4BC and top rating in the same sentence - wow!
The way things are going I wouldn’t be surprised if by the time the merger is confirmed, MSR is already on the way out and yet another format is about to be launched. I believe that before MSR started, Macquarie bosses were saying that it would be given 6 months to prove itself or else it would be gone - the 6 months will be up in October.
Link to article with more detail on the departure of Beau Ryan.
You have to admire the optimism of the top bosses quoted in there. More like heads in the sand actually.
IMO, the best thing for the current Macquarie Sports Radio stations would be to sell 954AM Sydney/882 Brisbane to Crocmedia and 1278 Melbourne to the owners of 2CH. Macquarie, Fairfax, Nine or whoever will actually own the radio network next year would probably be better off focusing solely on 2GB, 3AW, 4BC and 6PR.
But I won’t be holding my breath for the above to happen.
Or even better. Sell 954 to whoever owns JOY back in Melbourne and then remove the frequency response restriction on the transmitter.
I doubt that would happen tho.
Nine sports radio on 954. Does not work in the other states. At least the remaining cricket team can get a job there. It will be interesting what nine will do with the MSR stations.
I doubt much will change with the radio assets as they’re a separately listed company that nine would have a shareholding in. Unless they install a new board and management for Macquarie media I doubt much will change at all.
2UE sounding a bit thin in the bandwidth department???
They might also be able to fix 4BC while they are at it, doesn’t sound anywhere even remotely close to what a brand new Orban should sound like 
He’s at the IQ required for it. Had the displeasure of enduring one of his ‘comedy’ segments last year on the Footy Show, simply mindless TV viewing.
Another ill considered hiring by MRN then. And this is why Fairfax let MRN run their own business, as incompetent as the Fairfax board the last 20 years.
It’s radio news, there’s no time. No omission, all assets will transfer unless an unsolicited bid is offered and completed beforehand or Nine choose to punt the stations which is the more likely choice. Where’s the benefit in investing to turn them around?
Retain AW and GB then take your pick with the SCA assets once their debt is down, we could see a by product being a demerger of the SCA duos in the two largest markets.
It’s Sydney, they have zero interest outside of there. Misguided delusion that if Alan and Ray are #1 in Sydney, they would be everywhere.
Craig’s got enough problems in Melb to worry about more markets to travel to keep tabs on. Could have enough bravado to do it regardless.
Glenn and John have enough to do between Sydney and Maroochydore. Unless they’re happy to invest in quality talent to run the Melb business autonomously.
Nine will have Fairfax’s 53% stake in MRN unless they find a keen buyer to pass it onto.
Better yet, the Wide World of Sports radio.
Sounds no different to me, will listen with fresh ears on the weekend.
Surely you’re not surprised? I’m not.
Yeah didn’t sound all that bad last time I tuned in
Nope raised my concerns while I was there, been 5 months since I left and it still sounds the same… Will leave my comment at that
it would not shock me to log on here one day and see that vision has brought the frequencies. The stations are now worth sweet FA, vision won’t need the studio space or the talent and the frequencies are worth something to them - having city wide coverage instead of LPON means that people can listen in the car, one big thing they do not have now.
they also already have AM frequencies in the network so things are already set up for it.
Interesting if that’s the case. Because 1278 in Melbourne has been deliberately restricted to 5kHz audio for years. Maybe it’s some warped Macquarie policy.
One day somebody turned off the restriction (probably just the 5k filter switch on the Optimod) Sounded great again. Two days later it went back to telephone quality. Stephen Beers must have found out and put the filter back on.
Why the hell they do this is beyond me. And it’s also against ACMA broadcasting standards for AM stations.
Possibly the end of an era with John Stanley’s future at 954 in doubt?
Mark Levy and Mark Riddell will co-cost the breakfast sports program from Monday.
John Stanley is still there, somewhere.
Well I guess it gives them something to do until the whole format is given the flick. Interesting to see if they give John Stanley something better at 2GB.
Long ago Stanley was Alan Jones’ producer at 2UE, and before that the bureau chief for 2GB at parliament house in Canberra. He has had a versatile news talk radio career. 2GB would be silly not to properly utilise his talents.
As long as John has been offered something decent to move to, this probably comes as quite a relief to him. MSR Breakfast was a serious waste of his professional talents and news/talk credentials. Co-presenting with Beau Ryan must have been a particular low point for him in his career.
Doing anything with Beau Ryan would be a low point in anyone’s career.
John Stanley unfortunately has had to lower his standards in his last two roles. Would be great to see him remain on air somewhere as he is one of the few broadcasters who discuss matters in a balanced way. I’m sure there is an audience craving this type of broadcaster.
Looks like John Stanley has now been announced as leaving MSR breakfast but will remain in the network.
https://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/john-stanley-departs-macquarie-sports-radio-breakfast
Macquarie keep stabbing, strangling and poisoning “2UE” but the damn station just will not die.