Sport Nation branding and website now up for the transition from SENZ
3 Likes
SENZ rebrands to Sport Nation tomorrow at 6am.
1 Like
They need some type of commentary guide on the station. As a listener you never know whatās coming up in terms of live sport. The weekendās are hard to distinguish between live and recorded shows.
1 Like
Yeah agree.
This page actually does this (scroll to the far end for NZ) but it wasnt well promoted on the SENZ website and doesnt feature on the new one.
Last roll of the dice for a full sports radio format, surely?
The way NZ sports fans consume content has moved on and the appetite for sports discussion isnāt what it was/doesnāt havenāt the sports teams or leagues to sustain it.
3 Likes
Nah disagree! Still a want and need there. Just has to be done well.
Sport is having a resurgence.
Sorry but I have to disagree myself - yes, Iāll grant you thereās a demand for a sports station, but as I said, I question whether thereās enough sport (and enough audience) to go around for two sports stations.
If there was a real resurgence going on as you say, as I mentioned previously - Gold would be 24 hour sports, all the time, but itās not. I also note that SENZ had lots of big names in sport on their presenter lineup and (even though Iām not a sports fan) I think they arguably ādid it [reasonably] wellā - but their ratings were absolutely abysmal, and thatās what counts. Yes, they could have marketed it better, but they were using the former Trackside frequencies (from memory) so would have already had a listener base that would have (mostly) carried over to the SENZ.
Is this new brand/station etc going to do any better than SENZ? Okay it has a clearer name, but sorry, Iām quite doubtful.
1 Like
I often wonder if a station or network with a format similar to Nine Radioās āNews Talkā stations in Australia could succeed in New Zealand? A blend of news, talkback, and sport, tailored to each region, might be unique enough to attract a significant audience.
Unsure on this. Sport is having a resurgence to an extent but NZ sports fans tend to be less engaged on their teams than overseas and the discussion points are free.
I suspect a back to the future Sports Roundup approach (Ie Gold) is the most sustainable.
Well this is what Newstalk ZB is/was.
There was a time when ZB had local 9-12 shows, Saturday afternoon sports commentary/update shows in plenty of markets but they were mostly phased out by the 2000s (later for Wellington and Canterbury on the sports shows).
Now itās a local 9-12 show in Wellington and Canterbury plus heaps of local sports shows on Saturday mornings around the country.
Itās audience vs commercial imperatives and donāt think it would be financially sustainable.
2 Likes
@OnAir In the mid-1990s, for example, the original Newstalk ZB used to have the following:
- localised breakfast shows in certain regions, including Lindsay Yeo (who died recently) and Raylene Ramsay in Wellington, Barry Corbett and John Dunne (aka Baz and Johnno) in Christchurch and Hemi Hill in Taranaki;
- localised mid-morning shows with various presenters across the country, including Leighton Smith in Auckland and Kathryn Asare in Wellington;
- localised afternoon shows in certain regions, including Justin du Fresne in Wellington, Robin Harrison in Christchurch and Hamish Clark in Dunedin, with the Waikato Consumer Hour broadcasting to the Waikato region from 12-1pm (in place of the first hour of Chris Carterās 12-4pm slot); and
- localised Jukebox Saturday Night shows in Wellington and Christchurch (in place of the late Jim Suttonās Nostalgia programme) on Saturday nights.
2 Likes
This was awesome, but I hasten to add that there were far less entertainment options back then, so more people listened to the radio.
These days, I imagine the bean counters would say itās much more profitable to have one announcer (usually in Auckland) to cover the entire country and just present a singular network show, even if they pay them twice what a regional announcer would have been making back in the day.
Radio Pacific used to be like this too, from memory - but I felt they kinda lost their way a bit when ZB started expanding nationwide outside the main centres in the late 1990s. By the time it was finally shut down and replaced with Radio Live in 2005 it felt to me like it was a shadow of its former self.
2 Likes
**SURVEY 3 **
AUCKLAND
Newstalk ZB 15.3-14.5
Mai FM 10.5-9.5
Breeze 8.9-8.8
Coast 5.5-5.6
More FM 5.6-5.1
The Hits 4.4-5.0 (Largest share ever)
Magic 3.4-4.9
Rock 4.1-4.7
George FM 3.3-4.3
The Sound 3.3-3.9
(nice jump for Channel X: 2.1 to 3.6)
CHRISTCHURCH
Newstalk ZB 17.4-14.9
Breeze 11.2-12.3
More FM 8.7-9.7
Rock 7.3-9.7
Magic 11.0-9.1
WELLINGTON
Newstalk ZB 17.4-15.6
Breeze 11.5-9.9
Rock 5.7-9.0 (Largest share ever)
ZM 7.7-7.5
Mai FM 4.4-6.7
2 Likes
Good book for The Rock (because of Rock 2000) and Channel X - but a dire result for More FM. The Hits strategy is starting to pay off ā¦ especially in Auckland.
1 Like
The rise and rise of this brandā¦ beating out Hauraki already based on this survey. Now to monetise it a bit more.
1 Like
Itās also taking audience away from other MW brands.
Will be interesting to see what the strategy for Channel X is next year - if there is one. But having a āSpotifyā station canāt be sustainable long term since commercially there are limited things to sell (and MW desperately needs $$$).
The relatively cheap operation probably helps a bit, thereās not much point trying to commercialize it more than it already is when they donāt have to pay DJs/producers/engineers for that specific station
2 Likes
Agreed - but what about audiences leaving other MW brands for X, which do have higher operational costs and commercial needs. Itās only a matter of time before MW is forced to rethink X.
Or rethink the other formats to the low cost model.
That is actually really good for Channel X. Iāve listened to it a few times and actually find the mix is quite good - reminds me of both Channel Z (back in the day) and The Edge around 2000-2001. The combination of no ads and minimal talking is probably quite a good one.
re monetising it, maybe they could do like Coast did when they started back in 2004 - only 2 ads per break? It probably wouldnāt bring in millions, but would certainly bring in something.
How did Hauraki actually rate? I canāt see it in the list anywhere there. ZB still doing like a juggernaut though.
Thatās quite depressing for More FM in Wellington - hell, it was the birthplace of that brand! Mind you itās vastly different today compared to how it was when it launched in 1991 (as is the whole radio market).
1 Like