I think KIIS973 might be in the best position of the whole KIIS Network, and I think that says a LOT given they were a dead duck a year ago
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I’d agree here. Their breakfast show is strong and they suit the sound of the station. Ben and Liam are too young for KIIS Adelaide.
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Sydney FM breakfast radio is officially sh*t if this happens.
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UPDATE: ARN now denying Dr Chris & Amy is true.
Hope so. I know ARN can do better.
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Dr Chris has been all over Nova lately. He’s fine as fill-in or a guest but I really don’t think he can carry a show full time.
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KIIS should launch more decades themed DAB stations KIIS ‘00s and KIIS ‘10s, expand KIIS Dance into Sydney, Brisbane Adelaide & Perth to join KIIS ‘90s and KIIS Australia - these would change to make it into the ARN’s 2027 Upfronts
Are we so sure that ARN will even attempt an Upfront event this year, given the fallout from their previous one?
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Didn’t Nova already try that but they pulled them, possibly because too much overlap with the main station, and they replaced them with genre-based extensions such as Dance, R&B for Nova and Greatest Hits and Relaxing music for Smooth.
ARN already have a 2000s station on iHeartRadio, but not 2010s. They also have an oldskool R&B channel which would probably be a better addition to DAB than 2000s or 2010s, which is mostly what they play on the main station anyway.
I have to agree with you there. Nova is firmly Hot AC targeting an audience of 25-45, KIIS is targeting even younger with 18-40. A “throwback” song or even a lot of the recurrents that are played on the main log would fit perfectly in with the KIIS 00’s and KIIS 10’s stations.
Think songs like Zara Larson’s “Lush Life” or Vance Joy’s Riptide, which while being 9 years and 13 years old respectively, still get a lot of love across CHR and Hot AC stations as a recurrent.
There’s giving people options, and then there’s just spreading your audience too thin, and worse still, tempting them away from your main money maker (and money spender), which is your FM station. Or, it’s just wasted APRA fees and spectrum space for a station that barely gets off the ground. Money that ARN is probably not in a position to chuck away, and could go to better use.
It’s not a BAD idea at all, but it’s got some viability roadblocks when you run the numbers.
I don’t think ARN should be looking to spread themselves thinner on DAB stations… Their energy and few remaining staff would be better off working on a better quality product for their FM licenses.
Or relinquish the FM’s for someone else to have a go, and just be a DAB/Digital/iHeart network.
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There are no royalties for music played on DAB stations. They are exempt from paying royalties for a song played on DAB, which is why you have LiSTNR stations on DAB in Hobart, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
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The fact KIIS BNE and ADE don’t even have a CHR format, why do they even call the stations KIIS? Just brand them as GOLD.
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They do have the CHR format when taking network shows after 3pm weekdays & before 10am & after 6pm on Saturday & Sundays.
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Took them years to figure this out with 96fm spending the last decade with the ill fitting lips.
Issue with Adelaide is Cruise, so KIIS ideally would skew differently but there probably isn’t share for that with Hit/Nova already.
Brisbane with no Gold FM seems like a no brainer… pop KIIS on DAB like in Perth.
They’re already running Will and Woody on 96fm at 7pm though.. bet sales clients wanted FM not just DAB for a national show
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Cruise was originally supposed to rebrand as GOLD 1323 the same time when Mix rebranded as KIIS, obviously something stopped ARN from going ahead with plan at the last minute, maybe listener feedback?
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TBH, I don’t hear much overlap between Cruise1323 and GOLD Syd/Melb.
I think there is definitely room in the Adelaide market for both Cruise1323 & GOLD102.3 to both exist.
If KIIS1023 dropped its newer hits (post 2010) they’ll essentially have the same playlist as the eastern GOLD’s anyway.
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Seeing as KIIS is a brand with far too much baggage, here’s a 1am idea for what ARN should turn it into.
Rebrand it as beat.
Call each station.
beat97.3
beat106.5
beat102.3
beat101.1
beat perth
And make the tagline - The Beat of [insert city name here]
Combine this with a more alternative format, I’m thinking what 97.3/102.3 do currently but with more indie/alt, dream pop and soft rock I think it could be miles stronger than another AC/CHR station and actually give a point of difference without eating up Gold’s audience?
What’s MediaSpy’s take on this idea?
You end up with this new brand that sounds local and different to everything else on the dial, so you could market it as (for example):
the beat of sydney. beat106.5
keeping brisbane beating - this is robin, kip & corey oates for breakfast. beat97.3
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I’d use their Power brand and focus on females 25-54 and focus Gold more on a male audience.
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I like the format suggestion, but it needs to be on DAB only in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. The FM’s in those markets need to go Gold (albeit with some tweaks to what’s currently on Gold).
The format would be great on FM in Sydney and Melbourne. Not sold on the name Beat though - lots of negative and rude jokes would be happening I’m afraid. I actually wouldn’t hate the KIIS brand so much if it was spelt properly, or even spelt KIS-FM. The double I just does my head in. They need to rebrand the imaging though to distance it from Kyle. The previous incarnation of Kiss FM in the UK was great. And their slogan used to be “The beat of the UK”.
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