5KA brand ends in 1990 switch to FM brand and KAFM lost to Triple M amid the Hoyts Media and Austereo merger

KAFM 104.7 becomes Triple M Adelaide 104.7 on the FM band in the 1990s.

The sinking of Adelaide radio station’s 5KA branding and tradition began at the start of the 1990s. 5KA left the 1197 kHz on the medium wave band  (adopted in 1978 in a change from the 1200kHz that the station started with in 1927) and converted to 104.7 MHz FM on January 1, 1990.

5KA became, with 5DN,  the first two commercial AM radio stations in Adelaide to convert to the FM band. Its Melbourne owners bid $5.5 million for the FM licence. The call sign changed to 5KKA and the station was branded on-air as KAFM.

The 5KA AM frequency was repurposed and allocated to a community broadcasting licence 5RPH (radio for the print handicapped). The former transmission equipment was shifted with competitor 5AD at the time and handed over to the contractors to provide transmission for 5RPH but the infrastructure was effectively abandoned.

In 1993, Hoyts Media that owned the Triple M radio network in the eastern states bought 5KKA but couldn’t use the Triple M call sign in Adelaide because of community radio station 5MMM. Hoyts paid 5MMM (that converted to 5DDD) for the right to use the Triple M name.

With the merger of the Hoyts Triple M network into the Austereo Network, Triple M became a sister station to SAFM and moved to the ground floor of the building partly occupied  by SAFM. Triple M later moved to studios in Franklin Street, Adelaide, across the street and overlooking the home of the old 5KA at No.43.