In relation to the future of MSR:
Malone says it’s still “too early to tell”.
What Malone did appear to reveal is that Nine isn’t married to a sports format in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and on DAB+ in Perth.
“I’ve got to get in there, have a good look around, and work out what would complement our other stations and go from there.”
I wish Seven had purchased MML. That would’ve meant Jason Morrison could’ve been running the radio network.
He can always be hired by Nine, if he wants to accept, that’s Jason’s decision.
Morrison is a supporter of conspiracy theorists Michael Smith and Jim Ball. 2GB would drift further to the lunatic right if Morrison was the boss.
The drive show that was axed a fortnight ago has returned:
Quote: “I’ve got to get in there, have a good look around, and work out what would complement our other stations and go from there.”
So their starting point is working out what complements 3AW, 2GB and 4BC rather than what what gap exists in the listener experience.
I get that Nova complements Smooth, Triple M complements Fox, KIIS complements Gold.
I can understand Macquarie wanting a second network that complements the first.
But complementing the other station should be the last thing on the checklist, not the first.
Nova thought that Vega complements Nova, then it thought Classic Rock complements Nova. Finally it worked out it’s Smooth the complements Nova.
But complementing the other station is not something you simply arrive at with the click of fingers- Fox and Triple M were already providing complementary programming to one another for most years before they were brought under the one roof.
But complementing the other station doesn’t always produce even results. KIIS in Sydney rates well because it got Kyle and Jackie O over from 2Day, not because of how it might complement WSFM.
In New York, iHeart runs both Z100 and KTU, both running very overlapping music formats and distinguished more by different breakfast shows than anything else. Complementary doesn’t remove all need to compete with the station down the hall.
Absolutely 100%. BBC Radio 1 and 2 strike a good balance of complementing and competing with each other.
And remember in the (late?) 90s Austereo were all over the place with their stations in Adelaide and Perth, switching formats until they worked out what really worked/complemented.
But they’ve got to consider each market individually. Look at the Nova Adelaide / 5AA combo in Adelaide. It’s appropriate because it fills the gaps in that particular market.
I am hearing that Malone wants to persist with MSR notwithstanding the latest dip in the ratings, at least for the time being and is looking at some input from Nine Sports guys. Some suggestion that the Continuous Call Team will come across from 2GB which would have made sense from the start (could have been bad, could have been good) A few months to think about it and even then could all just be hearsay.
rather optimistic to think it can bounce back from zeros and being half-axed already.
Tom has forgotten that one doesn’t have a second chance to make a first impression.
MSR launched as a flop and the format will remain as such regardless of WWOS content added.
There’s also an incontrovertible matter of the name: Macquarie Sports Radio. Macquarie.
From the name of the station onwards, it signifies so much of what Macquarie did wrong. Don’t prolong it, ditch it.
I’m certain that Tom won’t be the only one with an operational interest in the radio assets. Nine will recruit others from the radio sector to advise, it’s a given.
About the only thing left to try is an all business/finance news and talk format. This only works in the US though and would be even more niche than ‘Talking Lifestyle’. It would potentially attract cashed up listeners and advertisers though…
I’ve always thought a 24/7 news talk format would be good.
2GB is already considered a ‘news/talk’ station. Are you thinking more along the lines of LBC in London; i.e. 24/7 open lines with no feature programming? Newstalk ZB also comes close to this model, though they have a few feature programs I think.
Correct. Still some talkback and some overlap with 2GB, but the content will be less lifestyle (e.g. no CarAdvice, etc.) and more rolling news stories.
2GB would be talk radio… MSR/2UE only would be news talk.
Yep- anyone who thinks they’re well informed by listening to 2GB is kidding themselves.
Perhaps business/finance and traffic? They have all traffic stations in some large North American cities.
I don’t mind LBC in London, even though I’m not actually a news/talk station listener normally. Most of the presenters on LBC are actually really balanced and usually delve deeper on issues rather than jump to any bias.
I know you’re in Brisbane and so probably won’t remember this, but Sydney had ‘Traffic 1611’ very briefly about a decade ago. True, it was on an off-band licence and as such wouldn’t have got very much exposure, but they still canned it after a few months.
Another thing to consider is that some GPS units deliver real time traffic data which, when combined with the frequent traffic updates on most radio stations, probably renders an all traffic station redundant.
If FM broadcasters used the TA flag on RDS in Australia it would be even better.
