The AFL rights for 2UE probably even went back to the Talking Lifestyle days (which would have been just as jarring if not for the fact that TL was useless and no-one listened to it otherwise). Back in the earliest days of it, although produced by Crocmedia, it was a separate “hometown” call feed separate from the AFL Live/Nation calls that were sent to the ACE regional network - kinda similar to what 2MMM did for a while. That didn’t stay the case for MMM for more than a couple of years and of course it’s not the case for AFL Nation on 2UE anymore.
I wonder if part of keeping 2UE on board, though, is in case there is a clash with coverage between AFL and NRL? I don’t see SEN 1170 preferring a Swans or Giants game over NRL (it’d probably reduce their already low ratings to an asterisk if they did…), and in recent years MMM has expanded its league coverage so there’s little room there either. I’m not even sure 2SM is an option anymore as Caralis uses SEN’s NRL Nation in the regional Super Network, and they don’t split the signal in Sydney even with 1170 now in the market (and I doubt they’d want to even if given the option).
The AFL are desperate to have some kind of commercial coverage into Sydney every week (and likewise Brisbane), and perhaps it’s a smart tactic - whether they realise it or not - by the NRL to give the AFL limited room to go to, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they had to go cap-in-hand to ACE and SEN - who are, at least, known quantities for the AFL through their regional VIC rights - again next rights deal and it stays on 2UE, for better or worse.
I hate all the sycophantic newspaper columns about Peter V’landys but one of the things he’s been known to do is not give a sucker an even break (particularly if they’re from Melbourne!), so I wouldn’t be surprised if this move to NRL non-exclusiveness was a deliberate tactic. (The only “exclusive” for NRL now is that Nine was able to get their Friday night & Sunday 4pm games this year, ie. the ones they cover on TV, to be commercially exclusive to Nine Radio…)
As i posted above the sooner 2UE can ditch the AFL rubbish the better. What a crock still forcing that southern sport into Sydney on what should have been a clean relaunched music station 2UE. Since my shock discovering this AFL stain i have listened less often to 2UE. Judging by their slight fall in the latest survey maybe some others are listening less too?
I think sorting out their peak weekday slots would be a lot more important to them than giving away a few hours on the weekend to southern footy, to be honest.
Surely voice tracking the whole thing out of Melbourne (even with a locally-known voice at breakfast) can’t be helping them.
The AFL deal would also still be with Nine Radio I suspect, and it may be out of ACE’s control as to whether they go there or not this year.
ACE could continue normal programming on their online stream during that period (as they’re not allowed to stream the footy there; the AFL demands it be sent to their site) but I haven’t checked to see if they bother?
If they’re not specifically advertising the footy (and I don’t see they do on their site), it may be smart to do so, especially if they are hoping people listen in through the RadioApp/iHeart/speakers/their own app instead of AM for better quality, much like 2CH promoted.
They could, but it’d depend on the sport as to whether they’d take it?
I’m pretty sure the AFL wouldn’t accept having Swans and Giants games on a digital-only service (or a 16xx AM service - mentioned because I think Radio 2 also did some Swans coverage at some point when they existed? Though I may stand corrected) except as an absolute last resort; likewise with Lions and Suns games on Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Their actions suggest that they don’t really care about the rest of the round, they just want coverage of the local teams as part of their expansion strategy, for better or worse.
On the other hand, cricket seemed happy with Macquarie putting some games (non-hometown BBL mainly, from memory?) onto NTS.
I think it’s a moot point though, and I suspect Nine would rather be done with sport on radio that they also don’t broadcast on TV - the fact that they wanted exclusive synergies between the live NRL TV matches and the Continuous Call is a smell of that. There is now SEN in Sydney and the Gold Coast (and to the extent they’re allowed, the Track station in Brisbane) to mop the remaining rights up now (such as aforementioned cricket), after all.
I would love to have CCT relayed into Victoria. At the moment, the only way to hear NRL matches every week is via streaming and digital radio, which is good for fans in Melbourne but not so in rural areas with inadequate internet speeds. ABC News Radio only broadcast Storm matches across Victoria each week.
I feel Victoria is a market too big for the NRL to ignore. The upcoming broadcast deal with Nine (which includes exclusive live broadcast of Sunday 4pm game on radio) is a missed opportunity, with NTS closed down and Magic now run by ACE Radio.
Looking at their playlist on Lava, it’s primarily a ‘classic hits’ station, ranging from the 60s to the 90s.
Along with having 3GG (which uses the same log as GNFM/XLFM), as well as Triple M Gippsland, the Latrobe Valley has a decent mix of good commercial adult music radio stations for a regional area.
You’re quite right. Back in 2016 they had local breakfast with Greg Allen (who is the long time local news reader on both Gold and TRFM) and also Julie Strini (now 3MP breakfast) at midday until 3pm.
Ace are nuts if they ever turn 1134 off. Signal gets all the way to Melbourne via groundwave and covers a large chunk of the western district too. An FM service even if set at the same specs of Mixx FM couldn’t come remotely close to that.
Between 3CS, 3HA and 3WM they basically have coverage of almost all of Victoria west of Melbourne. So why not turn on translators in key centres (like they have/will in Portland, Warrnambool (a conversion I know) and Ararat) and leave the main TXs on AM for the widespread coverage it offers.
I think sorting out their peak weekday slots would be a lot more important to them than giving away a few hours on the weekend to southern footy, to be honest.