ABC Radio National

Radio, Print, and Online ABC & SBS Radio
202

Agree. ABC has become increasingly obsessed with being “alternative” and niche, particularly their radio offerings. It seemed to go into overdrive when Triple J went national. Even the original iteration of 2JJ was more mainstream than what Triple J became. Growing up the Local ABC was also more mainstream and middle of the road.

If the ABC want to survive long term they should at least have one station with broad appeal, and I think Radio National is ideal for this. They need to build an audience and not shed audience like they have been in recent years. If they continue to lose audience then calls will continue to grow from certain sectors to cut further or eliminate the ABC altogether. They need an “anchor” of broad appeal on at least one national radio network in order to assure their future. It’s not Triple J or even Local ABC anymore - their ratings in regional areas are often quite abysmal. I think RN should be that broad-appeal station.

I don’t think they need to try to be as popular as the BBC, but at least the BBC has so many listeners and viewers that nobody is going to seriously call for it to be defunded. Nobody is going to try to close down the home of EastEnders or BBC News or the No. 1 radio station in the country - Radio 2.

I’m not entirely sure about ABC to be honest, in the longer term at least, unless they radically change course.

203

yep. the moment thr ABC goes anywhere near radio 2 style the media will be up in arms - especilly 9 and they will absolutly hammer the government on the radio and in the papers, and thats why it won’t happen

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204

Yeah true. I don’t get why the commercial media is so powerful in this country compared to the UK. The government needs to find some balls but they’re forever bending over backwards for them. Regardless ABC needs to make some measures to boost their mainstream appeal or they won’t survive. You’d think under Labor at least they could try to do something.

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205

They’re powerful because we (in the general sense) have allowed it to occur through years of inaction from our politicians. It doesn’t help that we have highly concentrated ownership either.

Frustratingly its easier for the likes of the ABC to knuckle under rather than fight

I’m not convinced any major party is interested in upsetting the applecart - the reality is that the ship sailed on trying to wrestle back some semblance of control long ago.

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206

It’s a treat and honour to be asked to present my favourite Australian radio show, Saturday Extra on ABC Radio National. I’m following in the footsteps of two giants - @GeraldineDoogue and @frankelly08. I’ll be in the presenter’s chair from January next year. pic.twitter.com/fQxJS2pt31

— Nick Bryant (@NickBryantNY) November 22, 2024

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207

He’s definitely an improvement on Fran Kelly. She was totally wrong for Saturday Extra. I’d still prefer Geraldine back, but Nick will do just fine.

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The new Radio National 2025 Schedule has been published on the RN website here (PDF): https://live-production.wcms.abc-cdn.net.au/049cc519cc0b988393030a82d90c0bc9

Looking at the new schedule, some changes from previous years include:

  • The Art Show has been halved to 30 minutes on Wednesdays. To be followed by Arts in 30, also hosted Daniel Browning. It seems they were struggling to fill an hour of Visual arts content and have decided to have a 30-minute weekly arts round-up at 10:30 AM on Wednesdays instead.
  • With the cancellation of Blueprint for Living, The Bookshelf moves from Saturdays at 10 AM to Fridays at 10 AM.
  • The new history show hosted by Marc Fennell that didn’t have a name in the press release last year will be called Turning Points and will be heard on Tuesdays at 11 AM and repeated Saturdays at 2:30 PM.
  • The History Listen seems to be rebranded as ABC Rewind and will be heard after Turning points on Tuesdays at 11:30 AM and repeated on Sundays at 4 PM. No host confirmed for ABC Rewind.
  • There is a “History Showcase” on Mondays at 2PM, no details on host or content, maybe repeats of old history shows? or History Podcasts?
  • Speaking of podcasts, Fran Kelly and PK’s The Party Room and Matt Bevan’s If You’re Listening are now going to air on the radio after The World Today on Thursdays and Fridays at 1:30PM respectively.
  • PM back at 5PM and the specialist 'report shows are back at 5:30 PM again after spending a couple of years at 6 PM. Joining the 5:30 gang are The Economy, Stupid and MediaLand. It seems Richard Aedy’s The Money has been cancelled and replaced by The Economy, Stupid
  • Download this Show, now hosted by Rae Johnston will now be on air on Fridays at 8 PM, repeated Saturdays 2 PM and Mondays 11:30 AM.
  • TGIF, previously hosted by Richard GLover from Sydney and now hosted by Charlie Pickering from Melbourne and broadcasted live at 5PM on ABC Radio Sydney and ABC Radio Melbourne will be heard on Raadio National at 7PM Fridays. This replaces the Friday repeat of Life Matters. This makes sense as Life Matters on Fridays is their Live call-in show and wouldn’t make sense to air when listeners can not call in live at 7 PM.
  • Australia Wide will no longer be heard on Radio National. This is strange as many people will not hear this show unless they live in Perth or regional areas. It would have been great if it was accommodated on Radio National. This also could have helped urban listeners get in touch with rural issues.
  • Every Bite, Johnathan Green’s new food show is scheduled for Saturdays at 11 AM. Stop Everything has then moved to follow after at 11:30 AM
  • New “Comedy” slot at 1 PM on Saturdays. no details on content or host. Maybe comedy podcasts or seasonal comedy content?
  • New music content on Radio National with repeats of ABC Classic’s Passenger and ABC Jazz’s Jazztrack Live now being added to the Schedule. Passenger will be heard on Saturdays at 11 PM and Tuesdays at 2 AM. Jazztrack Live will be heard on Sundays at 6 PM, replacing Soul Search which has moved an hour earlier to 5 PM.
  • The Philosopher’s Zone has moved timeslots to Sundays at 5:30 AM, Tuesdays at 1:30 PM and Thursdays at 12 AM
  • Science Friction returns from the dead. it’s last episodes aired in 2023 and is now being broadcast Sundays at 2 PM, repeated Mondays 12:30 AM and Wednesday 11:30 AM. Not yet sure if it’s new episodes or repeats.
  • The BBC Arts Hour will now air after This American Life on Sundays at 8 PM
  • Pacific Review from Radio Australia will air Sundays at 5:30PM
  • New show Lab Notes will air during Sunday Extra and not in a standalone timeslot.

Overall it’s good the lineup is being refreshed. Just wish there was something more interesting on at 7 PM Mondays to Thursdays than repeats of Life Matters. It’s just the wrong vibe for the evening after a live newsy show that Fran is hosting. Maybe return the old RN drive timeslot from PK’s era of 6PM to 7:30 PM and then Australia Wide at 7:30…

209

Probably be comedy specials from the ABC Listen App mixed in with the odd replay of TGIF

Now airing in Darwin on local radio.

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210

It should be broadcast on ABC News Radio.

211

Wonder if we’ll see a new logo and audio branding to coincide with the new Breakfast team given it’s now Radio National again.

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212

The new logo is here. Taken from the ABC website.

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213

Here’s how it looks on the ABC Listen app next to the local radio logo. Also they’ve updated the breakfast program’s artwork and introduced the new artwork for Fran Kelly’s nightly show.

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214

I wanted to listen to the new schedule and review how it went on the first day of broadcasting yesterday.

I woke up at 5:30 AM to listen to Breakfast and I like that it’s much more hard news, World news, national politics, business and sports and that’s it. It’s straight-forward and interviews range from 5 to 10 minutes. Also having live updates from Mel Clarke, Peter Ryan and Luke Siddham Dundon.

I was curious about the 'live flow aspect of the new Radio National schedule and listened all day yesterday to see what this section from the 2025 programming announcement meant:

The new year sees an emphasis on returning to a live, flow format through the addition of Cassie McCullagh and Hilary Harper as the Voices of Radio National who will thread Radio National’s programming together throughout the day.

Hilary and Cassie will guide audiences through the live schedule across news and current affairs programs into our unmatched range of specialist content.

Hilary came on air after the 12PM news and said she will be hosting between shows from 12PM – 4 PM on Mondays to Wednesdays and that Cassie will host the same slot on Thursdays and Fridays.

Hilary hosted the ‘History Showcase’ which is an hour of archival history programming. The first half of the show was episode 1 of a BBC Australian crime podcast Fairy Meadow which was first released in Jan 2022 but I don’t think was broadcast on RN. The second half was a rebroadcast of a story that was aired on The History Listen in May 2021.

So the Monday 2PM slot will be history podcasts and archival history content. I don’t mind that so much as with the amount of audio content that’s been aired on RN in its more than 100 years, I’d prefer archival content than repeats of shows aired on the same week. They should do this for all of the 2PM slots across the week with different topics to be honest.

Hilary then spoke about upcoming shows like Fran Kelly’s new show at 6PM, previewed content for ABC Rewind which airs on Tuesdays at 11:30PM and was a live voice between shows.

I had a look at today’s afternoon schedule and the podcast Quick Smart airs at 12:50 PM after Big Ideas. So hopefully they use this arvo slot for shorter podcasts and shows that aren’t exactly 30 mins or exactly 1 hour long since Hilary and Cassie are on air filling the gaps.

Fran Kelly’s new show is a pretty straightforward news magazine version of RN Drive but without being so heavily-focused on federal politics. Three stories covered in the Hour: an interview with a family member of a released Israeli hostage, a discussion with a Bloomberg journo and a Monash academic on Trump’s relationship with the tech barons and an interview with Katie Noonan and a performance as she prepares for a show covering Jeff Buckley’s Grace album for the Sydney Festival.

So it’s like Late Night Live in having longer segments (three stories within the hour) and having no interviews with politicians (so far), but content is similar to RN Drive which used to be 1 hour and 30 minutes.

I’ll listen in for the rest of the week to see if anything new pops-up.

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215

Does anyone know what the red dot stands for? Does it have a different meaning e.g. the red dot between two semi circles in the logo of The Radio National Hour?

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The Radio National Hour show art is an hour glass. It’s a sun for Breakfast. It looks to be a recording/live red circle for the main logo.

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217

Not sure what Tuesdays will be.

Surely not Background briefing because that’s already been on at midday (repeated).

But Conversations back-to-back this afternoon?

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218

I liked the “curated content” - it made the station sound more engaging. Also gives the opportunity to cover (briefly) a bit of breaking news or redirect listeners in emergency situations (fires, etc).

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219

Nah ignore the live schedule, there are some glitches happening with the old programs from last week’s schedule still sowing up. I used this as a guide to what’s actually airing: https://live-production.wcms.abc-cdn.net.au/049cc519cc0b988393030a82d90c0bc9

I’ll listen in and report back to see what shows actually went to air this arvo.

Edited at 4PM:

At 12PM they had Big Ideas. At the end of the show Natasha Mitchell says that Big ideas will now be repeated at 12PM the following day but that it would be a bit shorter than the full 8PM show. So it looks like they’re shortening it a bit for 12Pm to allow for short RN podcasts. Today, Quick Smart aired at about 12:50PM.

1 PM – The World Today
1:30 PM – Philosopher’s Zone Replay
2 PM – Background Briefing
2:45 – Lab Notes premiered on RN
3 PM – Conversations

This pretty much corresponds with the PDF schedule apart from the Quick smart ep and Lab notes ep. So it looks like they’re using the spare time for the shorter programs and podcasts on their roster.

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Yeah, I found arvos on RN before Conversations to be so annoying with so many repeats.

Also good point on the breaking news and emergency, because I learned that RN is apparently the emergency broadcaster of Norfolk Island. Random fact! Guess there’s no ABC Radio Norfolk lol.

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221

They relayed ABCRR on 95.9 for years- I think that came out of Newcastle from memory. I’m not sure if that’s still on air; I haven’t heard it via skip for a while (though 95.9 is blocked here by Tuggeranong).

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