There is also MMM 80s on DAB+ in Brisbane.
Given that ARN have finally worked out networking, Iâd say Gold on Brisbane DAB and KIIS on Perth DAB is inevitable.
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KIIS 80s and GOLD 80s is the same music, just different branding.
What @Brianc68 was referring to was a âmainâ station like 101.7/104.3 in Syd/Melb, which is not decades specific and plays a bit of a everything and would carry network shows like JAMnation and the Christian OâConnell show (which the 80s stations donât).
Isnât 96fm in Perth KIIS-aligned? So would mean Gold DAB in Perth is more likely?
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Now that Sue Carter is overseeing 96FM (in addition to the two Golds, plus Cruise Adelaide), Iâd say the shift away from the very limited KIIS programming on 96 is inevitable.
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Yeah no reason why they couldnât. Do a Smooth.
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theyâre better off doing a KIIS DAB station, and allign 96fm with Gold, as the music on 96 is more suited to the Gold Network anyway
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ARN had the DAB+ version of the Edge, which was separate to their Edge 96.1, from what I remember had very limited advertising and packaged Mike E & Emma. Gold has some great assets in the Christian OâConnell 1-hour show (which was on KIIS) and Jam Nation (which was on KQ). A similar DAB+ Gold Brisbane could be set-up with very little effort.
Smooth Brisbane was previously just a jukebox, but now itâs a âfull serviceâ station. If ARN wanted to go down that route with Gold Brisbane, well hey, give Laurel, Gary and Mark a call. Smooth is by far and away the highest rating station on DAB+ in Brisbane, with 3½ times as many listeners as KIIS80s.
Also, whatâs the rules around ARN leasing back the KQ moniker from Hutchy?
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Canât happen for the same reason they had to sell the station - leases still count towards control rules.
So Ace has its maximum of two stations in Melbourne even though Magic is leased from Nine; conversely, Nine has the same two station maximum even though it doesnât program Magic.
I do recall this - wonder when it changed to relaying 96.1FM full time? It certainly had been simulcasting the FM service in other cities (with Western Sydney ads and all) for some time prior to the CADA relaunch.
Not the licence theyâd be leasing, just the name.
EDIT: Actually no, scrub that. Why would ARN pay money to buy back callsign letters in Brisbane, while theyâre dropping them in Sydney.
Silly me. Forget that nonsense.
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Thatâs absolutely incorrect. They are not breaking any rules by launching a DAB only station called Gold on the DAB spectrum allocated under KIIS 97.3
Nova do exactly the same thing with their Smooth DAB station in Brisbane, which uses DAB spectrum âownedâ by Nova 106.9.
A DAB only station is unrelated to the 2 station rule for analogue licences.
Having said that it would also make sense for them to rebrand River to Gold 94.9 and align it to the Gold DAB station in Brisbane. It gets a bit tricky as itâs my understanding they canât just simulcast the Ipswich station on Brisbane DAB, but I might be mistaken. If I recall correctly they still had to differentiate The Edge DAB in Sydney, from The Edge 96.1 Katoomba, even if only slightly.
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Iâve mentioned this before, @Radio_TVGuy, you seem to post a lot of misinformation. Please make sure you do some research first before posting.
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Christian OâConnell was never on KIIS. He left Absolute Radio in the UK to join Gold 104.3.
In February 2018, OâConnell announced that he would leave Absolute Radio and emigrate to Australia to host the Gold 104.3 breakfast programme in Melbourne.
In Brisbane he was on 973FM for years before it became KIIS when they started networking Mitch at nights.
That was 97.3 then, not KIIS.
Just to be completely accurate.
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You might have your time frames a bit askew. 97.3 
KIIS Jan 2022 Christian O'Connell's Stuff of Legends returns for a second season
As per the last para in the article from May 2023: The Christian OâConnell Show can also be heard across the country of WSFM , Mix 102.3 , KIIS 97.3 and 96FM Perth .
Tah-dah.
Just a note to radio historians: Yes, Christian was on KIIS (I know, I live in Brisbane and used to listen to him nightly, straight after the hour of power!)
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Yep, can absolutely back this up. 97.3 started referring to itself as KIIS 97.3 on air on 14th Feb 2022 (after changing their social media and website branding on 24th Jan 2022). Other than the naming, it mostly kept the general format it had for years, taking mostly KIIS network shows, but also the Christian OâConnell show and having a music format that was a hybrid of KIIS and Gold network. It wasnât until 8th April 2024 that 97.3 started taking the Sydney KIIS feed 19 hours a day, at which point they dropped the Christian OâConnell show. So for just over 2 years Christian was heard on a KIIS branded station.
On the Gold network specifically, I do wonder if theyâll eventually slim the daytime announcers and share them across Sydney and Melbourne so that the stations are the same feed for 21 hours a day? Sadly Iâm going to assume itâs a yes. I guess then itâll just be a case of who? Do they keep all the Gold 104.3 announcers and remove all the old WSFM announcers or visa versa OR keep say 1 from each city (e.g. Ugly Phil for mornings across both Gold stations and Dave Higgo Higgins for afternoons across both stations)?
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Iâm assuming they took Christian when they had the introductory KIIS97.3 logo with the smaller KIIS and larger 97.3. This was then changed - making it more consistent with the remaining network.
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Will Craig Huggins do mornings and still keep his afternoons on CruiseâŚ