Gold rating above Nova in the 18-24s???
I think it depends on what MIX 94.5 do. Given the music director in Perth is gone, and direction is coming out of Triple M Adelaide, and the departure of Lisa from the station, I wonder if they are going to change MIX 94.5 to Triple M sooner rather than later.
If Triple M/94.5 goes more rock, then I agree 96FM should move towards a Pure Gold playlist, kind of like MIX 94.5 are now, and try and pick up their audience.
If MIX 94.5 stay as is, I reckon 96FM should go full rock, like they used to be a few years ago under Fairfax ownership.
Either way, they need to ditch the ill-fitting KIIS network, the awful logo and the awful networked programs. Live and local from 5-midnight as a minimum.
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Which Lisa is leaving/left?
I would normally suggest that live/local is best, but as I said above the heavily networked nights is their best rating timeslot.
Breakfast & Drive are the worst performing and only one of them is networked (and the success of networked drive shows on Nova & Hit suggest its not the networking in and of itself that is causing their problems.
Dumping the parent company’s format on Perth has been tried & failed. It’s what killed 96FM (tks TV-Expert} to start with, reverting to there original format has helped them to revive some of there former status. For whatever reason Perth people don’t like having the other states format forced onto them.
I know plenty of people who will not listen to any programs that are networked from the east (live sport is an exception). Sometimes because of the 2/3 hour delay, sometimes because of the eastern-centric nature of the discussions.
I read somewhere many years ago that radio is the most personal of the three traditional types of media (TV, radio & print), maybe it does need to be ‘live & local’.
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It was actually 96fm that rebranded to Triple M back in the 90s, due to common ownership at the time. When Austereo bought PMFM (now hit92.9) & 94.5 in late 1997, they sold Triple M to Southern Cross Broadcasting (who owned 6PR & 6IX), who then rebranded it back to its original name. In late 1998/early 1999, Southern Cross sold 6IX to a JV of Capital Radio Network & Grant Broadcasters.
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Probably holding off from changing to 96FM to Pure Gold as ARN are leaving the door ajar to potentially buy 6IX.
They could have the same set up as Brisbane and Adelaide
KIIS - 96FM
Pure Gold/Classic Hits - 6IX
That would give SCA and NE some decent competition.
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They’ll have to sell 50% of Nova 93.7 before that can happen though.
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They could a straight swap with 97.3 Brisbane. NE own half of that station.
Given 6IX’s improved ratings, it could be an attractive proposition.
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Good point.
That way, NE could then potentially buy 4BH from Macquarie & have Smooth 882, which would do much better than what Macquarie Sports Radio will ever achieve, especially given it rates well in the DAB+ ratings there. I guarantee that Smooth 882 would challenge 4KQ in the AM music ratings battle. 
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Smooth AM would work well in Brisbane. It’s clear that up there people prefer music over constant talk. That said, it’s interesting that 4BC has managed to build over the last few years since completely wiping out their local lineup for 2GB programming.
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I agree and I love the description of the KIIS network as ill-fitting. That sums it up perfectly in others cities as well.
But I think it’s inevitable that 94.5 eventually adopts a Triple M format so I think 96 should preemptively adopt the Pure Gold format.
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That would be an excellent outcome. Yes Smooth 882/DAB+ would work in Brisbane.
NE need to think out of the box if they want to expand their successful Smooth format. In the UK Smooth Radio is on AM/DAB+ in some markets where they don’t have an FM licence.
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It would be pretty much a straight swap too I’d say in terms of value. It would also make it easier for NE to sell the Nova network down the line if they wanted to.
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They hover constantly between 4 - 7%, have done since wrecking the content and talent end 2013.
91% 2GB content on 4BC has made zero difference.