I wonder if having 774 do a Frequency Swap with SBS on 93.1 would help with their ratings knowing the amount of people with AM radio is decreasing (and yes I know that 774 is on DAB as well)
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Isn’t Sharnelle on maternity leave?
Yes - The Conversation Hours Richelle Hunt is filing in for her.
Mary Gearin is filling in for Richelle
The ACMA wont do that, as said in the past the last spare frequency on 96.1 was taken by Yarra Ranges Shire to rebroadcast ABC Melbourne, and that even has issues with ducting from Shepparton so not advisable to use at a high power anyway.
Where would SBS go anyway? they already have an AM allocation in Melbourne
what? they’re the staple programs on local radio… Sharnelle and Bob have probably got a bit of explaining to do when it comes to targeting their core audience, they think they’re on 3AW or SEN with how much they talk about the AFL…
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Today’s ABC Sydney Mornings show was dedicated to James Valentine, with PM Anthony Albanese also phoned in.
ABC’s obituary
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There are two different SBS services, the one on 1224 (1107 Sydney) is SBS Radio 1, the one currently on FM is SBS Radio 2 and SBS Radio 2 will go to 774 under my frequency swap proposal.
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Errr, there’s a whole generation between Boomers and Millennials. ABC should actually be targeting Gen X right now.
I agree with @Dani-Chan that ABC Local needs to get onto FM, via an SBS frequency swap if necessary. SBS can be on AM/DAB. Sometimes FM spectrum needs to be for the greater good, which is part of ACMA’s charter actually - to maximise the benefit for spectrum use. Mind you, they rarely do.
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Last year, someone called up James Valentine’s show to complain that too many businesses still have signs up about COVID, social distancing, sanitise your hands etc. “COVID’s over, can’t we all just move on?”
Valentine replied that COVID’s not actually over, that it’s still a serious problem and that if anything we should all still be taking way more precautions than the government is telling us.
My dad heard this and called me from Sydney to tell me. I ran the show back on demand in disbelief and that is indeed what he said. I rang up his producer the next day he was on and left a message of gratitude. Few else in the media have had the guts to tell the truth about COVID for years.
No doubt as a cancer sufferer he was acutely aware of the damage it could do to him.
RIP James Valentine
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Billboard Article:
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It’s interesting that ABC Sydney had Simon Marnie for most of the afternoon show and Sarah MacDonald in drive today alongside existing presenters.
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It’s lovely, is what it is.
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3AW shows a difference story.
This is me. And here are my gripes about the current state of 3LO:
- Bob and Sharnelle (Richelle ATM) are pretty good for breakfast, but AFL chat needs to be cut by at least 50%. At least.
- Cutting the 7:45am news bulletin remains the most stupid thing 3LO has done in my life. I still miss it. Instead I have to listen to Josh Barnes talk sport. Yeah, more sport.
- Raf Epstein is pretty good, but is about 70% of a Jon Faine (he needs to sharpen his teeth a bit).
- The point of The Conversation Hour was that it was an in-depth look at a single issue. Changing the format to many issues has destroyed the format. Might as well run Mornings to midday. Richelle Hunt is excellent, though.
- Duclos is terrible. Her quizzes are as boring as her programme. Her voice is awful too. Give her the chop.
- Some of the newsreaders are excellent (ie Mary McDonald). Some are not. A few need some elocution lessons. If a newsreader doesn’t sound authoritative, find someone else who does.
- The Friday Revue is 3LO’s most entertaing programme by far. Gosh I laugh every time I tune in.
- Alli Moore is pretty good. I quite like her show. She just needs to ease up on her favourite phrase “yep, I take your point”.
- TGIF is abysmal, get rid of it. It’s a try-hard format taken from 2BL where it belongs. cf The Friday Revue. I turn off the radio if I hear it now.
- I loved one-hour PM. It was the radio highlight of the day. Cutting it in half and moving it to 6:30 was devastating. Putting it back to 6:05pm showed some rare programming sense.
- Generally, there’s WAY too much “call in and tell us what you think” and increasingly little “let’s talk to this expert about x”. Caller participation is great, but we need to restore the balance back a little more to the experts, especially for Mornings and Drive.
- I don’t listen on weekends as a rule.
I think LO needs to go back towards being a little more ‘intelligent’ and probing. The cuts to ABC haven’t helped.
Moving to FM would not have much bearing for me as I tune in to DAB or via the ABC Listen app. But on the rare occasions I tune in to 774 AM, it’s pretty awful in comparison.
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It was annoying when Richard Glover ran it. Charlie Pickering accelerated the annoying factor to 11. 3LO can take equal blame.
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Also the intro to most shows on 774 is too long. Why do we need to hear every time something like “… in your street, in your suburb, now we’re talking”? Just say “This is 774 ABC Melbourne, now (timeslot) with (presenter name)” and get on with it. Leave it up to presenters to mention the talkback line and text line on air.
2ILA/ABC Illawarra (and other ABC regional NSW stations) has some gripes of my own.
- Airing Nationwide at 6:30 on weekdays causing us to miss the first half hour of NRL Monday or Evenings.
- TGIF cutting the flow between Illawarra Drive and the 6PM Friday NRL Game
- Saturday Night Country instead of the first two hours of Saturday Nightlife (Can’t they just dump Saturday Night Country on Radio National instead of reruns of earlier shows?)
Also with JohnsonTV we also have this “In your Street, In your Suburb, you’re listening to ABC Illawarra” problem.
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I wish they would cut the 3LO evening quizzes, geez they’re grim. Basic questions, kids ringing up with their parents, people allowed to google and bugger all callers. Makes the Nightlife quiz look like university level sophistication. To make matters worse the other day there was NO PRIZE! If they can’t even rustle up an ABC tea towel or coffee mug that really is starting to get into “what are our taxes paying for” territory
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Strong agree here. And the 8-9am hour of Saturday Mornings where Brian stays on with Jacinta for a bit of fun is a gem too. Those two are an inspired pairing.
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Definitely has a lot to do with fhe presenters talent Jess Maguire on 549nsw afternoon runs a great show and is clearly switched on but others are just boring fill readers, most programs seem to cover the same issue though the day, that’s lazy and repetitive. I could never suffer tgif it’s like year 12 drama class humour.
Even the weekend woodies got a little tired but would still be better than what’s on now.
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