The Theme Machine

The Theme Machine Saturday morning radio program with a different theme each week - from 9am to midday

09/12/2025

On Saturday December 13 from nine to noon, tune in to The Theme Machine on Radio Blue Mountains for ‘Family Bands Sequel’, a 39-track playlist comprised of songs performed by bands with members of a family (or families). Featured artists include Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jet, Psychedelic Furs, Kings Of Leon, Van Halen, Johnny & Edgar Winter and Radiohead.
To tune in:
89.1FM, stream live via rbm.org.au, or use a radio app

On Saturday December 06 from nine to noon, tune in to The Theme Machine on Radio Blue Mountains with Paul Murphy Young f...
01/12/2025

On Saturday December 06 from nine to noon, tune in to The Theme Machine on Radio Blue Mountains with Paul Murphy Young for ‘Family Bands’, a 42-track playlist comprised of songs performed by bands with (key and/or founding) members of the same family. Several tunes don’t exclusively feature members of a particular family, but they’ve made the list, nevertheless. Keep in mind that the vast majority of bands include (often uncredited) session musos anyway! The wide array of musical acts includes Bachman-Turner Overdrive, The Kinks, Oasis, The Beach Boys, Heart, Devo, The Pips and The Bellamy Brothers.
To tune in:
89.1FM, stream live via rbm.org.au, or use a radio app

On Saturday November 29 from 9 to noon, tune in to The Theme Machine with Paul Murphy Young for the 37-track playlist ‘Y...
26/11/2025

On Saturday November 29 from 9 to noon, tune in to The Theme Machine with Paul Murphy Young for the 37-track playlist ‘Yacht Rock 4’. This genre is otherwise known as AOR (adult-oriented rock), the West Coast Sound, or soft rock. Featured artists include Al Jarreau, Boz Scaggs, Don Henley, Eddie Rabbitt, Orleans, Mr. Mister, Firefall and Exile.
Listen like this:
89.1FM, stream live via rbm.org.au, or use a radio app

On Saturday November 22 from 9 to noon, tune in to The Theme Machine with Paul Murphy Young for the 36-track playlist ‘Y...
18/11/2025

On Saturday November 22 from 9 to noon, tune in to The Theme Machine with Paul Murphy Young for the 36-track playlist ‘Yacht Rock 3’. This genre is commonly regarded as being AOR (adult-oriented rock), the West Coast Sound, or soft rock. Featured artists include Supertramp, Fat Larry’s Band, Dire Straits, Chris Rea, Steely Dan and Styx.
To tune in:
89.1FM, stream live via rbm.org.au, or use a radio app

On Saturday November the 15th from 9 to noon, tune in to The Theme Machine with Paul Murphy Young for the 38-track playl...
09/11/2025

On Saturday November the 15th from 9 to noon, tune in to The Theme Machine with Paul Murphy Young for the 38-track playlist ‘Yacht Rock 2’. It’s a sequel to the previous Saturday’s show. This genre used to be known as AOR (adult-oriented rock), the West Coast Sound, or soft rock. Featured artists include Poco, Eagles, Joe Jackson, Boz Scaggs, Climax Blues Band, Todd Rundgren, Chicago and America.
How to hear:
89.1FM, stream live via rbm.org.au, or use a radio app

On Saturday November the 8th from 9 to noon, tune in to The Theme Machine with Paul Murphy Young for a 38-track playlist...
07/11/2025

On Saturday November the 8th from 9 to noon, tune in to The Theme Machine with Paul Murphy Young for a 38-track playlist comprised entirely of yacht rock tracks. Yacht Rock is a more recent name for what used to be known as AOR (adult-oriented rock), the West Coast Sound, or soft rock. Featured artists include Bread, Toto, Lobo, Lou Rawls, Little River Band, Pablo Cruise, 10cc and Steely Dan. Any major dude will tell you just how cruisey yacht rock is!
10cc like this:
89.1FM, stream live via rbm.org.au, or use a radio app

On Saturday November the 1st from nine to noon The Theme Machine with Paul Murphy Young presents ‘The Songs of Holly Kni...
28/10/2025

On Saturday November the 1st from nine to noon The Theme Machine with Paul Murphy Young presents ‘The Songs of Holly Knight‘, one of several in The Songwriter Series. Holly has been a member of a number of bands, had a successful solo career and has written for numerous other musicians. Featured artists include Ace Frehley, Pat Benatar, Divinyls, The Donnas, Aaron Neville and Animotion, Aerosmith and Lita Ford.
Listen like this:
89.1FM, stream live via rbm.org.au, or use a radio app

On Saturday October 25 on Radio Blue Mountains from 9 through midday – tune in to The Theme Machine with Paul Murphy You...
22/10/2025

On Saturday October 25 on Radio Blue Mountains from 9 through midday – tune in to The Theme Machine with Paul Murphy Young for the 40-track playlist ‘Overcoming The Odds’. They’re songs by musicians who have overcome great adversity (physical and/or psychological) to succeed in the music industry; and have received much critical and public acclaim throughout their careers.
Featured artists include Ray Charles, Lorde, Tony Iommi, Meg White, Harry Nilsson, Jeff St. John, Bill Withers and Andy Partridge (of XTC).
How to hear:
89.1FM via the airwaves, rbm.org.au to stream, or use a radio app.

On Saturday October the 18th on Radio Blue Mountains from 9 to noon – tune in to The Theme Machine with Paul Murphy Youn...
16/10/2025

On Saturday October the 18th on Radio Blue Mountains from 9 to noon – tune in to The Theme Machine with Paul Murphy Young for the 42-track playlist ‘For Richer or Poorer’. It’s a list of tunes with the words ‘rich’ or ‘poor’ (or both) or variations of those words — mainly in the song titles — alternating throughout the show.
Featured artists include Lulu, Lady Gaga, Box of Frogs, Amy Winehouse, Redgum, Radiohead and Robert Plant.
Listen like this:
89.1FM via the airwaves, rbm.org.au to stream, or use a radio app

09/10/2025

On Saturday October the 11th on Radio Blue Mountains from 9 to noon – tune in to The Theme Machine with Paul Murphy Young for the 44-track playlist ‘Jeans On’. It’s a bunch of tunes that make reference to jeans, denim and dungarees, mainly in the song titles. Featured artists include Jonathan Richman, Kings Of Leon, ZZ Top, The Donnas, David Dundas, David Bowie, Eddie Fisher and The Gaslight Anthem.
How to hear it:
89.1FM via the airwaves, rbm.org.au to stream, or use a radio app.

02/10/2025

On Sunday (a day late this week) October the 5th, from 9 to noon, The Theme Machine (in the 8th year on Radio Blue Mountains) with Paul Murphy Young, presents ‘Transport Suite 2025’ a 42-track playlist consisting of sets of three songs about travelling via land, sea and air, in that order, alternating throughout the show. Featured artists include Madness, The Cure, David Bowie, Radiohead, Kevin Johnson, Johnny Warman, Tom Petty and OMD.

EDIT: listeners in Queensland and W.A.; and internationally in N.Z., U.K., Japan and elsewhere (you know who you are 😉) should be aware that Daylight Savings starts in NSW in the early hours of Sunday morning. Watch out regional fans too! Vic and Tassy listeners will be on the same time as well but watch out nevertheless … 😂

Tune in thusly:
89.1 FM for analogue radio, or try a radio app. There are so many out there to choose from. I suggest, and prefer, Radio Garden, both the app itself and the website.

On Saturday morning the 27th of September from 9 to noon tune in to The Theme Machine with Paul Murphy Young on Radio Bl...
23/09/2025

On Saturday morning the 27th of September from 9 to noon tune in to The Theme Machine with Paul Murphy Young on Radio Blue Mountains for the 40-track playlist ‘The Sky’s The Limit’. These are essentially songs with the word ‘sky’ in the title or titles, or that are about the wild blue yonder. Featured artists include The Isley Brothers, Screaming Blue Messiahs, The Allman Brothers Band, Moby, The Alan Parsons Project, The John Butler Trio, The Jeff Healey Band and Queens of the Stone Age.
Listen like this:
89.1 FM over the air waves, or use an app to stream. My personal favourite radio app is Radio Garden, but if you prefer you can use their website at https://radio.garden/search

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Katoomba, NSW
2780

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