But weren’t Macquarie actually LOOKING for someone to keep the Magic brand and format and let them continue to market it? In the absence of being able to keep it themselves? And that’s certainly what EON did with Sea on the Sunshine Coast.
I tend to agree. People in Sydney are definitely not as interested in sport as people in Melbourne.
I think EON sport on AM would struggle.
Assuming the dab spectrum did not get sold, will the digital plus website need to change? Or is 2CH no longer a major commercial station?
www.digitalradioplus.com.au/listen
“All the major commercial networks have a variety of stations and new formats available on digital radio along with national public broadcasters ABC and SBS. If you don’t yet own a DAB+ digital radio, click here to view the current range.”
I’m pretty sure that 2CH will continue to be listed on the Digital Radio Plus website for as long as it’s broadcasting on Digital Radio here in Sydney (and streaming online). Unless the new owners have different plans, I highly doubt that 2CH will be removed from DAB+ or streaming anytime soon.
But do we know if the dab spectrum was included in the sale?
Reading this it appears that the digital commercial licence is inseperable from the analogue commercial licence. A commercial radio licence entitles you to digital spectrum.
http://www.acma.gov.au/Industry/Broadcast/Spectrum-for-broadcasting/Spectrum-digital-radio/digital-radio-licensing
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They were indeed but then ACMA stepped in and said in effect that Macquarie had to totally end their involvement in the station once it was sold. 2CH would have been sold months ago if ACMA had allowed Macquarie to remain involved in the station, most likely through continuing to operate it on a franchised basis. The goodwill at Macquarie towards ACMA as a result of the latter’s refusal to pander to Macquarie is zero. When Ray Hadley interviewed Bob Rogers on air the other week, they made no effort to hide their anger at ACMA
I guess 2ch is considered a foundation license.
"The ACMA can declare category 1 and category 2 DRMTs as foundation licences. Foundation licences provide ‘standard access entitlements’ for incumbent licensees, namely:
each incumbent digital commercial radio broadcasting licensee in the licence area is entitled to access one-ninth of multiplex capacity under a foundation category 1 or category 2 DRMT."
Thanks, I don’t think Macquarie would do much with the spectrum esp if talking lifestyle will take over magic.
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Great interview here confirming 2CH will remain a music station but cease the networked “Magic” format, sever ties with Macquarie and move into new premises. It wasn’t too long ago that 2CH was rating reasonably well so with a little TLC and more of a focus on Sydney there are hopes the station can claw back recent losses.
https://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/2ch-hands-masters-apprentice?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
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Great article thanks for posting.
From a technical standpoint do you think they change transmitters, premises etc in such a short time?
Still have questions on if the Church still has a say on the format?
I just hope they don’t make the format too old. The magic format seems to work in Sydney as they rightly pointed out, beating 2ue and almost 2day fm without much effort.
I have a question. Where does Johnny Young broadcast from? Melb, Syd or Brisbane. I think he broadcasts from Sydney but I am not 100% sure
With 2UE’s Transmitter housed with 2SM and 2GB & 2CH together it would make sense now if they swapped sites or are there freq too close to diplex into one Antenna ?
A return to the iconic “Harbour Bridge H” style logo would be nice too…
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Moving studios, yes to a point, they may broadcast 2CH out of the sunshine coast studios short term? If studios are planed out & equipment ordered/delivered & once studios are actually built by builders, a small team of engineers could have them fitted out in a few weeks. As for the transmitter site, if the 2KY site is ready for it, (which I think it might be after all the 2GB renovations), again it could be done in a few weeks.
From what I’ve been hearing, Macquarie are wanting/planing to move the 2UE transmitter to the 2KY/2GB site, so there’s no point in swapping frequencies & sites.
I thought Johnny Young broadcast from Sydney too, not least because he was doing afternoons on 2CH prior to networking. I also assumed the show was kind of 2CH’s ‘contribution’ to the network, much as Donna Lynch is Brisbane’s contribution. But I could be wrong - he has a lot of connections to the Melbourne area, so networking would have allowed him to present from Melbourne without any fuss.
The question is, will he move to the new 2CH come January 16th? If he is offered the chance, I suspect he will, otherwise he’ll likely be out of work a few weeks later. I get the feeling that Bob Rogers will continue with 2CH
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Johnny Young does his program out of Perth (voicetracked). He moved back to Perth earlier this year.
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Does Johhny Young do his program from 6pr studios then? MRN does not have a Magic station in perth
I don’t know which studio but I wouldn’t be surprised if he did his program from home.
Thank you for the Johnny Young update, very interesting. He used to be live when he was only on 2CH as he used to have phone-in competitions, listener emails etc. Obviously things have moved on since then, including his place of residence!
Listening to Alan Pearsall a bit earlier who is covering afternoons over summer, he is very clearly voicetracked!! A couple of generic links and a weak reminder that only a day left to do Xmas shopping!
Thanks for advising that Alan Pearsall is filling afternoons. I will remember NOT to listen.
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