Still on River…
…Ilija has assisted with programming at River 949, Adult Hits Stream and most recently programming Power 100 in Townsville.
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Good news. Hopefully he can fix the god-awful playlist and return River to being a real alternative on FM in SEQ.
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they also need to stick it on DAB in BNE - if they are breaking the licence rules by marketing to brisbane may as well go all out!
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Agree. It seems to be a no brainer to put River on DAB in Brisbane.
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No offence, but does that mean Barry Drinkwater reports to this guy?
And where does that leave Hinksy?
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ARN did it with the Edge Digital, so no reason they can’t do it with River Digital, basically a feed of the same channel but called something different, as it’s broadcasting in a different market.
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I believe so, yes.
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Yet ACMA don’t make surprise visits, ironically they advise the licensee of their planned visit and all is fixed if it needs to be.
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A “River” DAB+ station semi-simulcasting River 949 but with different ads serving greater Brisbane would be a great idea especially after the closure of 4KQ. They have one for Hobart.
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Has anyone noticed any music or programming adjustments since the recent changes at River94.9?
Are they still taking a shared log? Or their own?
I’m hoping we’ll see some good changes eventually - especially with Barry there.
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Looking at Lava, River is still taking a shared log.
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Ugh I just don’t understand what they’re doing, or rather not doing, with this station. It used to have such a profile in SEQ but not any more. There used to be something different about it and it sounded professiomal and metro. Not any more.
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Why do they have somebody “assisting in music” if they take a shared log?
Sounds like a 2 minute job each day to me.
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Completely agree @Brianc68, River was successful when unique, on its own log and had more resources to its own such as a live Saturday morning what’s on show, weekend news from within their studio and so on.
The final five years when Grants were desperate to sell as Janet has become more frail and withdrew from the business has seen the business make poor cost saving decisions that have diminished the on air product and results for clients.
Can only hope having experienced programming talent in Drew, Ilija and now Barry will turn the station around.
It needs a return to memorable radio that builds audience loyalty. Be relevant and connect. Be the preferred choice of the audience again.
Because Duncan knew there had to be generational change at 973 but didn’t want to lose Barry, this is a great way to have him back in the ARN tent.
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Yes, in hindsight it’s quite clear that for some time Grants were cutting the fat and reducing the staffing levels to make it more attractive to a buyer.
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What I don’t understand, now ARN own the Grant stations they have made very little change. The only things that have changed is W&W in the place of F&W.
Jam Nation and Christian O’Connell on the older skewing stations.
I remember reading that Duncan Campbell was going to continue with Grant programming all their stations, and not getting involved for now.
I guess this is why the status quo has prevailed.
Maybe once the agreement to maintain existing staff levels expires, they will gut the place, rebrand all the stations to KIIS and Pure Gold, take full control of music and programming and do a SCA??
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I think that will happen eventually. I think you would find in the background they would be doing research on how to consolidate and how best to align systems and facilities. When DMG bought the regionals back in the late 90’s, it took them approx 24 months to set up the hubs and network programming.
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ARN are pushing iHeartRadio a bit too aggressively on 2ST.
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Not just 2ST, travelling in Northern Tas recently, gezz ease up lads, we get it, IHeart radio app…
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And the teenage girls in the iHeartRadio ad sound so out of place on 2ST too.
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