i haven’t really bothered with Mix94.5 lately… at work now it’s either Spotify or 96fm (depending on who’s working on what day)
idk, Mix just seems to be in such of an identity crisis
I believe it was 2022 since that’s when they started using “Perth’s home of more music and more variety”.
Bit of a mouthful.
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IIRC wasn’t if something like, “Greatest Hits & Perth’s Best Variety”? Trying to do something similar to the Triple M eastern states?
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No, it was “Good Times & Perth’s Best Variety”. They subsequently dropped the “Good Times” and now just have “Perth’s Best Variety”.
I honestly don’t understand why Perth has such bizarre music formats. Back in the 90s, 96.1 Triple M had a “Today’s Best Music” CHR format, aligning it with the Today stations in other cap cities.
Austereo then purchased PMFM and 94.5FM. They rebadged 94.5 as Mix94.5 with a Today-style logo, but maintained the oldies format. Meanwhile, PMFM was rebadged as 92.9, with a Today music format, but with AFL games being broadcast.
Eventually, Mix94.5 received a new orange and black logo and aligned more closely with the Triple M network (Triple M-lite essentially, because they still played a lot of 70s and 80s pop) and 92.9 received the full Hit Network CHR treatment and logo (finally).
96FM in the meantime, rebadged as a KIIS station, and while they tried to go a bit hotter/poppier with their music, they never fully went there. They eventually chickened out and reverted to an oldies/semi-rock format (albeit broader nowadays), more in line with the Gold format (but still sporting a KIIS style logo).
Meanwhile, 92.9 suddenly relaunched as Triple M, but they have an early Nova/Triple J hybrid music format (dance, urban, alt-rock), and Mix94.5, which is the Hit branded station, has a bizarre “trying to be something to everyone” format.
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It really is a mess especially when you list the history out like that! Mix is really confused at the moment as a result of their backflip. The Perth audience has latched onto to the way things are over here so it’s hard to align them these days nationally.
The hit network still has its 2020 imaging for news and traffic with some butchered/highly altered variations of the sweepers and stings playing across the network to match the varying formats each station has.
It’s likely a national sales preference where networks can create the illusion of the same format/target audience in each capital market despite their variations.
Mix is definitely going through an identify crisis
With SCA announcing the latest round of newsroom redundancies, makes me wonder if there’s going to be yet another shakeup to Hit’s regional brekky shows? If so, I’d expect such announcements to start being made next month.
Fifi Fev and Nick going into Regional VIC soon? 
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You do realise Dan and Christie from Hobart do regional Victoria?
Yes I’m well aware of that 100%.
But given what’s already happened in Regional WA I’d probably expect the same to happen in Regional VIC soon enough. A metropolitan brekky show takes the reins in a regional area, so let’s say it’s Pete & Kymba with Ben Cousins from Perth into Regional WA, and Fifi Fev & Nick from Melbourne into Regional VIC.
There’s no reason to change the status quo. Fifi, Fev and Nick need to stay hyperfocused on Melbourne because its such a competitive market, with a boatload more of advertising dollars to be fought over when compared to Perth
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If we see metros go into regionals, I reckon we’ll see B105 do the same too for QLD. But I can’t see the same happening in NSW.
I suspect SCA uses regional Victoria to spread the costs of the Hobart based breakfast show across many markets.
I reckon SCA knows exactly how much every minute of audio costs them to make and how to spread those costs.
SAFM in Mount Gambier takes the Adelaide brekky show already, so South East SA already receives a metro brekky show, and SAFM Mount Gambier is the only Hit Network station in the whole of Regional SA I would suspect.
And with Regional WA having recently jumped on board to receive Perth brekky, I’d expect Regional VIC would soon get Melbourne brekky too, then Regional QLD gets Brisbane brekky.
There’s too many changes with Sydney brekky to justify giving Regional NSW a metropolitan brekky show, so I’d say they’re safe.
There’s a thing in QLD for news, that it’s often branded QLD because the other areas don’t like being bunched in with Brisbane.
So that’s why their brekky is from the Gold Coast (I’m guessing anyway, no actual idea)
Just had to do some Googling, I can confirm for you Bronte and Lakey’s brekky show (syndicated across Regional QLD) is indeed coming from the GC.
Back to Regional VIC, I would say if Fifi Fev & Nick were to go into Regional VIC, they wouldn’t mention anything about the regional areas one bit. More likely than not it’s SCA doing what they possibly can to cut costs.
Dan and Christie will stay on-air in Hobart. But I’d suggest Regional VIC should get a Victorian-made show, made in Victoria, even if it’s hyper-focused on Melbourne. Mount Gambier has Adelaide brekky, Regional WA has Perth brekky, so I’d say it’s only a matter of time before Regional VIC gets Melbourne brekky. Triple M is all about localism at breakfast in the regional areas, and Triple M already wins in some markets.
I don’t think a Bendigo survey has come out this year but in July 2023 (and this was when Hit’s Regional VIC brekky was still coming out of Albury), Triple M was No.1 in Bendigo overall.
https://radiotoday.com.au/triple-m-back-on-top-in-bendigo-xtra-insights-survey/
What cost do they save by putting FFN on regional Vic if Dan and Christie stay on air in Hobart?
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For SCA they’re probably thinking “why not reduce the cost further?” FNF regional would be cheaper than having them and a show from Hobart
Fifi, Fev & Nick is running its course, and is only staying alive because it is able to be hyper-local where KIIS can’t. As an example, Bernie & Emma sounds utterly awful in Mount Gambier as they’re talking almost-exclusively to an Adelaide audience (despite SAFM Mount Gambier’s whopping market share, you never hear a single reference to something other than Adelaide).
Perth is a different kettle of fish given most of SCA (and Redwave before them)'s content has been hubbed from the city for such a long period of time now. The economics there are very different.
If there is an instance on a networked show going into regional markets, and it has to involve further consolidation, take Jimmy & Nath off 2Day and send them out onto the network. Put a solo announcer into 2Day breakfast and play 10 songs an hour - might not move the needle but it’s a hell of a lot cheaper.
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Couldn’t agree with you more about Bernie & Emma G, it’s like Mt Gambier and the Limestone Coast doesn’t even exist, it’s Adelaide this & Adelaide that, I mean at the very least the anchor of the show (I forget his name) could read out Mt Gambier’s weather after he reads out Adelaide’s weather. Bec, Cosi and Lehmo were no better before them. If Mt Gambier want any local reference on 96.1 SAFM, they have to wait until Midge goes on air after 9am.
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They still have to meet 3 hours of local content in Hobart - this way they meet that requirement and get a breakfast show that can avoid being tailored to a major metro market.
Given Hobart is a competitive market with a local breakfast on 7HOFM, things would have to be really dire to cut it and meet those minutes another way.
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And so they should. Dan & Christie’s show is made in Hobart, for Hobart.
If SAFM Mount Gambier isn’t breaching local content quotas by having Adelaide brekky in the morning (then local morning - and probs daytime - shifts) then surely the Regional VIC stations can get away with local morning shifts which would be 3 hours a day from 9am-12pm, which would still meet the local content requirements. I’ve heard local morning shifts from hit96.9 Shepparton via tropo in the morning a few times.
So it makes sense that Fifi Fev & Nick’s Hyper-Melbourne-focused-centric show enters Regional VIC, focuses purely on Melbourne still, and Triple M has local brekky. Hit Regional WA and SAFM have metro brekky shows and local daytime shifts, and they still meet local content requirements.
Dan & Christie is not going anywhere in Hobart. But Regional VIC needs something from VIC, even if it’s entirely centred around Melbourne.
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