was River 94.9 created to compensate for the loss of 4IP (as a commercial music station)?
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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.
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Interesting. Because I always thought River94.9 was named after the Brisbane River.
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More a generic river or rivers as Ipswich is on the Bremer River, that flows into the Brisbane River.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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Agree completely. Ridiculous that ARN (or someone) canāt see the logic in doing it.
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Is Smooth can be the number one DAB station in Brisbane, surely Gold could do well on the same platform.
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It certainly could, if done well.
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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?
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Yes, anywhere west of the West Gate Bridge, some of that is part of the Geelong licence area, hence why their signal from Murradoc Hill is 30kw towards Melbourneās west vs just 2kw towards the city and east.
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If youāre anywhere near the bay in the city you can pretty much get it. It fades the further away you get and the more East you go.
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younger people use streaming and apps more. The demos for OTA FM will start creeping higher and higher like AM did.
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