It’s being discussed, not very favourably, in some Facebook radio groups that WSFM will be rebranding to Gold 101.7 in January next year. I have no intell on it other than the Facebook discussion, but in there it’s going down about as well as K& J in Melbourne on KIIS is.
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Even more bizarre on the back of their first ever ratings win.
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Yes that’s what a lot are saying.
I’d have thought it’s a situation where a co-brand would work just fine - unlike something clunky like Hit 104.1 2DayFM - “Gold 101.7 WSFM” would work for any need to ‘align’ the brand without needing to ditch WS.
More of a worry would be the music - WS are a little younger skewed than Gold is, so assuming they are doing this so they can network daytimes (or eventually breakfast), that might be a problem.
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It’s not like ARN are doing a good job of hiding it… Gold Network - ARN
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Isn’t that pretty much exactly the same thing?
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I think Gold is a better positioning statement and flows better - given right now the station is nominally “Pure Gold 101.7 WSFM”. Hit always sounded very tacked on to the legacy brands.
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Sydney’s Real Gold, 101.7 WSFM
Anyway not happening, they’re throwing the whole brand out after the station finally went #1. Utter morons.
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Is it a race between which brand sinks first - WSFM/Gold or KIIS?
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is ARN now allergic to heritage or something?
potentially killing off the WSFM brand is not the right call……
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Haven’t they already been promoting it as WSFM 101.7 Pure Gold?
More atrocities to come
Allergic to anything not networked might be the term you’re looking for 
Triple M has already beaten them both.
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Yep - I just reckon they should just flip those around so they can have their “Gold 101.7” without tossing out the legacy brand.
If they’re going to drop the WS FM, I wonder if they’ll drop Cruise in favour of Gold 1323.
It still baffes me they haven’t launched Gold on DAB in Brisbane.
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Maybe they’ll just go with WS 101.7 Gold
I’d think they would just close it out and sell to SEN, isn’t it still not profitable for them despite the ratings?
ARN were only forced to sell 4KQ (to SEN) because of the Grant Broadcasters takeover.
There is no such issue with Adelaide.
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Just doesn’t really fit their portfolio, it’s the odd one out in their Gold network now that 4KQ is gone, but likely not profitable enough to be worth it like Mix and 96fm are on the “KIIS” side.
For most of their regional network - no one would ever value an individual AM station enough to make it worth selling - but to SEN the lure of a commercial license in an AFL market would have to be strong.
Obviously it’s very speculative - but I think if they’ve decided not to go with rebranding it to Gold, then where else do they see a future - Cruise isn’t exactly a powerful brand to be protective of when WS seemingly isn’t.