Nope, currently only the main 2CH station on 9B at 128kbps - somewhat surprised that 2CH’s bandwidth and that of Macquarie Sports Radio/NTS haven’t yet swapped multiplexes to make it easier for both parties.
Perhaps the mention of “its digital stations” is a hint of future plans at EON Sydney? Who knows…
CH 60’s?
CH 70’s?
You’re welcome EON.
Oh no 48 bit radio stations. Keep it 128 bits please.
From Radioinfo:
The most discerning music consumers of our time: new 2CH GM Cherie Romaro
Read the full article at: https://radioinfo.com.au/news/most-discerning-music-consumers-our-time-new-2ch-gm-cherie-romaro
I agree. From my observations 2CH have been emphasising the fact their Easy Classics can be heard “in crystal clear stereo on DAB+ Digital Radio” a fair bit in their station branding recently, so cutting the bandwidth down to fit in other stations would dilute that IMO. Also, a 128kbps DAB+ stream should be something to be proud of - Sydney might be the only market that has 128kbps stations on DAB+ right now so not something we should take for granted.
On the flipside, we all know EON Broadcasting also has interests in Sunshine Coast radio and that it’s not entirely unreasonable for them to want to trial new DAB+ formats here in Sydney before possibly (with an emphasis on possibly) rolling them out on the Sunshine Coast if/when DAB+ broadcasts ever commence up there at some point in the future.
If 2CH goes down to 48kbps at least you will still be able to listen to 2GB in 128kbps, in particular Ray Hadley’s Country Music Countdown on Saturday night.
From Monday 24th September until Friday 28th September, 2CH will be doing their “Top 40 Voices of the 60s & 70s” countdown as voted by its listeners.
More at: https://www.2ch.com.au/competitions/top-40-voices/
On a side note, I’ve noticed that 2CH now extends their positioner as being “Sydney’s Easy Classics from the 60s & 70s”, particularly on top of the hour leading into the news.
In my view the positioner should be 2CH. Classic Hits. They are 2 CH after all. 
Totally agree. Own what WSFM dropped with their new Pure Gold format.
I can understand why 2CH are positioning themselves as the Easy Classics station, but do wonder if such a format would work better in a market that doesn’t have Smooth FM.
As I’m sure we know by now, 2CH actually stands for Church due to the NSW Council of Churches being the longtime licence holder although they still have some influence on the station’s content. This is why those regular religious messages and Sunday night openline program will likely be airing on 2CH for as long as the station still exists.
Mind you, 2CH did say that their callsign stands for “the City on the Harbour” in their Station IDs many years ago so saying “2CH stands for Classic Hits” could be quite possible if they really wanted to.
As much as I really think WSFM has never been quite the same since moving to the Pure Gold format, it’s hard to argue that they’re doing much wrong at the moment with the results leading them to become Sydney’s top FM station and overall getting some of their best ratings in more than 20 years during recent surveys.
BTW, I agree 2CH should fill the 60s/70s music void (with a splash of suitable 80s/90s tracks thrown in) that Sydney’s FM stations have long abandoned. More external advertising wouldn’t hurt either.
I have no idea what the deal is with the NSW Council of Churches, but I wonder if 2CH would be able to drop the religious content from the DAB+ service on Sunday while maintaining it on AM? I have nothing at all against the religious content, it’s just that what 2CH puts out is very old-fashioned - Hope 103.2 does it so much better. 2CH on DAB+ without the old-fashioned programming on Sunday might be worth listening to.
(Off topic - The Good Report, Sunday 9:00pm on Alive 90.5 is another example of how not to do Christian radio. It’s terrible.)
Exactly, find gap and fill it well to the point the gap is filled and overflow to scrape the sides of formats around you.
Cherie Romaro will provide a suitable solution to this. Give her time to get the ball rolling.
All stations from top FM to 2GB could do with more, it’s a fact that external marketing budgets have been slashed and continue to be. The downturn in the last two decades is disgraceful.
Again, Cherie will know what to do with limited revenue and how to make a success of it.
Glenn, John and the OCP team are clearly serious about their 2CH investment, it’s no quick ‘renovation sale’. Small, considered steps.
Yes it does seem like a bit of a no-brainer doesn’t it.
It is hard to imagine just why 2CH still seems to be under some obligation to the NSW Council of Churches, afterall it has been years………….surely Cherie will put a broom through their Sunday programmes as a priority. It would be great to have some nice music on a Sunday night. By all means keep Bob Monday to Friday but replace him on a Saturday evening with Pete Graham.
Following today’s survey results I’m surprised 2CH hasn’t gained more of the ex-John and Gary TL listeners at breakfast.
They really should reposition the show to target those who can’t stand Jones and the ABC.
As it’s been said before, 2CH really needs to splash out on external promotion promoting the station and particularly the breakfast show. Full page ads in The Daily Telegraph or TV spots in strategic timeslots such as breaks of the 6pm news on Seven/Nine would not be cheap, but are probably necessary if 1170AM wants improved ratings.
Agreed.
From what I recall, Trevor Sinclair & Indira Naidoo helped the ratings of 2CH breakfast during their first survey (which admittedly also included Gareth McCray’s last week, but this wouldn’t have made much of a difference since the MSR relaunch was turning listeners off 954AM at the time) but they’ve fallen back since. As much as I really hope they don’t, it wouldn’t overly surprise me if 2CH blames the talent rather than the near-zero external advertising for their lacklustre breakfast ratings.
Looking at the ratings, 2CH needs to try attracting more 55-64 listeners, in which it only attracts a 2.9% share, which is lower than that of ABC Classic FM, 2MMM & JJJ, and is equal to that of Nova. After all, nearly 80% of 2CH’s audience is over 65, whilst the 55-64s only account for 8% of 2CH’s audience.
Yes, they apparently are, and why it is still in force is puzzling.
However, as that deal between the NCC and Singleton was done prior to digital radio and online streaming, I wonder if it only actually applies to the AM transmission and if the owners of 2CH could just put alternative programs on digital radio and the internet stream.
The EON people were sold a lemon when Macquarie offloaded it. No wonder they are still in the Pyrmont Studios taking Macquarie News and using 2GB Sales Staff. Expect big changes from Cherie coming up!! Well I wish.
I agree with you but it was actually the parent company, Oceania, that put up all the money. They must be asking some very serious questions of those who recommended the purchase of 2CH. Around $5.5 million to purchase it and a first year loss of $2.3 million. The station owes them $7.8 million already………and year 2 won’t be any better $$$ wise.