ACE Radio (3MP)

Radio, Print, and Online Major Metropolitan Radio
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(4) BBC Radio 2 - Adult alternative/greatest hits, some new music and light entertainment/talk with specialty music hours.

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All their talkback content comes from 3AW, so they wouldn’t be able to do that.

ACE would do nothing better with 2CH than EON did. The key to their purchase of 3MP is the synergies they can create by combining at least some of the operations with their regional network.

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My hope would be that their need to create non networked content for an AM station sharing the Melbourne market could lead to them decreasing their reliance on piped in 3AW content, which would improve their stations across the state.

Either way, it’s good news because it means SEN finally fix my gripe - that narrowcast content is being broadcast on a commercial license - 3MP was being under utilised and it will be good to see it able to return to a competitive format.

The gap in the Melbourne market would clearly be Classic Rock, the stuff that’s not played on Triple M/Gold, and doesn’t fit the lighter tone of Magic and Smooth. They should find that niche, then get it on a full 128k of DAB - don’t muddy the waters trying to launch multi-channels at the same time.

I wouldn’t resurrect the 3MP brand, it’s been through enough, let it die and lose the baggage. I’d just call it ‘1377 The Ace’ or something.

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Based on the PNW map of frequencies posted in the 2CH thread, looks like they’re trying to get 1593AM.

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I predict Ace will use Melbourne and 1377AM as their new hub to source stronger talent that can be broadcast across Melbourne and into their regional markets.

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‘1377 The Sound’

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Yes please! Copy the NZ playlist too.

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The thorn in the side of that plan may be Rythmos. Whether that comes with the 1377 DAB+ allocation or not, will be interesting to see, in which case multichannels at that point (say piping one of Coast/TRFM/Mixx in at 32kbps) wouldn’t matter.

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They aren’t last time I checked.

I’d imagine if their agreement is with Pacific Star/Crocmedia then they’ll be on the SEN allocation after this

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Yeah, just noticed that one. It’s been a while since I’ve been up that end of the band admittedly, not since the 3XX days.

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IMHO, @NDY is hitting the reality curve, as I suspect ACE will be running this on the bare bones initially. Further up in this thread there are a whole heap of comments about the letting go of announcers in response to COVID-19s impact on advertising revenue. Can’t imagine this has changed heaps, so they are unlikely to suddenly have a heap of cash to sink into 3MP. My gut feel is the following:

  1. All the heritage stations in the ACE network are traditional call-signs except Gold1242. If there wasn’t a Gold104.3, Gold1377 would be a shoe-in. However, that ain’t going to happen. Of all the brand names used over the last decade or so - 3MP, MyMP, MTR, Classic Rock Radio, I reckon 3MP will have the greatest recall…and when you’re on a budget, it’s probably the go-to. There won’t be a significant difference in the 3MP format to the rest of the AM Network. Whilst Classic Rock Radio would be great, it will be Greatest Hits…that’s one playlist for the entire AM network.

  2. I expect the logo will be same as the rest of the network…along the lines of:

    1377 3MP possible
    1377 3MP possible775×133 10.1 KB
    .
    Hardly inspirational, but still better than Magic1278!

  3. Gold1242 has the least networked content from 3AW, so I expect it will probably provide the most networking (along with the Morning Rush from 3YB). In contrast to @thesub1 I can’t see Melbourne being used as a significant hub initially. As I understand the local content rules don’t apply to Melbourne, hence it makes more sense to network shows into Melbourne if you are trying to be more than an automated playlist and you don’t want to put more people out of work in the regions. Expect a bit of voicetracking from ACE regional announcers - this will keep the costs down.

  4. ACE have a small presence down St Kilda Road. I wouldn’t be surprised if this has a small studio (possibly using equipment from when it operated the Radio Training Institute) that could be used for providing the Melbourne 3MP presence, but most programming will use existing ACE regional studios. Not hugely different to SEN’s purchase of 2CH…

  1. As much as I’d like to see the return of either Koool or Aussie, the initial DAB offering will be what is cheap and easy. Therefore I expect a piped-down the link version of Mixx. With no stations using this name in Melbourne, it is the most generic of ACE’s CHR brands.

  2. I wouldn’t be surprised if 3MP remains outside the ratings at least for another year, as part of a keep the costs low approach.

Possibly, not the most optimistic station change over predictions, but when the economy is in a tough space, cash will not be fast flowing…

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That’s a well thought out plan.

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I think you’re pretty spot on with your predictions.

The ACE in St Kilda Road is pretty small - inside a residential apartment. The Radio Training Institute is in the office building next door. Since it shut down 2 years ago, I’m not sure if they still have that space, but if they do it was fitted out with studios that would be more than suitable for use by 3MP.

I also agree that we won’t see much content come out of Melbourne too soon. However local content rules don’t require the announcers to actually be in the local area if the content is presented specifically for that area. So content could be voice tracked from Melbourne, just the same as how current announcers voice track for other markets.

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Maybe Ace could use 3mp studios in Richmond Melbourne as a base

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Best idea yet far beyond the capabilities of the staff currently within ACE. They would need to invest heavily in new staff with significant format experience. Sadly can’t see that happening with their long established mindset.

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The 3MP licence is also a cheaper than usual sale due to the work required to improve its signal.

Here’s an 8 year old article about plans to change it:
https://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/3mtr-may-get-power-increase

Here’s the comparison of output:
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2012L00746/Explanatory%20Statement/Text

A costly task to reengineer the site. PNW/SEN has never improved the signal from what I’ve noticed in Melbourne.

Will ACE do it? It’d be a surprise considering their usual approach to costs.

@Rob_Melb_AU thank you for your analysis of options above.

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They aren’t there anymore. They moved out of the Swan Street studios into Crocmedia’s South Melbourne studios over a year ago. The building has been sold to developers so there’s be no long term prospect available there.

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What would happen to existing dedicated 1377AM weekend morning programs? The Stockmans Breakfast, etc?

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Hopefully it disappears without trace! :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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Left field idea here but I might be onto something. Chances are 1377 won’t come back as a music station. But it could come back as a talk station. A talk station for all of Victoria??? Local breakfast on 1377 then a melbourne based morning talk programmed networked across all of the ACE am stations. Melbourne based afternoon talk program. Then drive out of Melbourne networked across ACE am stations. Night time program networked in the same fashion. Names: Justin Smith? (Drive) (after all he was born in regional Vic) Steve Price? (Mornings)Tony Moclair? (Nights). And lets not discount the Murduch connection to ACE, after all Judy is the niece of Rupert!!!