronic and New Wave) and, following the trend set by the BBC, mixed its recorded music programming with a schedule of regular weekly live-to-air studio concert broadcasts.

Double Jay also broadcast many original comedy sketches and comedy serials, and in the early years of the station it regularly ran "anti-ads" which parodied its commercial competitors. It also featured regular news broadcasts, current affairs programs, political commentary by noted journalist Mungo MacCallum, and audio documentaries like the controversial "The Ins and Outs of Love" (produced by Carl Tyson Hall) which included frank interviews with young people about their first experiences of sex. Other features included innovative radiophonic works such as 'What's Rangoon To You Is Grafton To Me' and 'Hot Bananas', created by presenter Russell Guy and co-narrated former ABC-TV newsreader James Dibble, and works by cult writer-musician Pip Proud. Other innovative features included a regular surf report—a practice soon adopted by many other radio and TV stations—daily community billboard segments, and a daily music "What's On" segment.

The station rapidly gained popularity, especially in its target youth demographic; an (unidentified) press report published ca. March 1975 noted that in its first two months on air, Double Jay had gained a respectable 5.4% share of the total radio audience, and 17% of the 18-24 age group, whilst its rival 2SM's audience share dropped by 2.3%^[11] This was despite the fact that the station was poorly received in many parts of Sydney due to problems with its original transmitter.^[12]

2JJ was often embroiled in controversy, which began with the choice of the first song played on air on the first broadcast day — "You Just Like Me Cos I'm Good In Bed" by Skyhooks,^[3] -- one of six tracks from their ten-track debut LP Living in the Seventies that had been banned by Australian commercial radio stations for sexual or drug references.^[6][13] There were regular complaints about announcers, guests and talkback callers swearing on air and a number of other widely reported controversies within the first few months of the station's life, including the media frenzy over The Ins and Outs of Love; an open air concert at Liverpool in Sydney's south-west in June 1975 (featuring Skyhooks and Dragon) prompted a lurid Page 1 headline "Rock Concert Filth Uproar"^[14] in the Sydney Sun, which claimed that hundreds were "shocked" by "depictions of sexual depravity and shouted obscenities", which allegedly caused women in the audience to clap their hands over their ears and reportedly prompted Coalition frontbencher Peter Nixon to call for the station to be closed down.^[15]

Although the ABC reportedly received few direct complaints about The Ins and Outs of Love (originally broadcast on Sunday 23 February 1975) it sparked a furore in the media and the Broadcasting Control Board reportedly asked for talks with the ABC about the program's sexual content. Two days after the show, the Fairfax tabloid The Sun published an editorial calling for the station to be closed, and a week later, on 10 March 1975, the influential marketing/advertising industry journal B&T followed suit, variously demanding that the station (A) should be closed down or that (B) it should have its programming completely revamped or that (C) those staff responsible for "the present series of lapses" be removed.^[16]

Another infamous event in the late 1970s was an on-air launch party hosted by George Wayne to celebrate the release of the new AC/DC album Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, which got so out of hand that police were eventually called to the studio.

The station also regularly sponsored live concerts and organised a number of major outdoor concert events in the late 1970s, culminating in a huge outdoor all-day event in Parramatta Park on 18 January 1981, to celebrate the end of Double Jay and the start of Triple J and headlined by Midnight Oil.

1980s: 2JJJ[link]

On 1 August 1980 2JJ began broadcasting on the FM band at a frequency of 105.7 MHz (again restricted within the greater Sydney region) and became 2JJJ (later, Triple J).^[3] It had also beaten the commencement of tranmission by the then new, commercial Triple-M FM rock station by ONE DAY, when it began broadcasting on 2 August 1980 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2MMM#The_Early_Days). Through the mid-to-late Eighties, Triple J continued to pioneer new music and developed a wide range of special-interest programs including the Japanese pop show Nippi Rock Shop, Arnold Frolows' weekly late-night ambient music show Ambience, and Jaslyn Hall's world music show, the first of its kind in Australian mainstream radio.

It was not until the late 1980s that the ABC was finally able to begin development of the long-delayed national "youth network" and in 1989 JJJ expanded nationally to Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Newcastle and Perth.

In 1983 four Triple Jay presenters—Peter Doyle, Virginia Moncrieff, Tony Barrell and Clive Miller—began producing a fanzine with the inscrutable title of Alan (see: http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/30years/stories/alan.htm). Designed in a manic collage style by David Art Wales, Alan featured programming information, pop trivia and irreverent interviews with recording artists (see: http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/30years/stories/interview.htm). Wales also supplied a comic strip featuring a boy sage named Guru Adrian. In a twist that added to the character's appeal, the Guru's face was that of a real child whose identity was never revealed, leading many to believe that he was in fact a real guru. Guru Adrian's philosophy, Adrianetics (see: http://www.guruadrian.com), consisted of quixotic maxims, including "Having fun is half the fun," "Gee, you are you" and "Realise your real eyes," which rapidly gained the character a cult following in Australia, with Wales making many radio and television appearances during the mid-1980s to discuss the Guru Adrian phenomenon.

In 1984, Wales teamed with renowned Australian journalist Bruce Elder on the book "Radio With Pictures: The History of Double Jay and Triple Jay." (Hale & Iremonger, publishers. National Library of Australia card no. ISBN 0-86806-191-3)

1989-1991: going national[link]

In the late 1980s, commercial radio manager and program director Barry Chapman (ex-2SM Sydney) was appointed as general manager to oversee Triple J's network expansion. Chapman's tenure and the expansion of the network generated controversy, most notably in 1990, when a large portion of 2JJJ's Sydney-based staff was fired, (the so-called "Night of the long knives") along with many of its on-air staff, including most popular presenters Tony Biggs and Tim Ritchie, the station's dance-music maven. As details of the changes became known to the public, there were accusations of a "JJJ Bland Out" (analogous to Harry Enfield's fictional British DJs Smashie and Nicey) and several protests were held outside its William Street studios, as well as public meeting that packed the Sydney Town Hall with angry listeners spilling out onto the street as the town hall was not big enough to hold everyone who felt that "their" beloved radio station had been hijacked.

Concern was expressed about the introduction of a more highly programmed music format, and the appointment of Chapman was seen as an indication of a more commercial direction. Management responded that to launch a national network meant that the station must broaden its then almost-exclusive focus on the Sydney music scene, requiring the addition of new talent. When the dust had settled on the dispute, the radio programming was not nearly as free-form as it had been before going national, but neither was it as highly programmed as its critics feared. In the pre-national era, there had been less emphasis on a structured playlist but the introduction of a tighter playlist allowed (at least initially) a degree of input from individual presenters that exceeded that usually permitted on a commercial station.

The laissez-faire collective management style of the Double Jay days was gradually replaced by a more business-like top-down management style and after the controversial appointment of Chapman, as described above, many of the 'old guard' were dismissed from the station and replaced by presenters who were more amenable to the increasingly structured format.

Chapman had previously been program director and then manager of Sydney AM pop station 2SM, which had been Australia's top-rating and most profitable commercial radio station for most of the 1970s. As noted above, Chapman controversially replaced many of the established on-air staff (such as Tim Ritchie) with younger and less experienced presenters such as Michael Tunn, who at the time of his appointment was the youngest DJ in the history of Australian radio.

Chapman oversaw a radical overhaul of triple j's programming, implementing a version of the music-and-talk format that had been so successful for him at 2SM. This basic format — including an early morning comedy breakfast program with duo presenters; a late morning talk and talkback program and a light talk-and-comedy afternoon drive-time shift — remains substantially in place. Chapman also reduced the amount of comedy, documentaries and news (compared to the late Seventies) although (as he did at 2SM) he maintained and strengthened the station's commitment to live music.

In the late 1980s triple j was accused of ignoring the emerging hip hop scene and related genres, in favour of the more marketable rock-oriented grunge style that dominated American music at the same time.

1990s: regional expansion[link]

Throughout the 1990s, Triple J commenced expansion to more regional areas of Australia. In 1994, it was extended to another 18 regional centres throughout the country. In 1996, the total was brought to 44, with the new additions including Launceston, Tasmania; Albany, Western Australia; Bathurst, New South Wales and Mackay, Queensland. It played a record in Tas over and over again until Triple J became online. As of 2006, Triple J's most recent expansion was to Broome, Western Australia.

2000s: online and jtv[link]

In May 2003, Arnold Frolows, the only remaining link with the original Double Jay staff of 1975, stepped down after 28 years as Triple J music director. He was replaced by presenter Richard Kingsmill.

In 2004, the station began to release podcasts of some of their talkback shows, including Dr Karl, This Sporting Life and Hack.

In 2006, Triple J's coverage expanded when transmission began in Broome, Western Australia. As Broome was one of the largest towns in Australia to not receive Triple J, the station celebrated with a concert featuring many local bands, also simulcast on the Live at the Wireless program.

Also in 2006, Triple J launched jtv, a series of television programs broadcast on ABC and ABC2, as well as being made available online. Programming includes music videos, live concerts, documentaries, and comedy, as well as a behind the scenes look at Triple J's studios. In 2008 jtv was rebranded as triple j TV. triple j TV's first 'spin-off' series The Hack Half Hour premiered on 22 September 2008, hosted by Steve Cannane

As of February 2009 triple j TV airs on 9pm Mondays on ABC2, 11pm Fridays on ABC1 and can be downloaded at triplej.net.au. The series is hosted by The Doctor aka Lindsay McDougall and it features Hack reports from Antoinette Chiha, comedy from Sam Simmons, and the film segment 'Flicked' with Marc Fennell.

Programming[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Current programming mix[link]

As well as general pop music broadcasts (with a strong bias towards new music and Australian performers, and against bubblegum pop), Triple J has nightly specialist programs in different musical genres (see the programmes section below). It also covers news and current affairs from a youth-oriented perspective, although this facet of their programming has been considerably reduced since the station's inception.^{[citation needed]}

In common with other Australian radio stations, triple j has also gradually increased the amount of talkback content in its programming. There are several reasons for this. Most importantly, talkback provides an inexpensive and popular source of program content, and also provides the appearance of listener interactivity and involvement. And, like many other former 'all music' stations, Triple J has had to respond to the advent of music file-sharing, digital music players and other digital music innovations, which have drastically reduced listeners' dependence on radio as a means of accessing music.^{[citation needed]}

Evolution of programming[link]

The evolution of triple j's programming has always been contentious. In the Double Jay days, commercial stations and conservative types regularly cried foul over the station's free use of expletives on air and its ability to ignore the censorship restrictions that were in force on commercial radio. This situation stemmed from Double Jay's status as a special unit of the ABC, which at that time was only answerable to the ABC Board and the Minister for Communications, unlike the commercial stations, which were subject to regulation by the old Broadcasting Control Board (now the Australian Communications and Media Authority) and by their own peak body, the Federation of Australian Commercial Broadcasters (FACB), now known as Commercial Radio Australia.

Over the years the station gained considerable renown for breaking new local acts—Midnight Oil are probably the prime example of this, and the group would almost certainly not have had anything like the success they enjoyed without the help of Double Jay/triple j. The station also broke countless overseas acts who were being ignored in their home countries. Double Jay was virtually the only 'pop' station in Australia in the late Seventies to play reggae, dub, punk rock, New Wave, world music, electronic music and ambient music.

Over the years the station moved away from its early style, which featured a high level of news, features, documentaries, current affairs and comedy, and was gradually steered towards a non-commercial version of the continuous music format that prevailed in commercial radio. Many original Double Jay segments—the nightly "What's On" gig guide, its extensive news and current affairs coverage (which was often criticised for its alleged left-wing bias), and its 'community noticeboard' segment—were gradually eliminated, as were almost all the character comedy spots that had been popular features in previous years.

Most recently the number of songs approved for airplay on Triple J has been decreased dramatically, leading some to believe that an over-emphasis on certain styles of music, particularly electro and dance has had a negative effect on the formerly unbiased genre programming. It is also said that this has affected the cultivation of musical diversity on the Unearthed program.

Effects on local record companies and radio stations[link]

The station also exerted a noticeable effect on local record companies. For many years, local record labels would only import recordings that they knew would get a good commercial return and they were often unwilling to take risks on local releases of unknown acts. Much new music was routinely only available as expensive imports in specialist shops. This began to change almost as soon as Double Jay came on air. A good example of the station's influence was in 1976 when Double Jay championed a new album, 801 Live, recorded by a one-off group that included former Roxy Music members Phil Manzanera and Brian Eno. Although the LP was hailed overseas as one of the best live recordings ever made and set new standards of technical excellence, the Australian distributor at first refused to release it locally, in spite of the fact that it was one of the most requested items on the Double Jay playlist at the time. As a result of the import sales that generated through Double Jay airplay — it became the highest selling import album that year — the company decided to release it locally.

Triple J routinely championed many local and overseas acts whose early recordings were ignored by commercial radio—e.g. Midnight Oil, Models, Paul Kelly, The Clash, Sex Pistols, Public Image Ltd, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Pixies, Ben Folds Five, and hundreds more. As with the ABC's long-running pop TV show Countdown, the support of triple j in Australia also had a strong effect on the success of emerging overseas acts.

A case in point is American group The B-52's and it is believed that Double Jay was the first radio station in the world to play their debut single "Rock Lobster". The support of the Jays had a similarly significant effect on the worldwide success of many acts, including Blondie, Devo, and more recently Ben Folds Five, Garbage, and especially Ben Harper, whose popularity in Australia—which was almost entirely the result of support from triple j —was instrumental in breaking him back in his home country, the United States.

It is also notable that Triple J was for many years routinely used as a free market research facility by commercial stations. As mainstream pop radio struggled to establish itself on the FM band, commercial stations like those owned by Austereo constantly monitored what songs and acts were doing well on Triple J and would then introduce the most 'saleable' of them into their own playlists. Acts like Talking Heads, The Police, and Nirvana unquestionably owed their commercial success in Australia to the early support of Double Jay/Triple J.

In 1989, Triple J had been playing N.W.A.'s protest song "Fuck tha Police" for up to six months, before gaining the attention of ABC management who subsequently banned it. As a reaction the staff went on strike and put the group's song "Express Yourself" on continuous play for 24 hours, playing it roughly 360 times in a row.^[17]

Music[link]

General programming[link]

Tom & Alex is the show that features between 6am and 9am weekday mornings. It is presented by Tom Ballard and Alex Dyson. Both were previous Weekend Breakfast presenters.

Mornings with Zan is the 9am to midday music show, hosted by Zan Rowe. This timeslot was formerly held by chat and current affairs program The Morning Show until 2003, and Mel in the Morning hosted by Mel Bampton from 2004 until January 2007.

Lunch with Lewi is Triple J's midday to 3pm show and is hosted by Lewis McKirdy. Each Friday afternoon features a guest DJ set.

The Doctor is the drive program, on air from 3pm to 5.30pm and is presented by Lindsay McDougall aka 'The Doctor'.

Hack is a half hour current affairs program on air from 5:30pm and is presented by Sophie McNeill.

Good Nights is the night show, broadcast weeknights from 6pm until 9pm and is presented by Linda Marigliano.

Midnight to Dawn, also known as Mid-dawn or The Graveyard Shift is the name of the 1am to 6am timeslot. It is often hosted by new or unknown DJs. Previous mid-dawn hosts who then went on to regular shifts include Adam Spencer, Scott Dooley, Dave Callan and Zan Rowe. Current mid-dawn presenters include, The Cloud Girls, Brendan Maclean, Maggie Collins and Anton De Ionno.

Speciality music shows[link]

Triple J programming schedule includes some shows featuring many speciality genres:

• 2012 (new music - the show started in 1997 and has changed name each year to match the show)
• Full Metal Racket (heavy metal - formerly 3 Hours of Power)
• Hip Hop Show (hip hop)
• Home & Hosed (Triple J's Australian music show, broadcast Monday – Thursday at 9pm)
• Mix Up (DJ mixes)
• Radio Funktrust (groove and funk - formerly The Groove Train)
• Roots N All (roots and blues)
• short.fast.loud (punk rock, hardcore punk, metalcore, post-hardcore)
• The Club (dance)
• The Sound Lab (experimental, IDM, post-rock, minimal techno, dubstep, ambient, glitch)

[edit] J-Files

The weekly J-Files show has had two incarnations over the years. From 1996 to 2003, it was a three hour late weeknight show hosted by Richard Kingsmill. Each show would be topical; it may feature an artist, a particular year in the past, or songs with a certain theme. Examples of themed shows include #9 songs (which was the theme of 9 September 1999's show), cats & dogs, New Zealand bands, and banned songs.

From 2003 the J-Files was a one hour Saturday afternoon show, hosted by various triple j presenters, specifically focused on one particular artist. The final J-File was aired in November 2007.

[edit] Live at the Wireless

Live at the Wireless is a long standing tradition of Triple J. It is a weekly broadcast of live music, of a number of forms - open air festivals, smaller concerts, or acoustic performances in the studio. Occasionally, Triple J will host a live performance in a secret location, and give away tickets to a limited number of listeners, to allow them to be a part of the special event.

[edit] Home & Hosed

Up until 2002, the Australian Music Show was Triple J's all-Australian music segment, broadcast as a three hour late weeknight show (10pm to 1am) and hosted by Richard Kingsmill. Starting in 2003, the format changed to a two-hour show every weeknight (9pm to 11pm, shortening Super Request and the late night speciality shows by an hour each) and Robbie Buck became the presenter. It proved to be one of triple j's most popular changes, as the audience (and the station itself) has traditionally been very supportive of local talent and unsigned bands. The show has now been reduced to one hour, is only on Monday to Thursdays, and is hosted by Dom Alessio.

[edit] House Party

On 2 February 2008, Triple J commenced broadcasting a house-party style programme mixed and presented by Nina Las Vegas. In July 2011, while Nina Las Vegas was on vacation, Ballarat mashup duo Yacht Club DJs hosted House Party for the entire month.

News and current affairs[link]

News[link]

Triple J has their own independent news team, specifically covering news and issues that are relevant to the youth of Australia, such as education and the environment, as well as general music news.

Current news staff:

• Elize Strydom
• Ashleigh Raper
• Angela Lavoipierre
• Stefanie Menezes
• Amelia Marshall

Past news journalists (some of whom are still with Triple J):

• Grace Jones
• Simon Lauder (Now works for ABC Current Affairs Radio)
• Rhianna Patrick (Now presenting Speaking Out on ABC Local Radio)
• Karen Barlow (Now works for ABC Current Affairs Radio)
• Bernadette Young (Now Drive presenter on ABC Gold Coast)
• Ronan Sharkey
• Nikki Gemmell
• Daniel Browning
• Oscar McLaren
• Michael Turtle
• Sarah Gerathy
• Meredith Griffiths (Now with ABC Current Affairs Radio, AM & PM)
• Emma Swift
• George Roberts
• Bill Birtles
• Annette Samojlowicz
• Lucy Carter (Now sports presenter & reporter on ABC News 24)

[edit] Hack

Hack is Triple J's half-hour news and current affairs show, broadcast from 5.30pm weeknights. It is hosted by Tom Tilley. The Executive Producer is Kaitlyn Sawrey while Michael Atkin completes the Andrew Olle Scholarship. The current reporting team includes Irene Scott, Johnny Barrington, Patrick Abboud, Alex Mann & Claire Aird.

[edit] Talkback Classroom

Triple J broadcast Talkback Classroom from 1998 to 2003, a program where secondary school students from around Australia interviewing various prominent politicians, business and community leaders on current affairs issues. The program now airs on ABC Radio National.

Haywire[link]

Where the youth in outback Australia can air their views through a youth forum. The entrant must be between 16 and 22, write and engaging story relating to the countryside and must work well on radio. There are 41 regions like Unearthed. The winner receives airplay of their story and one winner from each of the 41 regions, wins an all expenses paid trip to Canberra at the Australian Institute of Sport for the youth forum.

Comedy[link]

[edit] The Breakfast Show

Robbie Buck in the Triple J studio

The Breakfast Show is one of the station's flagship shows. In the late '80s it was hosted by Rusty Nails, and later by resident "dag", Maynard F# Crabbes. In the early 1990s it was co-hosted by Helen Razer and Mikey Robbins, and later by Mikey Robbins, Paul McDermott, and The Sandman (Steve Abbott). From 1999 until 2004, it was co-hosted by Adam Spencer and Wil Anderson. The pair were known for their unusual sense of humour, highlighted by regular segments including Mary from Junee, Essence of Steve, and Are You Smarter Than Dools?. The Breakfast Show also featured two radio serials presented by The Sandman: "Pleasant Avenue" and "204 Bell St".^[18]

Spencer and Anderson broadcast their final program for the station on Friday 26 November 2004 from Sydney University's Manning Bar, a site that held sentimental value to Spencer, as that was where he got his start in stand-up comedy. In 2005, Jay and Lindsay (aka 'The Doctor') from Frenzal Rhomb took over as hosts of Triple J's breakfast show. New segments include the radio skits Space Goat and Battalion 666, as well as the Under the Weather Sessions and The Friday Fuckwit. From 8 January 2007, former Lunch presenter Myf Warhurst joined Jay and Lindsay as a permanent member of the Breakfast Show team.

Following the departure of Jay to go travelling, the 2008-2009 Breakfast Show line up was Robbie Buck, The Doctor, and Marieke Hardy. They regularly maintained contact with Jay during his overseas travel, calling him during a segment named Where in the World is Jason "Jay" Whalley, a pun on Where's Wally and Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?.

In 2009, Robbie, Marieke, and The Doctor had a serial called "Claytron". Tuesdays offered "Nerds of a Feather" with Paul Francis Verhoeven, whilst Friday offered "The Friday Fuckwit" as well as "Like a Version", a segment where famous recording artists perform a cover version of a song of their choice.

On 23 November 2009, it was announced that Tom Ballard and Alex Dyson (hosts of the 2009 Weekend Breakfast show) would take over as hosts of the 2010 Breakfast show. "Like a Version" has continued with Ballard and Dyson in 2010.

[edit] Weekend Breakfast

Past presenters have included Jim Trail, Paul Francis Verhoeven, Costa Zouliou, Gaby Brown, Scott Dooley, and Sam Simmons. Caroline Tran returned in 2010.

[edit] This Sporting Life

This Sporting Life (TSL), which ran from 1986 to 2008, was a parody of sporting panel programs, created and hosted by actor-writer-comedians John Doyle and Greig Pickhaver (under the pseudonyms Roy Slaven & HG Nelson). As well as sport, the duo cast a wide comedic net that encompassed the worlds of entertainment, politics and celebrity. TSL was remarkable as one of the few successful comedy programs that was substantially improvised.

The longest-running show in Triple J's programming history, TSL commanded a large and dedicated nationwide audience. Special editions of TSL were broadcast to coincide with the NRL and AFL grand finals (The Festival of the Boot) as well as for all three of rugby league's State of Origin series matches. (see Roy and HG's State of Origin commentary). In 2009, after 22 years at the ABC, the duo left to work for the commercial rock station Triple M.

[edit] Raw Comedy Competition

Triple J supports, promotes and broadcasts clips from the Raw Comedy Competition, which is produced by the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Podcasts of competition sets are available via the Triple J website.^[19]

[edit] Restoring the Balance

Restoring the Balance was broadcast sporadically on Sunday afternoons during 2004. The primary concept behind the show is a satire of the contrasting political views between the conservative Australian Howard government, and the left-wing government-funded Triple J radio station. The show suggests that the station was forced to broadcast a segment of right-wing political views in order to restore the balance.

[edit] Ross and Terri

Ross and Terri broadcast weekdays at lunch times, for two 2-week periods, over summer 2005 and 2006. It was hosted by Ross Noble and Terri Psiakis. It was initially a filler show, but the popularity of the pair was enough to bring them back in 2006.

[edit] Today Today

Today Today was the name given to the drive show in 2004 and 2005, hosted by Chaser members Chris Taylor and Craig Reucassel. The show's name was derived from Today Tonight, a controversial Australian TV current affairs show screened on the Seven Network. Their humour was in a similar vein to CNNNN and The Chaser, being more politically driven. One of their more popular skits was "Coma FM", a parody of commercial radio stations.

[edit] Radio plays

Triple J currently has had several comedic radio plays:

• Coma FM - satirical radio station performed by Today Today hosts Chris Taylor and Craig Reucassel.
• Space Goat - a parody radio sci fi performed by the breakfast show's Jay and the Doctor which borrowed many features of early radio science fictions such as a long intro for very little story which leaves many questions open, which the narrator spends some time pointing out at the end.
• Battalion 666 - a comedic radio drama which takes place on a fictional Royal Navy ship, the HMS Beezlebub. It came about when, in 2004, the Royal Navy officially recognised LaVeyan Satanism as an official religion in which its personnel can partake. The show features Jay and the Doctor, John Safran, and various sound clips of famous people taken from recorded interviews such as Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe.

[edit] Saturday Night / Graveyard Shift

In 2005 Dave Callan started at Triple J presenting the Saturday night/Sunday early morning program the Graveyard Shift.

In 2006 Dave hosted the Saturday evening timeslot, called Saturday Night. The show followed the pattern of Callan's mid-dawn shifts from previous years. In January 2007 this show was renamed Pirate Radio after one of the personae commonly adopted by callers. Listener interaction plays a significant role in Callan's programs with regular callers such as "Steph from Tamworth", "Snake Charmer Farmer", and "Ukelele Guy", as well as an assortment of "randoms" and "carnies". On 27 January 2008, Dave returned to the Graveyard Shift (1-6am Sunday mornings). From January 2009 the show was shortened, finishing at 4am.

[edit] Sunday Night Safran

Since 2005, John Safran and Father Bob Maguire have co-hosted a Sunday night talk show interviewing international guests, generally discussing serious topics like religion and politics.

[edit] The Race Race

Beginning on 27 October 2008, Chris Taylor and Craig Reucassel co-hosted a comedy program centred on the 2008 US Presidential Election entitled The Race Race. The program aired at 5pm weekdays until the wrap-up episode, which aired on 5 November 2008, after the elections had concluded.

The program derived its name from the fact that Barack Obama, the first African–American to be nominated by a major American political party for president, was running a formerly exclusively white political race against the white Republican candidate, John McCain. The program became the number one podcast in Australia, and Triple J released a number of commemorative Race Race T-shirts which featured the show's catchphrase "I Like Pie".

Hottest 100[link]

The Triple J Hottest 100 is an annual poll of the most popular songs amongst its listeners. It has been conducted for almost two decades in its present form, and in 2005 it attracted 1.26 million votes, from 152 countries^[20][21] - the largest annual music poll in the world. It has also spawned a series of successful compilation CDs, and more recently, music DVDs.

The countdown of the top 100 songs on Australia Day weekend, usually accompanied by a barbecue plus obligatory beverage, has become an annual summer ritual for Triple J fans around Australia and around the world.^[21]

Unearthed[link]

Unearthed, an ongoing project to find hidden talent, began in 1995. It originally focused on regional areas but now covers all areas of Australia. Many of these discoveries have been very successful—some have even been successful enough to receive commercial radio airplay, such as Grinspoon, Killing Heidi, and Missy Higgins.

The Unearthed competition was inspired by the success of a talent search on SBS program Nomad called "Pick Me". This segment, co-produced by Triple J, discovered a trio from Newcastle called the "Innocent Criminals", who later gained international fame under the name Silverchair.

The most recent incarnation of Unearthed is run online, and allows listeners to rate and review songs uploaded by bands and musicians.

Some on-air promotions for the first volume were recorded at the Triple J studios in Ultimo by Darren McErlain in 1996. He was invited to record voice-overs for Triple J, whilst completing an internship at ABC Radio News.

Beat the Drum[link]

Triple J occasionally runs a competition known as 'Beat the Drum' - named for their logo of three drumsticks hitting a drum. It is a competition designed to promote the logo, whereby, whoever displayed it in the most prominent place would win a prize. Notable entries include:

• A girl who distributed postcards of herself with the Triple J logo painted on her naked buttocks
• A Triple J t-shirt being waved behind the final lap of, and the presentation of a gold medal for Kieren Perkins' victorious 1500 m swim at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics
• One of the 2000 Sydney Olympics opening ceremony participants wearing a Triple J T-shirt bearing the logo
• The placement of a large Triple J logo on the musicians platform at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
• The winner in 2000 who drove his car, converted into a large 3D drum logo, across Australia.
• A group of people erecting road signs with the Triple J frequency all the way up the east coast of Australia
• A farmer in Queensland who formed a drum logo shaped crop circle measuring 1 by 1.5 km in his wheat-fields. This entry won in the individual/small group category in 2004.
• Students from the University of Tasmania's Hobart Campus stripping down to their underwear and painting themselves red to form the logo on the university's football oval which was then aerially photographed.

In late 2004, the station's promotion for that year's Beat the Drum contest caused a brief but bitter controversy after it released a series of promotional images featuring the 'Drum' logo. Many were outraged by the inclusion of a mocked-up image of the former World Trade Center draped with a huge Drum flag.

Impossible Music Festival[link]

The Impossible Music Festival, broadcast in August 2005 was a celebration of 30 years of live music recordings made by JJ and Triple J. Voted for by listeners from over 1000 recorded gigs/concerts, the broadcast went from 6pm Friday the 26th to 1am Monday the 29th. The 2006 Impossible Music Festival was aired on the weekend of 7–8 October. The 2007 Impossible Music Festival broadcast from Friday 25 May to Sunday 27 May. The 2008 Impossible Music Festival was broadcast from Friday 19 September until Sunday 21 September.

Triple J's One Night Stand[link]

The One Night Stand, held annually since 2004, offers a small town the opportunity to host a free, all ages concert, sponsored by Triple J, featuring three or four Australian musical acts. Entries must include examples of local support, including community (signatures), local government (council approval), and a venue for the concert.

Ausmusic Month[link]

Each November on triple j is Ausmusic month, where Australian artists are heavily promoted. This includes a solid weekend of Australian music; some free, limited-entry concerts around the country; All-Australian feature albums; Live at the Wireless; and each day, a new "unknown" Australian band is featured and played several times during the day.

J Awards[link]

The J Awards are an annual awards ceremony held at the start of December each year to celebrate Australian music. Awards include; the Unearthed J Award for best Unearthed artist, the J Award for Australian Music Video of the year, and the main J Award for Australian album of the year, judged by a panel of Triple J presenters. Past winners of the J Award include; Wolfmother (2005), Hilltop Hoods (2006), and The Panics (2007). In 2008, The Presets took out the award for Apocalypso. In 2009 the award was won by Sarah Blasko. In 2010, Tame Impala won the coveted J Award.

Will Styles Awards[link]

The Will Styles award is a weekly award for the person making the biggest on air gaffe. It is also known as the humpty dumpty award.

Presenters[link]

Many Double Jay and early triple j presenters went on to successful careers with commercial stations, the most notable being Doug Mulray, who honed his distinctive comedy-based style at the Jays before moving to rival FM rock station 2-MMM (Triple M) in the 1980s, where he became the most popular breakfast presenter in Sydney (and one of the highest-paid radio personalities in the country). Presenter Annette Shun Wah went on to host the popular Rock Around the World series on SBS and is now a program executive with SBS TV and producer of The Movie Show.

See also[link]

• List of Australian radio stations
• Triple J announcers (Category)
• BBC Radio 1
• CBC Radio 3
• BBC 6 Music
• Le Mouv'
• FM4
• MDR Sputnik

References[link]

External links[link]

• Triple J - includes live audio streaming of the station's broadcast, as well as archives of recent editions of shows.
• Conference paper: Fandom, Triple J and the Unearthed competition: a regional perspective by Kate Ames, Central Queensland University
• Triple J's 30th Anniversary webpage featuring historical information about key events in the station's history as well as vintage audio and video
• Jplay JJJ Playlists
• Link to Triple J frequency finder

Tiki Taane is a New Zealand musician and former member of leading New Zealand band Salmonella Dub. Taane left Salmonella Dub on 1 January 2007 to pursue a solo career.^[1] His debut album, "Past, Present, Future", was released on 22 October 2007 in New Zealand and has gone two times platinum, achieving a number one single, "Always On My Mind", which is the most successful single of all time in New Zealand. Taane is also the live sound engineer for New Zealand drum and bass act Shapeshifter.

History[link]

In 1996, Taane was asked to become live soundman to Christchurch band Salmonella Dub, who were becoming one of NZ’s most popular acts. Through this role, Tiki began to earn himself a reputation for his ability to bring a staggeringly powerful live sound to whatever equipment, venue or environment he was faced with. His time with his metal band Braaspadeak had become minuscule and irregular, and while on tour with the Dub, Tiki had composed a dub-reggae track in his hotel room. Once he shared it with Salmonella, they recorded it straight away, and Tiki and his whanau and friends set to work making a music video featuring Tiki on tour at The Gathering that year. This track, "For the Love Of It", shot to the NZ charts, and so he became faced with not only being soundman for the band, but also the public expectation that he perform his hit song at all their gigs.

In both 1998 and 1999, Tiki won the Best Live Audio Engineer award at the NZ B-Net awards and though in popular demand, it was clear that Tiki’s success lay with his friends Salmonella Dub. Also winning an award for Best Song for 'For the Love Of It', Tiki’s confidence grew in his song-writing abilities and so he went on to create more hits. By 2000, Tiki was beginning to spend the majority of the Dub gigs mixing the first part of the set, then jumping on stage to perform.

Taane played his final gig with Salmonella Dub on New Year's Eve 2006.

Describing his decision to leave Salmonella Dub, Taane said, "I felt like I'd gone as far as I could with Salmonella Dub." He described his time since leaving Salmonella Dub as "very lonely" and "very intense".^[2] Describing the band in an interview after the release of his album, Taane said, "I have so much love and respect for (Salmonella Dub) because if it wasn't for them I wouldn't be where I am now. I wouldn't be here."^[2]

On April 2011, Taane was arrested on charges of "disorderly behaviour likely to cause violence to start or continue" while chanting "fuck the police" at a gig in Tauranga, claiming he was singing lyrics from N.W.A's "Fuck tha Police".^[3] On his web site, Taane posted the message, "Freedom of speech is a human right"^[4] Tiki later stated that he "loves police" and was "not angry with them".^[5] On 13 April Tiki told Marcus Lush on Radio Live that the lyrics often feature in his performances and his arrest came as a complete surprise.^[6] Senior police stated they supported the arresting officers actions, and are confident they acted appropriately.^[7] In early September, the charges against Taane were dropped after mediation; charges remain against promoter Patricio Alvarez-Riveros from the same incident.^[8] Taane later invited the Police to perform with him at the 2011 Vodafone NZ Music Awards at Auckland's Vector Arena, where he was nominated for three awards, they declined.^[9]

Past, Present, Future[link]

His debut solo record "Past, Present, Future" was released 22 October 2007 and debuted at #9. The album's first official solo single, "Always On My Mind", was released 28 April 2008. The song has been certified 2x Platinum and made it to #1 in New Zealand, knocking Chris Brown off the top spot after a seven week reign. The song spent nineteen non-consecutive weeks in the top ten, including two weeks at number one, and a total of forty-eight weeks in the chart so far.^[10] "Always On My Mind" has also become the most successful single of all time in New Zealand, landing at number one on the Best of All Time Singles Chart, a chart that has been tracking singles since 1994. The title was previously held by "Bathe in the River" by Hollie Smith.^[11]

Past, Present, Future has also been certified Platinum in New Zealand and peaked at number four. The album was certified 2x Platinum after fifty-five weeks, selling over 30,000 copies. It has so far spent over sixty-six weeks in the chart.

Use of music by Sea Shepherd[link]

Before taking out his vessel Ady Gil on an anti-whaling cruise to the Southern Ocean with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Pete Bethune noted that he had installed a large set of speakers, and intended to play the songs like Tangaroa from Tiki Taane to the whalers, describing it as a "growling big sort of a song about the God of the Sea who looks after us".^[12]

Music Timeline[link]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

References and notes[link]

• Tiki Taane inthemix.com.au Interview
• Tiki Taane Bebo Fansite
• Tiki Taane Profile, Muzic.net.nz
• 'Dub king Tiki Taane goes solo', Stuff.co.nz
• Past, Present, Future at Real Groovy

External links[link]

• tikidub.com

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (October 2008)

J-Live
Background information
Birth name	Jean-Jacques Cadet
Born	New York, U.S.A.
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	rapper
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1995–present
Labels	Triple Threat Productions
Website	j-livemusic.com

J-Live (also known as Justice Allah, legal name Jean-Jacques Cadet) is an MC, DJ, and producer from New York.

[edit] Early career and The Best Part

J-Live first appeared on the underground hip-hop scene in 1995, when he was a freshman English major at the University at Albany, The State University of New York. His first single "Longevity" appeared on Mark Farina's Mushroom Jazz CD, and follow-up singles "Braggin' Writes" and "Hush the Crowd" garnered widespread attention, getting him printed in the "Unsigned Hype" section of The Source. This led to a record contract with Raw Shack Records. His first album, The Best Part, recorded from 1995 to 1999, featured production by Prince Paul, DJ Premier, and Pete Rock. Due to problems with his record label, J-Live left the label and the album was shelved. He moved to Payday Records, but when Payday's parent company London Records was bought from Universal Music Group by WEA, the album was again shelved. In 2001, copies surfaced as bootlegs and several were of such high quality it was rumored that J-Live himself was behind them. By the fall of 2001, The Best Part was finally officially released after five years of label problems. It was released on Triple Threat Productions, J-Live's own record label.

[edit] All of the Above to Then What Happened?

In 2002 his second album, All of the Above was released on the label, Coup D'état. It featured production by DJ Spinna, Usef Dinero, P Smoova and J-Live himself. In 2003 J-Live simultaneously released two EPs, Always Has Been and Always Will Be. Always Has Been was a collection of J-Live's six early singles which did not appear on any of his albums. Always Will Be consisted of 8 new songs. Both EPs were released on the label, Triple Threat Productions. His third LP, The Hear After was released in 2005 on the label, Penalty (Ryko), and was followed in 2007 with another EP, Reveal the Secret, and in 2008 with an LP entitled Then What Happened?, both from BBE Records.

Personal life[link]

After completion of his English degree from SUNY Albany, J-Live became a middle school English teacher in Brownsville and Bushwick, Brooklyn. He later left teaching for the full time pursuit of his hip-hop career. J-Live is currently living in Philadelphia, PA. He is married and has three children. He is of Haitian descent. J-Live is a member of The Nation of Gods and Earths.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• The Best Part (2001)
• All of the Above (2002)
• Always Has Been [EP] (2003)
• Always Will Be [EP] (2003)
• The Hear After (2005)
• Reveal The Secret [EP] (2007)
• Then What Happened? (May 2008)
• Undivided Attention [EP] (Nov 2010)
• S.P.T.A. (Said Person of That Ability) (2011)

Appearances[link]

• 31 February by The Nextmen
• Azucar (Remix) by Soulive
• Boogie by Oddisee, also featuring Asheru
• Bosoms by Wordsworth, also featuring Soulive
• Brand Nu Live by DJ Nu-Mark
• Break It Down by DJ Jazzy Jeff
• Get It, Got It by DJ Jazzy Jeff
• Give It Up with R.A. the Rugged Man on Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture
• Great Live Caper by J. Rawls
• Hip Hop Romper Room Pt. 1 by Vakill
• Hip Hop Romper Room Pt. 2 by Vakill
• I Say Peace by Dela
• O! (9.11) by Da Beatminerz
• Practice by DJ Jazzy Jeff
• Rules of Engagement by 7L & Esoteric
• Selector by the Lifesavas
• She Said What? by Quantic Soul Orchestra
• Sub-Level by Rob Swift
• The City by Dela, also featuring Surreal
• The Last Sunshine by Pigeon John
• The Truth by Handsome Boy Modeling School
• The Formula by Apathy (rapper)
• Time Difference by Homecut
• Trackrunners by Asheru & Blue Black of Unspoken Heard
• Vacation by Jazz Liberatorz
• What's crazy? by Oddisee, also featuring Stik Figa
• Whatyawando? by El Da Sensei
• Observe the sound by Apathy (rapper)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: J-Live

• Official website
• J-Live - Reveal the Secret EP Review

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2011)

Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline at Four Star Records in March 1957
Background information
Birth name	Virginia Patterson Hensley
Also known as	Ginny, Patsy
Born	(1932-09-08)September 8, 1932 Winchester, Virginia, U.S.
Died	March 5, 1963(1963-03-05) (aged 30) near Camden, Tennessee, U.S.
Genres	Nashville sound, country, traditional pop, rockabilly, honky tonk, standards, swing
Occupations	Singer, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, piano
Years active	1947–1963
Labels	Four Star Records (1955–1960) Decca Records (1960–1963)
Associated acts	Kitty Wells, Jean Shepard, Jimmy Dean, Jim Reeves, Eddy Arnold, Skeeter Davis, Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn, Jan Howard, Dottie West

Patsy Cline (September 8, 1932 – March 5, 1963), born Virginia Patterson Hensley, was an American country music singer as part of the early 1960s Nashville sound. Cline successfully "crossed over" to pop music. At age 30, she died at the height of her career in a private plane crash. She was one of the most influential, successful and acclaimed female vocalists of the 20th century.^[1][2]

Cline was best known for her rich tone, emotionally expressive and bold contralto voice^[3] and her role as a country music industry pioneer. She helped pave the way for women as headline performers in the genre. Cline's was cited as an inspiration by singers in several genres.^[4] Books, movies, documentaries, articles and stage plays document her life and career.

Her hits began in 1957 with Donn Hecht's "Walkin' After Midnight", Harlan Howard's "I Fall to Pieces", Hank Cochran's "She's Got You", Willie Nelson's "Crazy" and ended in 1963 with Don Gibson's "Sweet Dreams".

Posthumously, millions of her records sold over a 50-year span. She won awards and accolades, leading some fans to view her as an icon at the level of Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley. Ten years after her death, in 1973, she became the first female solo artist inducted to the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 1999, she was voted number 11 on VH1's special, The 100 Greatest Women in Rock and Roll, by members and artists of the rock industry.^[5] In 2002, country music artists and industry members voted her Number One on CMT's The 40 Greatest Women of Country Music and ranked 46th in the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time" issue of Rolling Stone magazine. According to her 1973 Country Music Hall of Fame plaque, "Her heritage of timeless recordings is testimony to her artistic capacity."

Early years[link]

Childhood[link]

Cline was born Virginia Patterson Hensley in 1932, in Winchester, Virginia, to Hilda Patterson Hensley, a 16-year-old seamstress, and Sam Hensley, a 43-year-old blacksmith. Patsy soon had a younger brother and sister, Samuel and Sylvia; the siblings were called Ginny, John, and Sis. The family moved often before settling in Winchester when Patsy was 8. She grew up "on the wrong side of the tracks". Sam deserted his family in 1947, but the Hensley home was reportedly quite happy.^[6]

Cline's home in Winchester, Virginia. She lived here from age 16 to 21.

Cline was introduced to music at an early age, singing in church with her mother. She admired stars such as Kay Starr, Jo Stafford, Hank Williams, Judy Garland, and Shirley Temple. She had perfect pitch. She was self-taught and could not read music.

When she was thirteen, she was hospitalized with a throat infection and rheumatic fever. "The fever affected my throat and when I recovered I had this booming voice like Kate Smith".^[7]

Teen years[link]

To help support her family after her father abandoned them, she dropped out of high school and worked various jobs, often performing as a soda jerk and waitress by day at The Triangle Diner^[8] across the street from her school, John Handley High.

After several weeks of watching performers through the window at her local radio station, she asked WINC-AM disc jockey and talent co-ordinator Jimmy McCoy if she could sing on his show. Her first performance on radio in 1947 was so well received that she was asked back. This led to performances at local nightclubs, wearing fringed Western stage outfits that her mother made from Patsy's designs.

Cline performed in variety and talent showcases in and around the Winchester and Tri-State areas. Coupled with increasing appearances on local radio, she attracted a large following. In 1954 Jimmy Dean, a young country star in his own right, learned of her and she became a regular with Dean on Connie B. Gay's Town and Country Jamboree radio show, airing weekday afternoons live on WARL-AM in Washington, D.C..

First marriage[link]

She married contractor Gerald Cline in 1953 and divorced him in 1957. The dissolution of that marriage was blamed on their considerable age difference and on the conflict between her desire to sing professionally and his desire that she adopt the conventional role of a housewife.

Recording career[link]

Four Star Records[link]

Bill Peer, her second manager, gave her the name Patsy, from her middle name and her mother's maiden name, Patterson. In 1955 he got her a contract at Four Star Records, the label with which he was then affiliated. Four Star was under contract to the Coral subsidiary of Decca Records. Patsy signed with Decca at her first opportunity three years later.

Her first contract allowed her to record compositions only by Four Star writers, which Cline found limiting. Later, she expressed regret over signing with the label, but thinking that nobody else would have her, she took the deal. Her first record for Four Star was "A Church, A Courtroom & Then Good-Bye", which attracted little attention, although it led to appearances on the Grand Ole Opry. As these performances were not "records" per se, they were not governed by her contract, and she could sing what she wanted, within reason. This somewhat eased her "stifled" feeling.

Between 1955 and 1957, Cline recorded honky tonk material, with songs like "Fingerprints", "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down", "Don't Ever Leave Me Again", and "A Stranger In My Arms". Cline cowrote the latter two. None of these songs gained notable success. She experimented with rockabilly.

According to Decca Records producer Owen Bradley, the Four Star compositions only hinted at Patsy's potential. Bradley thought that her voice was best-suited for pop music, but Cline sided with Peer and the other Four Star producers, insisting that she could only record country songs, as her contract also stated. Every time Bradley tried to get her to sing the torch songs that would become her signature, she would panic, missing her familiar banjo and steel guitar. She recorded 51 songs with Four Star.

Arthur Godfrey and "Walkin' After Midnight"[link]

On January 7, 1956 Cline made her network television debut on the short-lived television version of the Grand Ole Opry on ABC-TV. This was followed by an appearance on the network's Ozark Jubilee later that month,^[9]:p.80 before returning to the show in April.^{[clarification needed]}

Later that year, while looking for material for her first album, Patsy Cline,, "Walkin' After Midnight" appeared, written by Donn Hecht and Alan Block. Cline initially did not like the song because it was, according to her, "just a little old pop song." However, the song's writers and record label insisted that she record it.

In the late fall of 1956, she auditioned for Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts in New York City, and was accepted to sing on the CBS-TV show on January 21, 1957. Godfrey's "discovery" of Cline was typical. Her scout, actually her mother, presented Patsy who initially was supposed to sing "A Poor Man's Roses (Or a Rich Man's Gold)", but the show's producers insisted she sing "Walkin' After Midnight" instead. Though heralded as a country song, recorded in Nashville, Godfrey's staff insisted that Cline appear in a cocktail dress rather than in one of her mother's hand-crafted cowgirl outfits.

The audience's enthusiastic ovations pushed the applause meter to its apex, winning the competition for her. After the Godfrey show, listeners began calling their local radio stations to request the song, so she released it as a single. Although Cline had been performing for almost a decade and had appeared on national TV three times, it took Godfrey to make her a star. For a couple of months thereafter, Cline appeared regularly on Godfrey's radio program. Disagreements over creative control caused her to move on.

"Walkin' After Midnight" reached No. 2 on the country chart and No. 12 on the pop chart, making Cline one of the first country singers to have a crossover pop hit. The single drove her success for the next year or so. She stayed visible by making personal appearances and performing regularly on Godfrey’s show, as well as performing for several years on Ozark Jubilee (later Jubilee USA). She had no other hits with Four Star.^[10]

Cline composed and recorded "A Stranger in My Arms" and "Don't Ever Leave Me Again" in 1957 under her birth name, Virginia Hensley.

A month after her recording session, she met Charlie Dick, a good-looking ladies man who frequented the local club circuit Cline played on weekends. His charisma and admiration of Cline's talents captured her attention, and their relationship resulted in a marriage that lasted until her death. Though their love affair was publicized as controversial, Cline regarded Dick as "the love of her life". After the birth of their daughter, Julie, in 1958, they moved to Nashville, Tennessee.

1961 comeback – "I Fall to Pieces"[link]

In 1959 Cline met Randy Hughes, a session guitarist and promotion man. Hughes became her manager and helped her change labels. When her Four Star contract expired in 1960, she signed with Decca Records-Nashville, directly under the direction of legendary female-singer country music producer Owen Bradley. He was responsible for much of Cline's success and positively influenced the careers of both Brenda Lee and Loretta Lynn.

Even though she was still scared of the lush Nashville Sound arrangements, Bradley considered Cline's voice best-suited for country pop-crossover songs. Bradley's direction and arrangements helped smooth her voice into the silky, torch song style for which she won fame.

Cline's first release for Decca was the country pop ballad "I Fall to Pieces" (1961), written by Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard. The song was promoted and won success on both country and pop music stations. On the country charts, the song slowly climbed to the top, garnering her first Number One ranking. In a major feat for country singers at the time, the song hit No. 12 on the pop and No. 6 on the adult contemporary charts, making her a household name and demonstrating that women could achieve as much crossover success as men.

Grand Ole Opry and Nashville scene[link]

In 1960, Cline realized a lifelong dream when the Grand Ole Opry accepted her request to join the cast, making her the only person to achieve membership in such a fashion. She became one of the Opry's biggest stars.

Even before that time, believing that there was "room enough for everybody", and confident of her abilities and appeal, Cline befriended and encouraged women starting out in the country music field at that time, including Loretta Lynn, Dottie West, Jan Howard, sixteen-year-old Brenda Lee and a thirteen year old steel-guitar player named Barbara Mandrell with whom Cline once toured, all of whom cited her as a major influence.

According to both Lynn and West, Cline always gave herself to friends, buying them groceries and furniture and even hiring them as wardrobe assistants. On occasion, she paid their rent, enabling them to stay in Nashville and continue pursuing their dreams. Honky-tonk pianist and Opry star Del Wood said, "Even when she didn't have it, she'd spend it—and not always on herself. She'd give anyone the skirt off her backside if they needed it."^[9]

The Cline[link]

She cultivated a brash and gruff exterior that allowed her to be considered "one of the boys". This allowed her to befriend male artists as well, including Roger Miller, Hank Cochran, Faron Young, Ferlin Husky, Harlan Howard and Carl Perkins all of whom she socialized with at famed Nashville establishment Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, next door to the Opry. In the 1986 documentary The Real Patsy Cline, singer George Riddle said of her, "It wasn't unusual for her to sit down and have a beer and tell a joke, and she'd never be offended at the guys' jokes either, because most of the time she'd tell a joke dirtier than you! Patsy was full of life, as I remember."

Cline used the term of endearment "Hoss" to refer to her friends, both male as well as female, and referred to herself as "The Cline". Patsy met Elvis Presley in 1962 at a fundraiser for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and they exchanged phone numbers.^[9] Having seen him perform during a rare Grand Ole Opry appearances, she admired his music, called him The Big Hoss, and often recorded with his backup group, The Jordanaires.

By this time, Cline controlled her own career, making it clear to all involved that she could stand up to any man, verbally and professionally, and was ready to challenge their rules if they interfered with her. In a time when concert promoters often cheated stars by promising to pay them after the show but skipping out with the money before the concert ended, Cline demanded her money before she took the stage by proclaiming: "No dough, no show", a practice that became the rule.^{[citation needed]} According to friend Roy Drusky in the The Real Patsy Cline: "Before one concert, we hadn't been paid. And we were talking about who was going to tell the audience that we couldn't perform without pay. Patsy said, 'I'll tell 'em!' And she did!" Friend Dottie West stated in amazement some 25 years later in an interview that "It was common knowledge around town that you didn't mess with 'The Cline!'"

Car crash[link]

Cline bore a son, Randy in 1961. On June 14, she and her brother Sam were involved in a head-on collision on Old Hickory Boulevard in Nashville, the second and more serious of two crashes during her lifetime. The impact threw Cline into the windshield, nearly killing her. Upon arriving at the scene, Dottie West picked glass from Patsy's hair, and went with her in the ambulance.

When help arrived, Patsy insisted that the other car's driver be treated first, an event which had a long-term detrimental effect on Dottie. When in 1991 West was fatally injured in a car accident, she too insisted that her driver be treated first, possibly causing her own death.^[11] Cline later stated that she saw the female driver of the other car die before her eyes.^[11]

Cline spent a month in the hospital, suffering from a jagged cut across her forehead that required stitches, a broken wrist and a dislocated hip. Both Nassour and friend Billy Walker (who died in a vehicle accident in 2006) reported that Cline rededicated her life to Christianity while in the hospital, where she received thousands of cards and flowers from fans.^[9]

When she left the hospital, her forehead was visibly scarred. For the remainder of her career, she wore wigs and makeup to hide the scars, along with headbands to relieve the forehead pressure that caused headaches if left unattended. Six weeks later, she returned to the road on crutches with a new appreciation for life.

A series of recordings entitled Patsy Cline: Live at the Cimarron Ballroom from her first concert after the crash were released in 1997 and feature dialogue of Cline interacting with the audience, reviewing her live performances. Recorded in Tulsa, Oklahoma as a sound check, these archives were found in the attic by a later owner of one of Cline's residences and were given to the family.

"Crazy"[link]

Unable to capitalize upon the success of "I Fall to Pieces" due to her hospital stay, Cline sought another recording to re-establish herself. When introduced to "Crazy", a song written by Willie Nelson, Cline expressed a vehement dislike for the composition and the inaugural recording session was unsuccessful.^{[12] [13]}

Undertaken in the Quonset Hut (where the original Bradley's Barn Studio was located before moving to Opryland), the singer tried from the outset to record "Crazy" like Nelson's demo recording, which featured his idiosyncratic style. Cline claimed that the song was too difficult for her; not only because of the demo style, but also because her ribs, injured in the crash, made it difficult for her to reach the high notes. The problems during the session created conflict with Bradley. In an era where it had become a standard to record four songs in a three-hour period, those present at the Quonset Hut "Crazy" session had to cope with a four hour session for a single song. It was eventually decided that Cline would overdub her vocals over the best instrumental recording of the track. This came a week later when the singer's ribs had further healed. Upon returning to the studio, Cline could reach the high notes and recorded her part in a single take.^[14]

The popular appeal of the final version of the recording was attributed to Bradley's management of Cline's fear of the Nashville Sound, because he convinced her to imbue the recording with her unique persona. The song become an intimate representation of Cline and is perceived to be completely unlike Nelson's version. Now considered a classic, "Crazy" ultimately became Cline's signature song.

By late 1961, "Crazy" was a crossover success, straddling the country and pop genres, and reached the Top 10 on the charts. It became Cline's biggest pop hit.^[12][15] The song subsequently reached #9 on the US Hot 100 and #2 on both the Hot Country Songs and the Adult Contemporary lists. An album released in November 1961, entitled Patsy Cline Showcase, featured both of Cline's hits of that year.^{[citation needed]} Loretta Lynn later reported on her album, I Remember Patsy, that on the night Cline premiered "Crazy" at the Grand Ole Opry, she received three standing ovations.

At the top[link]

Cline was the first female country music star to headline her own show and receive billing above the male stars with whom she toured.

While bands typically backed up the female singer, Cline led the band through the concert instead.^{[clarification needed]} She was so respected by men in the industry that rather than being introduced to audiences as “Pretty Miss Patsy Cline” as her female contemporaries often were, she was given a more stately introduction such as that given by Johnny Cash on their 1962 tour: “Ladies and Gentlemen, The One and Only – Patsy Cline.” As an artist, she held her fan base in extremely high regard, many of whom became friends, staying for hours after concerts to chat and sign autographs.

Cline was the first woman in country music to perform at New York’s Carnegie Hall, sharing the bill with fellow Opry members. The performance garnered sharp disapproval from gossip columnist Dorothy Kilgallen in the process—at whom Cline eloquently fired back. She headlined the famous Hollywood Bowl with Cash. Later in 1962, she became the first woman in country music to headline her own show in Las Vegas at the Mint Casino, the sign from which can still be seen at its home on Pico Boulevard near La Brea in Los Angeles.

This success enabled Cline to buy her dream home in the Goodlettsville suburb of Nashville, decorating it in her own style. It featured gold dust sprinkled in the bathroom tiles and a music room with the finest sound equipment. In The Real Patsy Cline, Lynn stated: "She called me into the front yard and said, 'Isn't this pretty? Now I'll never be happy until I have my Mama one just like it.'" Cline called it "the house that Vegas built" since the money from the Mint covered its cost. After her death in 1963, Cline's home was sold to singer Wilma Burgess who told Nassour that "strange occurrences" happened during her years there.^[9]

With this new demand for Cline came higher earnings. Reportedly she was paid at least $1000 for appearances towards the end of her life—a then an unheard-of sum for country music women, whose average fee was less than $200. Her penultimate concert, held in Birmingham, Alabama, grossed $3000.^{[verification needed]}

To match her new sophisticated sound, Cline also reinvented her personal style, shedding her trademark Western cowgirl outfits for more elegant gowns, cocktail dresses, spiked heels, and gold lame pants. In the days before Tanya's skintight leather pants and Reba's famous red dress shocked the country music establishment out of complacency, Patsy's new image was considered riskier and sexier than anything that anybody had ever seen. Country music industry personnel in those more conservative times were more accustomed to girls in gingham and calico dresses. Like her sound, Cline’s style in fashion was mocked at first, then copied. She also loved dangly earrings, ruby-red lipstick and her favorite perfume was Wind Song.

During her five-and-a-half year career, Cline received a dozen awards for her achievements, and three more following her death from the Music Reporter, Billboard Awards and Cashbox.

Cline wrote of her success in a letter to friend Anne Armstrong: "It's wonderful—but what do I do for '63? It's getting so even Cline can't follow Cline!"^[16]

[edit] Sentimentally Yours

In the fall of 1961, Cline was back in the studio again to record songs for an upcoming album released in early 1962. One of the first songs^[17] was "She's Got You", written by Hank Cochran. Cochran pitched the song over the phone to Cline and she fell in love with it at first listen. It became one of the few songs that she enjoyed recording. The song was released as a single in January 1962, and soon crossed over, reaching No. 14 on the pop charts, No. 3 on the adult contemporary charts (originally called "Easy Listening"), and as her second and final chart-topper, No. 1 on the country chart. She would never again enter the pop charts during her lifetime.

"She's Got You" was also Cline's first entry in the United Kingdom singles chart, reaching No. 43. The cover by Alma Cogan, one of Britain's most popular female artists of the 1960s, performed notably as well. The biggest Hit Parade UK record sales entry before her death was her version of the standard Heartaches reaching the Top 30 in late 1962.^[18]

Following this success, Cline released a string of smaller country hits, including the Top 10 "When I Get Thru' With You", "Imagine That", "So Wrong", and "Heartaches". These were not big crossover hits, but still reached the Top 20 and Top 10.

In late 1962, Cline appeared on Dick Clark's American Bandstand and released her third album, Sentimentally Yours in August of that year. When asked in a WSM-AM interview about her vocal stylings, Cline stated, "Oh, I just sing like I hurt inside."

Life on the road was beginning to wear on Cline. She longed to spend more time raising her children, Julie and Randy, and was starting to talk about a hiatus. But Randy, her manager insisted that they had to strike while the iron was hot.

A month before her death, Cline was back in the Quonset Hut to record her fourth album, originally entitled Faded Love. Recording a mix of country standards and such vintage pop classics as Irving Berlin's "Always" and "Does Your Heart Beat for Me", these sessions proved to be the most contemporary-sounding of her career. The sessions featured a full string section without any conventional country music instruments. Before her death, as Owen Bradley told Patsy author Margaret Jones, he and Cline had talked of doing an album of show tunes and standards, including Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man, since Cline was such a fan of Helen Morgan, who had recorded the song back in 1927.

Cline got so involved with the stories in the songs' lyrics, she reportedly cried through most of her final sessions. The raw emotion can be plainly heard on such tracks as "Sweet Dreams" and at the end of "Faded Love". At the playback party, according to singer Jan Howard in the documentary Remembering Patsy, Cline held up a copy of her first record and a copy of her newest tracks and stated, "Well, here it is...the first and the last."

Death[link]

Patsy Cline Memorial at the 1963 crash site near Camden, Tennessee

Twenty-eight days later, according to Tennessee State Trooper Troy Odle, Patsy Cline died in "one of the worst wrecks in the country", along with her manager Randy Hughes and long-time country musicians Hawkshaw Hawkins and Cowboy Copas.

Cline's flight encountered inclement weather and crashed on the evening of March 5, 1963. Her recovered wristwatch had stopped at approximately 6:20 pm. The plane wreckage was located appromimately 90 miles (140 km) from its Nashville destination in a forest outside Camden, Tennessee. Forensic examinations concluded that everyone aboard had been killed instantaneously from their injuries and did not suffer.^[19][20] Until the wreckage was discovered the following dawn and reported on the radio, friends and family had not given up hope. Endless repetitions of calls such as "Did you hear anything?" "No, did you?" tied up the local telephone exchanges to such a degree that other emergencies occurring over the same period had trouble getting through. The lights at the destination Cornelia Fort Airpark were kept on throughout the night as reports of the missing plane were broadcast on radio and TV.

Friends Dottie West, June Carter Cash, and Loretta Lynn recalled Cline telling them during 1962–1963 that she felt a sense of impending doom and did not expect to live much longer.^[21] Cline, known for her generosity, had begun giving away personal items to friends, writing her will on Delta Air Lines stationery and asking close friends to care for her children should anything happen to her. She told Jordanaires back-up singer Ray Walker as she exited the Grand Ole Opry the week before her death: "Honey, I've had two bad ones (accidents). The third one will either be a charm or it'll kill me."

Reports vary as to whether Cline, ill with the flu, gave two or three performances at a show held on March 3. Some sources say the shows were at 2 p.m. and 5:15 p.m., but other sources say an 8 p.m. show was added due to popular demand. The performance was a benefit, held at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall, Kansas City, Kansas for the family of disc jockey Cactus Jack Call. He had died in an automobile crash a little over a month earlier. Call was a longtime DJ for KCKN, but had switched to KCMK a week before his death in January 25, 1963 at the age of 39.^[22] Also performing on the show were George Jones, George Riddle and The Jones Boys, Billy Walker, Dottie West, Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper, George McCormick, the Clinch Mountain Boys as well as Copas and Hawkins.

The shows were standing-room only. For the 2 p.m. show, she wore a sky-blue tulle-laden dress, for the 5:15 show a red shocker, and for the closing show at 8 p.m., Cline wore white chiffon and closed the show to a thunderous ovation. Her final song was the last she had recorded the previous month, "I'll Sail My Ship Alone".

Cline, who had spent the night at the Town House Motor Hotel, was unable to fly out the day after the concert because Fairfax Airport was fogged in. West asked Patsy to ride in the car with her and husband, Bill, back to Nashville (approximately a 16 hour drive), but Cline refused, saying, "Don't worry about me, Hoss. When it's my time to go, it's my time." She called her mother from the motel and checked out at 12:30 p.m. to go the short distance to the airport to board the Piper Comanche. The plane stopped once in Missouri to refuel and subsequently landed at Dyersburg Municipal Airport in Dyersburg, Tennessee at 5 p.m.^[23]

Hughes was the pilot, but was not trained in instrument flying. Hawkins had accepted Billy Walker's seat after Walker left on a commercial flight to take care of a stricken family member. The Dyersburg, Tennessee airfield manager suggested that they stay the night after advising of high winds and inclement weather, and even offered them free rooms and meals, but Hughes responded, "I've already come this far. We'll be there before you know it." The plane took off at 6:07 PM. (Hughes' flight instructor had also trained Jim Reeves, whose plane crashed the following year. Neither pilot was instrument-rated and both attempted to fly by sight—impossible in the driving rain faced by both flights.)

The grave of Patsy Cline

Early the following morning, Roger Miller and his friend went searching for survivors: "As fast as I could, I ran through the woods screaming their names—through the brush and the trees, and I came up over this little rise, oh, my God, there they were. It was ghastly. The plane had crashed nose down"^[20] Shortly after the bodies were removed, looters scavenged the area. Some of the items which were recovered were eventually donated to The Country Music Hall of Fame. Included in those donations were Cline's wrist watch, Confederate flag cigarette lighter, studded belt and three pairs of gold lamé slippers. Cline's fee and attire from that last performance were never recovered.^[20]

As per her wishes, Cline was brought home for her memorial service, which thousands attended. She was buried at Shenandoah Memorial Park in her hometown of Winchester, Virginia. Her grave is marked with a bronze plaque, which reads: "Virginia H (Patsy) Cline 'Death Cannot Kill What Never Dies: Love'". With the help of Lynn and West, a bell tower was erected at the cemetery in her memory, which plays hymns daily at 6:00 p.m., the hour of her death. Another memorial marks the exact place off Fire Tower Road in Fatty Bottom, Tennessee, where the plane crashed in the still-remote forest outside of Camden.

Family[link]

Cline’s mother, Hilda Hensley, died in 1998 of natural causes at 82, while her father died of cirrhosis of the liver in the mid-1950s. Mrs. Hensley lived as an accomplished seamstress in Winchester, Virginia, helping to raise her grandchildren, and rarely granted interviews. Cline's daughter, Julie Dick Fudge, stated in 1985: "Grannie loved my mother so much that it's still hard for her to talk about (the accident)." In her later years, Hensley stated "I never knew so many people loved my daughter" about the outpouring of love by Cline's fans.

As Hilda was only 16 years older than Patsy, the two were very close. She Cline commented that her mother was the one person she could always depend on, and Hensley commented that Patsy was a "wonderful daughter" who never let her family down in hard times. Cline's brother died in 2004 Her sister still lives in Virginia.

As of 2011 husband Charlie Dick resided in Nashville, producing documentaries on his late wife and attending fan functions. He married singer Jamey Ryan in 1965, who signed a brief contract with Columbia Records before bearing a son. They divorced in the early 1970s. In the film Sweet Dreams, Ryan provided the vocals for three songs: "Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home", "Rollin' in My Sweet Baby's Arms" and "Blue Christmas" (a tune Cline never recorded).

Daughter Julie joins him in representing Cline’s estate at public functions and has four children (one, Virginia, named for Cline, was killed in an automobile accident in 1994) and six grandchildren. Son Randy was a drummer for a Nashville band for a time, and Charlie's younger brother, Uncle Mel as he is known to fans, heads up the "Always... Patsy Cline" fan organization.

Legacy[link]

Impact and influence[link]

In the 2003 book Remembering Patsy, guitarist-producer Harold Bradley said of Cline: "She's taken the standards for being a country music vocalist, and raised the bar. Even now, women, are trying to get to that bar.... If you're going to be a country singer, and if you're not going to copy her – and most people do come to town doing just that – then you have to be aware of her technique. It's always good to know what was in the past because someone might think they're pretty hot until they hear her.... It gives all the female singers coming in something to gauge their talents against. And I expect it will forever."

When Cline made her first commercial recordings in 1955, Kitty Wells was the top female vocalist in the field. By the time Cline broke through as a consistent hit-maker in 1961, Wells, known as The Queen of Country Music, was still country's biggest female star. Cline dethroned her in 1961 however by winning the Billboard Magazine Award for Favorite Female Country & Western Artist for two years in a row as well as the Music Reporter Star of The Year Award for 1962.

Given that Cline's full-throated sophisticated sound was a marked contrast to Wells' pure-country, quivering vocals, the two country queens could not have been more different. Though Cline had gained attention on country and pop charts, she did not think of herself as anything other than a country singer and was known for her humility in her motto: "I don't want to get rich – just live good."

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Patsy Cline

1963–1985[link]

Three of her songs became posthumous Top 10 Country hits: "Sweet Dreams", "Leavin' on Your Mind" and "Faded Love". Starting that June, more albums of unreleased material followed, beginning with The Patsy Cline Story and A Portrait of Patsy Cline, released the following Spring. The Story album replaced Cline's planned fourth album, originally to have been titled Faded Love and released that March. The majority of the all-Bradley-produced tracks featured the legendary back-up vocal group The Jordanaires, who also appeared on many albums featuring Elvis Presley and Connie Francis during the period. The cover photo and design of the Story album, featuring Patsy in a smoky haze of gold, with simple titles across the top, is considered to be the first contemporary album cover art in country music history.^{[citation needed]}

By the 1960s, MCA had acquired Decca and continued to issue Cline albums up to the early 1970s, garnering the artist several posthumous hits along the way. Some of the more notable start in early 1964 with a Top 25 country hit "He Called Me Baby", a song recorded during her "last sessions" in 1963. The track was released on her 1964 album That's How a Heartache Begins. Her Greatest Hits album, released in 1967, continues to occasionally appear on the country music charts and was the longest album to stay on the country charts in country music history until Garth Brooks surpassed it in the 1990s. The album still holds the record for an album by a female artist.

In 1973 Cline was the first female solo artist to be elected into The Country Music Hall of Fame. Johnny Cash announced the honor for the live CMA Awards show, televised from Ryman Auditorium. Along with the standard induction bronze plaque, the hall houses a few of Cline's stage outfits, personal effects recovered from the crash site, including her "Dixie" cigarette lighter, donated by singer Carl Perkins and letters to her fan club president Louise Seger, about whom the musical Always, Patsy Cline was created.

MCA continued to release Singles throughout much of the 1970s, but none charted.

In the late 1970s, Cline’s name occasionally appeared in magazine articles and television interviews with West and Lynn, who credited her with inspiration for their success. Shortly after stating in her 1976 autobiography that she would never record an album of Patsy's hits "because it would hurt too much", Lynn did just that a year later.

The tribute album entitled I Remember Patsy, was released in 1977 and contained the single "She's Got You" a hit with Cline in 1962 and renditions of other Cline favorites such as Crazy, Back in Baby's Arms and Sweet Dreams. The candid interview which closes the album, recorded with producer Owen Bradley late one night between sessions, gives an intimate look at the ordinary backstage life of a country superstar who was still a housewife and mother – "washing the clothes and waxing the floor".

These encounters Lynn led Ellis Nassour, then-manager of MCA artist relations, to create a series of magazine profiles, and ultimately to write Honky Tonk Angel, the first of his two biographies.^[9] The book featured interviews with Cline's mother, both husbands and intimate friends and peers such as West, Brenda Lee and Faron Young.

Lynn's own 1976 autobiography, Coal Miner's Daughter, featured an entire chapter dedicated to her friendship with Cline. Viewers were reintroduced to Patsy when the biopic of the same name was released four years later. After Coal Miner's Daughter opened big, MCA re-released "Always". The soundtrack released used the original 1963 vocal and overdubs by many of the Nashville Sound musicians who had been a part of the original scene. The song reached No. 18 on the Hot Country Songs list in 1980. The following year, two electronically produced duets were released between Cline and Jim Reeves, another legendary country singer who died the year after Cline in another plane crash. Their duet of "Have You Ever Been Lonely (Have You Ever Been Blue)" was a No. 5 country hit that year and their duet of "I Fall to Pieces" became an interesting footnote in music history. Like Cline, Reeves gained a massive fan following his death, as well as a string of re-issued singles.

In 1983 the movie Sweet Dreams and in 1990 the book Patsy by Margaret Jones appeared, based on research by Bernard Schwartz.

1990–2000[link]

In 1992, the U.S. Postal Service created special-issue postage stamps to honor Patsy Cline, along with other country superstars such as Hank Williams, the Carter Family and Bob Wills.

MCA released a 4-disc comprehensive collection of much of her Four Star and Decca discography, called The Patsy Cline Collection. This boxed set, featuring remixed and remastered sound, included a booklet featuring rare photos and chronicling her short career. According to SoundScan, the set remained one of the top 10 bestselling boxed collections in the record industry as of 2010.

A Patsy Cline exhibit was featured in 1993 when the Grand Ole Opry opened its doors in Nashville for its inaugural season. Several of her awards, stage outfits, wigs, make-up, hairbrush, and a fully furnished replica of her dream home’s music room were on display. The year marked the 30th anniversary of her death, so the Opry made its Saturday night segment as a tribute to Cline, Hawkins and Copas. With Cline's widower, Charlie, and their daughter, Julie, on hand, her longtime friend Jan Howard paid tribute to Cline, singing "I Fall to Pieces", co-written by her ex-husband, Harlan Howard, followed by Lynn, performing the classic "She's Got You".

Later that year, Lynn, Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette included Cline's cover of "Lovesick Blues" on their Honky Tonk Angels trio album, singing along with Cline's original vocals lifted off the early multi-track tapes. A year later, Cline became a member of the Texas Cowgirl Hall of Fame.

The Delta (TV series) starring Delta Burke featured the actress as a Nashville waitress trying to make it into country music. The show referenced Patsy Cline throughout its run, and included several Burke covers of Cline's hits. In one episode she paid homage to Cline's grave, where she meets another mourner, singer Tanya Tucker.

Cline was portrayed on film again in the 1995 CBS biopic Big Dreams and Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story,. At that year's Grammy Awards, Cline was honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, by Barbra Streisand and Peggy Lee. On the Grand Ole Opry's 70th Anniversary Special on CBS, singer Martina McBride celebrated her induction as the Opry's newest member by paying tribute to Cline with her version of "Crazy."

In 1996, thirteen-year-old LeAnn Rimes was discovered by Dallas disc jockey, songwriter, and promoter Bill Mack. The center of Mack's plan to introduce Rimes was to give her his composition, "Blue," which he had released as a single in the late 1950s (covered by several artists prior to Rimes). "Blue" was slated for Cline when his version did not become popular, but she died before recording it.

In 1997, Cline's recording of "Crazy" was named the number one jukebox hit of all time; "I Fall to Pieces" came in at No. 17. In 1998, she was nominated to The Hollywood Walk of Fame by a dedicated fan, and received her star in 1999; later a street was named after her on the back lot of Universal Studios.

Also in 1999, VH1 named Cline number eleven on its 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll. She was also honored with the Nashville Golden Voice Award in its Legend Category that same year. Singer Trisha Yearwood celebrated her induction to the Opry by paying tribute to Cline, singing "Sweet Dreams" and receiving a necklace worn by Cline to commemorate the event from Charlie and Julie.

2000–present[link]

In 2002, CMT named her number one on its 40 Greatest Women of Country Music, voted by members of the music industry. She was followed by women who had said she inspired them, Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn.

Cline's hit song, "I Fall to Pieces" was listed at No. 107 on RIAA's list of Songs of the Century in 2001. Lynn released a sequel to her autobiography, Coal Miner's Daughter, called Still Woman Enough and again dedicated a chapter to her friendship with Cline (called "Still Thinking of Patsy"). One of Lynn's daughters is named after Cline, and one of Brenda Lee's daughter's is named after Cline's daughter, Julie.

Throughout her career, country legend Reba McEntire cited Cline as a childhood inspiration and, upon reaching stardom in the 1980s, featured Cline's hits on a number of her early albums. For a number of years, McEntire closed all her live shows with "Sweet Dreams", but stopped after closing a show with it hours before the airplane carrying her band crashed in the pre-dawn hours of March 15, 1991, killing everyone aboard. Six months later, Dottie West would ultimately die from injuries sustained in a car crash not unlike the 1961 crash which scarred Patsy.

Early in 2005, Patsy Cline’s Greatest Hits was certified by the RIAA as Diamond, recognizing the sale of 10 million copies. The album was listed as Longest-Charting Title by a Female Artist in the 2005 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records. For its 40th anniversary reissue in 2007, Bob Ludwig remastered the album and featured the original 1967 cover art.^[24]