2CH Sydney

Anyway Magic in my views plays more variety than wsfm. More upbeat than smooth. So I think in my view its the best choice in adult category from a music prospective in Sydney. 2ca I think is the best oldies commercial station. Breeze is similar.

LOL, I would’ve done it or made sure it was good if things had been a bit different.

I had an interview before Christmas for an Engineer at 2UE, joining the 2UE/2GB/2CH engineering team, it was down to me & another guy, after about 3 weeks of deciding, they went with the other guy, who they promoted internally.

Maybe I dodged a bullet there missing out on the job? I don’t mind, I’m really aiming to work upstairs at Nova/Smooth95.3. :smiley:

And isn’t the logo just awful. The word says “magic” but the font says “boring”.

I’ve noticed on Magic 2CH’s playlist page that it now only records the songs played between 6am & 2pm, when they have local programming.

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Nice link TV-Expert. Hope they add classic hit triple plays, classic countdowns etc in the mix. 2ues Saturday night live would be a perfect format for magic.

From my brief listen this morning at breakfast time dab sounds better with local programming.

MRN should move Pete Graham’s Saturday Night Live from 2ue to the Magic Network which is good idea

I think also they should have it as a week night program. Interviews countdowns etc, requests. Its different and some thought has gone into the program, especially some listener interaction rather than just a robot station. Robot radio you can use apple radio or spotify etc.

Its annoying the way 2ch magic is handling the hourly christian message. They should cut an ad, a song whatever . Its like the religious message is an after thought they just cut off the middle of a song and hope no one notices.

I guess this is a first world problem. :slight_smile:

Anyway enjoying the music.

No great surprise, Mardi Cole & her Content Director position at Magic 2CH has been made redundant.

Macquarie have to sell 2CH by the end of March IIRC, unless they find a loophole in the 2 station per market rule, which isn’t being changed with the current media reforms going through parliament.

I might put in a bid, it’ll have to go at a bargain basement price, the only on air staff pretty much are Gareth McCray (breakfast) & Bob Rogers (mornings/lunch), (Kel Richards will probably either stay with 2UE/2GB or go if it’s sold to someone else).

Behind the scenes staff will stay with 2UE/2GB, so a buyer will only be paying for the licence more or less (like 2SM when the Catholic Church sold it).

2UE is moving into the renovated studios, so there won’t be a long term place for 2CH if someone else buys it, & although the 2CH transmitter is owned, I’m sure the TX site space is rented from Broadcast Australia.

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It would need six million? I wish I could afford it too. But I am not sure if you can make enough money running an independent radio station on the am brand.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they apply for an extension to the deadline to sell 2CH. The ACMA seem to hand them out freely. I’m pretty sure SCA had at least one extension before they sold Mix FM & Sea FM on the Sunshine Coast.

You would have to be a magician to turn around an AM station with an audience rating of about 4%. Then you would have to start from scratch with News, Sales Staff etc unless it was sourced from Macquarie. Certainly they would be granted an extension of time if they asked for it but to my way of thinking selling all 3 Magic Stations in one block might be savvy for a buyer wanting a small network to build on. Maybe operate from the 2UE premises soon to be vacated.

Magician is the correct word. The fact is none of the Magic stations make a profit. Networking was the only way they could attempt to break even. 2CH’s problem is that as sounds so much older than say Magic Melbourne, it holds very little appeal to advertisers. In fact, 2CH has a much older profile-in the last survey of 2015 both rated 4.1% 10+. However, 67% of 2CH’s audience was aged 65+ while 59% of Magic 1278 was 65+.

I know it’s on the AM band but would 2CH be more profitable if it played all 70s or all 80s music. And not the music WSFM plays but the music from either decade that other stations ignore.

Sure it would not be the number one station but an all 80s (Rock of the 80s) station would at least pull in a considerable amount of 35 - 60 year olds. Younger demos than the current format of 2CH.

I think the issue is that most people who like the 80s aren’t listening to AM radio for music. The quality is appalling compared with FM and so few people have digital radios. While there are WSFM, Smooth and now Triple M adding more 80s to their playlist the era is virtually covered.

I know this should be on a different thread but WS, MMM and Smooth barely cover 50% of the Top 40s of the 80s. I would love to hear some Ray Parker Jr, Melissa Manchester, Cheap Trick, Bananarama, Phil Seymour, Marilyn, Culture Club, Devo, Adam and the Ants, Jona Lewie, The Nolans, The Swingers, Pat Wilson, Redgum, Nena, Dan Hartman, Pseudo Echo, Jim Diamond, Wa Wa Nee, Communards, Bronski Beat, Martin Plaza, Paul Lekakis, Grayson Hugh, Debbie Gibson, New Kids on the Block, The Timelords, Chantoozies, Big Pig or even The Time Bandits.

And the 70s are even less catered for on commercial FM. Or commercial AM. Smooth has increased the variety of songs you can hear but only slightly.

I never listen to AM for music. But I would listen to AM for music that FM does not play. And that is a hell of a lot of music.

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Well if they pushed digital radio then it might help. If they played a good variety of 80s and 70s I would listen.

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And an unflogged variety at that too!

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The 70s was a wonderful decade of music but unfortunately ruined by the Disco era, “Your Body, My Body” and so on. Agree nickatnights so much music has been ignored by others.

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@ nickatnights
You’re right, there is SO much 80s music that isn’t played on FM or AM. Before the networking of the Magic stations, Magic 882 in Brisbane was playing a lot of the 80s artists you list and they were really starting to sound different. They were even playing softer 90s and 00s songs occasionally, but mostly softer 80s songs. Unfortunately that all ended with the takeover by Magic Melbourne.

Now I have DAB in the car I’m usually listening to Pure Gold 80s and More Digital and between the two of them they play some awesome stuff from the 80s that the mainstream stations don’t touch. After listening to them for a few weeks in the car makes you realise how narrow the offerings are on FM. Breeze FM plays the best range of 80s on the FM dial and at least I get to listen to that too.

As for the 70s, 4KQ does play a wide variety - probably the best in Australia. It’s on AM but also DAB of course.

As for Magic and AM music stations in general being ‘viable’, I think with the help of DAB they can pull listeners back from FM, particularly as the FM stations get younger (or fill up further with sport and talk). Cruise is going well in Adelaide, and if you combine 4KQ and Magic in Brisbane it’s a pretty healthy chunk of the market listening to AM music. And as DAB gets into more cars the playing field will level somewhat. Now I have DAB in the car AM vs FM means nothing to me. The only time I switch to FM is pick up fringe stations like Breeze and Rebel that aren’t on DAB, otherwise I’m completely on DAB and never go on AM.