2SM has been on the air in Sydney since 24 December 1931, and its call sign still carries the mark of who started it. Parish priest James Meany raised the funds, Archbishop Michael Kelly formed the Catholic Broadcasting Co. Ltd, and the "SM" in the name comes from Saint Mary's, according to the station's Wikipedia history. For more than three decades, 2SM ran as what it openly called "The Family Station," a conservative, church-owned outlet mixing religious programming with general content.
The overhaul that made it Australia's first Top 40 station
That changed completely in September 1963, when the station switched to 24-hour service and relaunched as a Top 40 outlet, fronted by Australia's first team of on-air disc jockeys, branded "The Good Guys," a US-inspired format that rival stations across the country soon copied. The reinvention worked. From roughly 1970 through the mid-1980s, 2SM dominated Sydney commercial radio, and by the late 1970s it was, by most measures, the highest-rating and most profitable radio station in Australian history. The station also claims a technical first: in early 1967 it became the first Australian station to adopt talkback technology, the format its programming still leans on today.
A record low, then a network takeover
2SM's dominance did not last forever. The arrival of competitors like 2WS in 1978 and Triple M in the early 1980s eroded its lead, and by 2002 the station's night show hosted by Graeme Gilbert recorded a 0.1% rating, reportedly the lowest ever logged for a commercial program in a metro Australian market. Ownership had already left the Catholic Church by then, passing through Wesgo, Australian Provincial Newspapers, and Kick Media across the 1990s. In 2000, Bill and Pam Caralis's Super Radio Network acquired 2SM, folding it into a network that began in 1987 with a single station purchase in Griffith, NSW, and has since grown into Australia's largest privately owned commercial radio operation, spanning 47 AM and FM stations across New South Wales, Queensland, and the Northern Territory, according to details published on the Super Radio Network's own history page.
Talkback and sport, run out of a purpose-built Pyrmont studio
Today's 2SM is built around news talk, sport, and talkback, anchored by shows like Talkin' Sport, a drive-time program launched in 2003 that recently marked 21 years on air with a panel including Graeme Hughes, Brett Papworth, Gav Robertson, and Mark "Spudd" Carroll. Broadcasting legend John Laws hosted the station's morning show from 2011 until his retirement in November 2024, with Chris Smith taking over the slot afterward. The network broadcasts out of a custom-built studio at 8 Jones Bay Road in Pyrmont, and following the deaths of both Bill and Pam Caralis in July 2024, the Super Radio Network is now led by Executive Chairperson Joan Warner, who joined in August 2025.