The ARN/SCA joint ownership probably makes the branding situation in Canberra a bit different, compared to the stations in other markets that are 100% owned and operated by SCA though.
I personally think it was a stupid decision for SCA to get rid of brands such as KOFM and 4TO-FM. And I really couldn’t help but laugh at how the Central Coast rebrand was spun as a positive thing for locals on NBN News (being in the Central Coast TV viewing area on rebrand day, I got to see the report) when the Nine Network’s Northern NSW affiliate is so resistive when it comes to adopting their corporate/network brand especially for their news!
Personally I’d like to see Canberra FM become independent and stay local but I don’t know how viable that is given the current media advertising landscape (still Capital Radio Network seem to manage somehow)
Yeah I don’t work in marketing but I don’t think changing well established brands that have taken several years or even decades to build up not to mention millions of dollars is ever really a good idea. Imagine if channel seven or channel nine were rebranded to something else for instance. Still waiting to see if channel 10 has any success with ‘peach’ or ‘bold’ haha we’ll see how that works out for them
I tend to agree. Total station rebrands only really work if you’re trying to re-invent the station as being something competely different (eg, Smooth FM, KIIS).
Aside from that, the best brands in broadcasting are those which have been well established over many years if not decades.
The Mix brand means nothing in Canberra. If they cared about heritage branding, it would be called Kix 106. Most locals refer to it as simply “106”. Mix is just a leftover from the ARN Mix network and the fact they haven’t done any updates shows that the station is an afterthought. The current set up works for both ARN and SCA because the stations are total cash cows.
As mentioned above, Mix being number 1 has no effect on a potential rebrand whatsoever. They pulled out the whole “the brands are historically important” rubbish with Gold on the GC, KOFM in Newy and 2GO on the CC. They are all now branded Triple M, so that shows it was just a line.
I’ll be honest, it’s been a while since I’ve listened to 106 overnight, but last time I listened before 5am, there was some talkback rubbish on.
They should re-brand to 106.3 Triple M and be done with it.
I can confirm that I heard an Triple M “Essential Vinyl” segment a while ago on “Mix”. It’s basically a teaser to the weekly “full classic album” block on Triple M Classic Rock, discussing about the album currently playing on TMCR and two of its hit singles. Oddly enough, they choose “China Girl” over “Modern Love” (which charted higher) on the one I heard just to mention it’s a cover of a song he wrote for Mick Jagger…
From memory it was used for a very long time. They briefly had this one, before changing to what’s in use now.
I believe they’ve both been covered up with the new logos now, but for some time the old logos were still visible on a street sign at the end of Bellend(en) Street where the studios are located
Case in point - a couple of weeks ago they had Suzi Quattro on Kennedy Molloy and threw to one of her songs (Devil Gate Drive). Mix insert their own music throughout the show rather than MMM’s, and in their wisdom played Devil Inside by INXS instead.
The kicker was the back announce from Dangerous Dave, obviously referring to Suzi, “You have no idea how awesome it is to be in the studio with the woman who sang that song”
Fair enough if Mix want to slot their own music in, but it’s not as though Suzi Quattro isn’t part of their playlist.
