Editing KIIS 101.1 (section)

===From AM to FM===
At midnight on 23-24 June 1990 the station converted to FM broadcasting on 101.1&nbsp;MHz.<ref>http://www.mediaspy.org/forum/index.php?/topic/3670-radio-history/?view=findpost&p=706879 {{Dead link|date=March 2022}}</ref> 3DB/3TT's old AM frequency of 1026 AM was returned to the government, and from 1991, it was used by the ABC for '''3PB''', which broadcast intermittently with live coverage of federal parliament. In 1994, 3PB became a full-time news and parliament station [[ABC NewsRadio]].

The events leading up to the transference of 3TT's licence to the [[FM radio]] band are quite complicated and political. Broadcasting on the FM band commenced in the US as early as 1933. There had been Australian experiments on the FM band in earlier years, but in the 1970s the [[Gough Whitlam|Whitlam]] Labor government decided to issue the first permanent FM licences in Australia to community radio stations. The first such licence in Melbourne was issued to [[3MBS]] in 1975. The [[Malcolm Fraser|Fraser]] coalition government continued the Whitlam policy and expanded the range of FM broadcasters, firstly by introducing the Australia-wide [[ABC Classic FM|ABC FM]] network. This was followed by a number of brand new commercial stations; the first to open in Melbourne being [[Triple M Melbourne|EON FM]].

Not surprisingly, there were protests from commercial stations on the AM band because they were not able to bid for stations on the FM band. This was seen by many as a big problem as FM was then seen as the future of radio broadcasting, and many stations who had pioneered the commercial side of the Australian industry saw themselves as being left out of its future development, even though many of them - including 3TT - had a history dating back to the 1920s. The Fraser government was not prepared to allocate FM licences to all AM stations, which is what the industry wanted, and what had occurred in many overseas countries. However, under some pressure, in the late 1980s the government decided to transfer one or two stations in the major cities from the AM to FM band, using a much criticised auction-style system in which those stations wishing to transfer bands were to put in bids, with the highest bids being accepted. In Melbourne the two highest bids were to be accepted, with six of the seven existing AM stations placing bids. (The exception being [[3AW]] which argued that its older listening-base preferred the AM band to the FM band.)

The three highest bids were received from: [[Gold 104.3|3KZ]] - $32 million; [[3AK]] - $22 million; and 3TT - $11 million.  The vast disparity in the bids suggests that there was no collusion between stations, and virtually no industrial espionage. Further, [[Magic 1278|3XY]] which had put in an even lower bid was quite convinced that it would get one of the two FM licences being offered.<ref name="radiorecall.blogspot.com.au">{{Cite web|url=http://radiorecall.blogspot.com.au/2010/06/melbourne-3tt-3ttt.html|title=Melbourne: 3TT, 3TTT|date=19 June 2010}}</ref>

In 1987, [[Kerry Packer]] of [[Are Media|Australian Consolidated Press]] had sold the [[Nine Network|Nine Television Network]] to [[Alan Bond (businessman)|Alan Bond]], and 3AK was included in the deal, even though Bond had made it clear that he was interested in the TV stations but not in radio - he therefore defaulted on his payment for an FM licence.<ref>see [[3AK]]</ref><ref name="radiorecall.blogspot.com.au"/> The second Melbourne FM licence on offer was, therefore, eventually given to the third-highest bidder, 3TT.