Someone remind me what was the arrangment that 2CH had with Macquarie (Nine) regarding their studios? Were they leasing the space from them?
Will SEN take up that lease or relocate to a site with cheaper rent?
For the moment 2CH will be staying in the Nine radio studios. From the Pacific Star ASX release:
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What about this so called religious agreement 2CH has will that go?
āFor the foreseeable futureā could be due to a clause that 2CH cannot yet change formats from a music station? Just guessing.
As for shifting 2CH talent to 2UE, what is the bet weāll here a comment from 9Radio saying that talent like Rogers, Webster, etc. donāt have as much appeal outside of NSW and for this reason the 9Radio Music stations will all remain to be left vacant for neglected Channel Nine talent.
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Therefore , maybe 2CH will just be 48K on DAB with the rest being used for sports. If true thats a shame, they were the best sounding music station in Australia for a while (on DAB).
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Has this been confirmed especially after the sale to Oceania?
Iād probably say that 2CH isnāt changing formats at the moment because whenever ownership changes happen in broadcasting, it usually takes some time for those changes to be evident on-air.
When the change of ownership from Macquarie to EON happened, I think it took a few months for the new owners to put their mark on 2CH? Because I vaguely remember some elements of the old Magic branding remaining on 2CH after the Melbourne & Brisbane MRN-owned stations became Talking Lifestyle (therefore resulting in the demise of the Magic Network) but before the major Easy Classics rebrand took place.
Besides, what would be better? Everyone from staff to listeners knowing thereās transitional period where itās known that 2CH would soon be going away or a sudden change of format overnight? While both scenarios are far from ideal, I think the former would be much preferable to the latter.
Thatās if 2CH as we know it now even still exists. I personally wouldnāt be overly surprised if by the end of this year or early next year (if not soonerā¦) weāre listening to SEN on 1170AM and DAB+, SENTrack on 1539AM and possibly also DAB but little or no music content anywhere. Despite having moderately successful music stations on DAB+ in Melbourne, that didnāt stop CrocMedia from replacing those with more sports-based stations. Similar will eventually happen up here, I think.
Also as far as I can tell, EON seemingly had plans to broadcast additional stations (more likely than not resulting in reduced bitrates for the main 2CH station on DAB+) alongside 2CH but those were scrapped - probably because of their financial position.
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I agree with your prediction @SydneyCityTV no one knows the details of the supply agreements. Its a bit of mystery what the strings attached were of this sale. I look forward to hearing more cricket 
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Suggest theyāll eventually move to Crocmediaās North Sydney location once studios are built.
The only way that will go is if the Council of Churches decide to give it up.
I read on a another site that the acquisition price for 2CH and the 1539 frequency was $11.2 million! Pacific Star must have really wanted it.
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From memory Magic 882/1278 changed to Talking Lifestyle a few weeks before 2CHās sale. And I am pretty sure that 2CH relaunched with the easy classics logo/branding on the day of the sale?
But I entirely agree with your overall point, 90% of the time there is little difference in the weeks after the sale. Some more recent examples of this would be Redwave, 666/99.7 Carnarvon & maybe B-Rock?
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If Iām not mistaken, the Magic > Talking Lifestyle transition happened at the end of February 2017 (while 2CH dropped the āMagicā from their branding on the same day, while keeping some references to Magic such as the News Intro) while the new logo/Easy Classics rebrand happened around mid-March? I wasnāt in Sydney when the latter happened though so didnāt get to hear the changeover live like I did with the 2016 & 2019 rebrands!
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Magic > Talking Lifestyle happened on the 27th February 2017, and 2CH seems to have happened on the 13th March 2017.
Sounds like your not living up to the name there, @SydneyCityTV 
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Radioinfo saying music is expected to stay.
https://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/2ch-sale-offer-too-good-refuse
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So having the DAB being used for the SEN channels I think will become a reality. Hope they ensure 2CH is at least 64k. And then have 32 k for two channels in mono.
Interesting to note this in the article:
While Pacific Star Network mostly operates the SEN sports stations, it also has a music station in Perth and it is believed it intends to operate 2CH as a music format for the forseeable future.
Am I missing something here? Do they mean 6EL?
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I think we are a bit ahead of ourselves here in talking about change of formats. SEN chief executive Craig Hutchison has said it will be business as usual on 2CH for the foreseeable future. I also noticed something on Facebook from Trevor Sinclair saying thereāll be no change.
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I had the same question what music station do they own in Perth? Or do they partially own a station?
Yes exactly, business as usual and just continue to lose money. 1593 is a long way up the dial, just who will find it, I have enough trouble finding 2SM.
Bill doesnāt like selling his stations, so that was unlikely to happen, especially since it provides content for his regional network. 2CH on the other hand was struggling under EON and allegedly losing them money. (Although EON bought it $5.56, so theyāve made nearly $8 million on the sale when you include the shares in Pacific Star that theyāre getting).
More likely contracts about supplying their sports content to 2SM and 2UE.
Yes, they mean 6EL. That sale only completed at the start of May so still running music their is hardly proof that the format wonāt change.
The following image from their ASX announcement is interesting. Only the SEN Track branding for NSW. While the omission of an SEN NSW logo suggests no change yet, theyāve also chosen not to include the 2CH logo.
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No, 2CH as a music station playing classic hits will not be around long.
Sorry, but SEN are in the business of sport, not music.
I donāt like seeing staff lose jobs, but everyone has known it was on the market. Cherie and others can spin it anyway they want right now, the key word is āForeseeableā. 2CH is down to around nine hours live M-F rest V/T. Itās bleeding money. Itās very sad to see another iconic AM call sign going (maybe 2CH-SEN transistion period).
It will be a networked station with local Sydney windows via a local satellite studio by the end of 2020.
Think on this: Why would you buy a frequency with no assets (facilities etc), losing money, no saleable ratings to maintain the format? Nope, they only need the frequency and the stick, for networked programming. Thatās why they bought it.
Goodbye old girl.
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