If the proposals go ahead, 882 will be switched off altogether.
882, 990, 1080 and 1206 all broadcast from the same site at Ascot. Surely it would be too expensive to keep just two AM stations on air (990 - 6RPH and 1206 - 6TAB ).
Would they allow for perhaps SEN to take over any of the spare main AM frequencies?
SEN Track on 657 and Full SEN on either 882 or 1080 would be ideal for Sports Entertainment to break further into the market.
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Agree @Bergoine , 6RPH and the racing HPON should be converted to FM.
CRA should support this as it will lop off another two openings for a new commercial licence.
Also, a quote of an earlier post in @Bergoine’s earlier post has changed, I wanted to read the thread of the post about WA racing HPON running bushfire updates in SW WA. Where do I read it?
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That is what I think will happen. What is interesting is what will happen to 6iX. All AM conversions to FM have resulted in a total change in format (except 6PM which remained basically the same with PMFM) and indeed:
Can Grant do the same with 6iX? That is, create what The Wave is doing now in Mandurah, what Mix94.5 used to do before it became a “Hit” station and what I get now with Smooth Perth on DAB+? I remember once when in Brisbane I could pick up this interesting FM station called River FM …
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Given 6IX is already on 105.7 FM to the north and south of Perth, and that DAB is now in play (which wasn’t the case when other FM conversions in SYD-MEL-BNE-ADL-PER occurred in the late 80s and early 90s), and with no new competition, hopefully that will increase the chances of 6IX keeping the current music log on a Perth wide FM frequency.
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They could, but they lack the vision and too tight on spending to do so. They will plough along with Kev’s tired old ‘good time oldies’ concept.
River 949, 4MIX Ipswich. Yes, we all remember it too here. Its memorable days are gone. Bland and suffering from more tightening of the miserly fist of the Scottish Camerons.
Got it in one @TV-Expert, the station is a shadow of its former self as look at the list of stations, four stations which would’ve had their own MD, own log, own insight to market demands; now all scrapped with Covid as the excuse.
Remember the 105.7 coverage is quite limited, these aren’t overpowered Caralis style translators that appear to cover pretty much the entire licence area like 104.3 2LM or 2GF on FM.
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Sadly as others have pointed out River 94.9 is not what it once was. It’s now bland and predictable and doesn’t fill the nicheit once did.
In terms of Perth I agree you can’t rule out a format change for 6iX or 6PR if they convert although I suspect it wouldn’t be radical. 6iX should go soft AC like the old Smooth but I wonder if they’re smart enough. Should be a no brainer.
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Yes, a Smooth like format would be a ratings-winner for 6IX on FM. However, even if they don’t change formats, they will still be on a level playing field to the other commercial FMs in terms of FM coverage, so this should help them with increased listeners and advertisers.
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if Perth goes down that option of migrating commercial AMs to FM, how long then before the commercial AMs in every other city demand to do the same. Stations like Magic and 3MP would love to go to FM I’m sure. It could be argued that both suffer from poor reception in parts of Melbourne.
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Looking at the Perth FM discussion paper Figure 2. It shows the proposed 100kW high-powered NAT FM service at 102.5 MHz producing an IF beat at 91.7 MHz which is the The Wave from Mandurah. Do modern FM radios still use an IF for demodulation? I would think West Coast Radio would none too happy with this.
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Thinking about the options proposed for Perth I somehow think they’ll end up converting all AM stations to FM.
However, I guess this doesn’t mean they’d have to offer the same all or nothing approach if they ever looked at the east coast capitals.
For example if they could only find one or two viable FM frequencies in Brisbane they could do an old fashioned bidding process to convert one or two of the commercial AMs to FM and raise some revenue.
Or they could allocate 1 FM frequency to the ABC and auction the other FM to a new player (less likely) or a conversion of an existing commercial AM. This is similar to one of the Perth options listed where the ABC gets only one FM frequency rather than all three.
I think some of the options offered in the Perth discussion paper could be adapted and used in the more congested east coast metros.
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I don’t think 6PR will change format. 6iX will probably swing younger like WSFM and Gold 104.3. Be interesting to see how Mix 94.5 and 96FM counteract this should IX move to the FM band, I suspect Mix will go younger like other metro hit stations.
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I hope 6IX will still be like 2GN/XL FM. In my view it would good to remain as what they are today. Although having said that I feel like 2CA is too safe these days when i tuned in over Easter.
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If Option 1 for Perth goes ahead, then all 3 ABC AM stations would move to full power on FM and I think the ABC would decide to use one of those frequencies for Double J, possibly replacing Radio National.
Double J would have a far bigger audience than RN on FM and would be a better use of spectrum in my opinion. Listeners of RN could still tune in on DAB+, ABC TV as well as the various streaming options.
Yikes I’d have to disagree on that one. I can’t see them not broadcasting RN on one of the FMs.
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I notice little mention of the white elephant in the room in most of these discussions and of course the discussion paper. Given the population growth in the Perth license area since Nova came on the scene, are we not entitled to have another new commercial station by now (as Brisbane I think has)?
The discussion paper seems a bit vague on this when going through the AM conversion options, you know something like: 3x ABC conversions to FM, bidding war between 6PR and 6iX for one to convert to FM, and another bidding war for a new commercial FM license.
The federal government does need the extra revenue, rather the commercial broadcasters than taxpayers.
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Agreed, it should be option 1 (complete conversion to FM) plus a new FM commercial station.
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The last new licence in Brisbane was also Nova around the same time. 97.3 was a couple of years earlier and also a new licence. A bit of a back story there. Brisbane got 2 new licences along with Sydney and Melbourne while Adelaide and Perth got one. Part of the reason was 4BH failed to convert to FM in the early 90s so Brisbane only had 2 FM stations while Adelaide and Perth had 3. I think it’s possible that if 4BH had converted in the early 90s Brisbane might have only gotten 1 new one along with Perth and Adelaide, although we can’t be sure, they may have still added 2.
Brisbane has always had more commercial licences though. There’s 8 now (4 AM and 4 FM), against Perth and Adelaide’s 6.
I agree Perth’s poulation probably warrants a new one but we’ll have to see. I also agree it would be a potential revenue source for the government.
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Just a thought re: the proposed FM conversions.
Could there be an option for the legacy ABC stations (RN and ABC Radio Perth) to simulcast on AM and FM? RNZ National is on both AM and FM in the major New Zealand cities.
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