Correct.
Rural Press tried doing this 20 years ago, by increasing the power so that River 949 was heard across most of greater Brisbane, and even in the car in the CBD.
It caused a stink amongst the Brisbane broadcasters, rightly so, and ACMA (back then it was called ABA), put license conditions on River 949 which effectively blocked the signal from reaching the CBD.
I actually donāt think thatās what happened at all. The ABA ruling was that River couldnāt PROMOTE themselves as a Brisbane station, nothing to do with the signal or broadcast specs. IIRC the wording of the ruling actually favoured River and said any fortuitous coverage into Brisbane was their good luck. No changes to transmission was ever required. By the way their signal still reaches the CBD and welll beyond in the car. Had them on in the car at the Airport the other day. And they still come up in an FM scan literally anywhere in the metro area.
Back to what ARN might do, I think theyād be mad not to try and leverage the existing 94.9 FM audience to launch Gold on DAB in Brisbane, in exactly the same way as they leverage 96.1 for CADA. Nobody believes those āDAB-onlyā figures for CADA in Sydney donāt include a substantial number of people who are actually listening on 96.1, and not on DAB/online. The ratings for CADA in Sydney are vastly higher than the true (and miserably low) DAB-only figures in the other capitals.
Similarly, the fact 94.9 will scan (with a station name and RDS) in basically every car in Brisbane could be used as a huge head start if ARN does plan to launch Gold in Brisbane. That combined with a large existing audience on FM will translate to fairly decent ratings which can actually be reported in Brisbane surveys.
Agree, the River 94.9 signal is the strongest āout-of-marketā station in much of Brisbane, easily receivable in the car out to the bayside suburbs.
was River 94.9 created to compensate for the loss of 4IP (as a commercial music station)?
No not directly. 4IP became a Brisbane station long before the licence for QFM was issued. And QFM launched in 1990 but 4IP was still a music station until 1992.
Interesting. Because I always thought River94.9 was named after the Brisbane River.
More a generic river or rivers as Ipswich is on the Bremer River, that flows into the Brisbane River.
Yes Iām pretty sure thatās why they chose the River name. So it could be ambiguous for either the Bremer or Brisbane river. A way of identifying the station as a Brisbane station, without actually being specific. Clever.
I just happened to be over the Northside of Brisbane this evening at Chermside and did a test. Perfect reception in the car with full RDS, and scanning every time.
You might be able to receive a weak signal in the car in the CBD or inner city but good luck receiving it in your home or on a wireless in the CBD, Spring Hill, Highgate Hill, St Lucia or the West End.
Outer suburbs are better but still a very weak signal.
Itās the same in Sydney with CADA. You canāt receive it in the CBD or most of the inner south, inner west or North Shore, at home or on a wireless. You can receive it in the car, but again, itās very weak and patchy, and it depends on how good your car aerial is.
But thatās where DAB and Online come in. Most home listening is now done online. My point is launching Gold in Brisbane would be most effective using DAB, online and leveraging FM94.9, particularly for in-car listening. A multi-pronged approach would be far more effective than a DAB-only approach. CADA in Sydney has proven this and itās reflected in the ratings.
DAB complements FM and AM in that regard, by providing city-wide coverage of CADA to Sydney, however with River 94.9s current format being AC, I donāt know if it would be a good use of DAB spectrum for Brisbane, as there are AC options already if you look at Coles, CW Remix and soft AC in Smooth and Easy Hits.
Iāve noticed iHeartAustralia is not in Brisbane on DAB, that could be a good option for ARN, as it seems to rate quite well in Sydney.
One difference though, CADA is more niche, Gold is more mainstream, Iām not sure if that approach will work for a more mainstream format like Gold.
There is no current AC offering in Brisbane that is an actual radio station. I donāt include streams like Coles or Easy Hits. River might be technically AC, but it skews towards classic hits for the most part. The point is itās a real station that is largely live and local.
Gold might be more mainstream, but itās a format that isnāt covered at all by analogue radio in Brisbane since 97.3 became a B105/Nova clone, and not really on DAB either.
Itās very difficult for our workplace.
3 hit music stations and 1 rock station. Thereās just no choice. A Gold format on radio here would be amazing.
it would be a better use than a jukebox like some of the stations on there now. As i said above on Feb 6:
if i was an ARN shareholder iād be asking why isnāt River on DAB+ - from a financial point of view it makes sense. the content is already being produced locally, with local advertisers and DJās. presumably license fees for the music are paid, so its essentially free content for DAB that they can sell to advertisers and potentially increase rates as DAB listeners increase
Agree completely. Ridiculous that ARN (or someone) canāt see the logic in doing it.
Is Smooth can be the number one DAB station in Brisbane, surely Gold could do well on the same platform.
It certainly could, if done well.
This has made me think about Melbourne and Geelong. Iām too far away in the north-east, but are there any places in Melbourne that can pick up a clear signal for Geelong stations 3CAT (K-Rock) or 3BAY?
