I’m surprised. Replacing Jono & Ben with someone pretty unknown (besides some Rock listeners who might recognise him as ‘K-Hole’) & zero social media following. Risky as.
I thought it would probably be Liam Malone
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Just some NZ radio updates I have noticed recently…
Polly and Grant will focus solely on the Wellington/Kapiti markets from next year on More FM. The Breakfast club will return to the Waikato, Rotorua & Whanganui markets. The dual programming strategy for Hawkes Bay will end but Dunedin will keep its second frequency for More Fm.
Mediaworks are swapping the Magic talk (currently FM) and Magic Music (currently AM) frequencies in Christchurch.
NZME have swapped some of their station frequencies around in Dunedin. ZM has moved under the 90FM band to 88.6FM (Was Flava), Radio Hauraki has moved to 95.8FM (Was ZM) and Flava has shifted to 106.2FM (Was Hauraki).
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I wonder if this is based on results in those regions they went into, or whether More sees a chance to attack in Wellington?
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A bit of both maybe??
Having Polly and Grant on More FM hasn’t really paid off for them in Wellington so far so I guess a real hyper local show is what they are moving towards.
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Wellington deserves local programming for dayshifts at least on on any higher wattage station you can sell to a large audience.
The Hits Wellington offer a local day show this with a Wellington based announcer.
More FM Wellington had a local day show but this but with an Auckland based announcer.
The Breeze Wellington have a local Wellington breakfast show followed by a dayshow, but with a Christchurch based announcer (Sue White) who is the local day announcer in Christchurch.
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my neighbour will be happy magic music will be on fm here in chch he struggles to get reception on his radio am
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What is NZME calling it- the ‘Barnett Effect’ in Chch (ZB)? Mediaworks really don’t have a lot of faith in the talk side of Magic do they?
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I give it 1 more year.
Not much faith left from Mediaworks and its hard not to understand either really. They have thrown all they can towards the talk format over the years with little reward. Fortunately for Mediaworks they can at least defeat NZME with every other format.
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The Edge’s stranglehold on that youth audience isn’t what it was.
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Yep talkback for Mediaworks has been about as successful as TV Three really and as you say not for want of trying.
Yes I think you’re probably right. Pity they can’t make inroads, a lot of the time I find Peter Williams more interesting to listen to than Kerre McIvor & Sean is probably a good alternative to the much more upbeat Si & Phil.
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I am new to Media Spy and I do listen to Magic, which is fully owned by MediaWorks, as one of its loyal listeners.
Just recently, Magic Music switched from 738AM to 99.3FM in Christchurch (though Magic Talk can now be found on 738AM). At the same time, Magic Music replaced Magic Talk on 89.2FM in Taranaki.
From my point of view, more Kiwis choose to “turn up the feel good” with the greatest songs of the 50s, 60s & 70s. What do you guys think?
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From an Australian perspective, it’s incredible to think that NZ, with a population of close to 5 million, has a commercial FM station that plays music from the 50s, 60s & 70s. Not even Sydney & Melbourne, which both have a similar population size to that of NZ, has a commercial FM station like that of Magic Music.
Not only that, the country also has some superior rock stations to that of Australia’s Triple M, such as The Rock, Radio Hauraki & The Sound. The adult music stations such as The Breeze, Coast & Mix, are not too bad either.
Lastly, welcome aboard @PaddyTePou! 
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Thanks very much and Happy New Year, as well.
Another nail in the talk radio coffin at Mediaworks.
The Magic brand has been successful for Mediaworks in a fairly short time and it out rated Radio Live within that time so it makes sense to focus on that instead, especially since the costs would be far less than talk radio. I haven’t really listened to Magic before but I am guessing it’s voicetracked outside of breakfast?
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Wonder what the plan is for those frequencies when they inevitably axe Magic Talk ?
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Country and Western? It’s been a long untapped genre in NZ (and possibly Australia?)
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There are a number of country music formats on DAB+ radio in Australia, both commercial and ABC. In regional areas there are narrowcast country stations. So yes perhaps there is a market in NZ?
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