4BH needs local voices in Brisbane, Once 4KQ Ceases to Exist, They must Provide a Recruiting Opportunity to Brisbane’s Commercial Radio Focus.
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Yes in particular Brent James
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There’s nothing he doesn’t know about music,or what hits charted in Brisbane.
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Honestly I hope they can get him to jump across and he doesn’t take this redundancy as a time to retire
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Now that 4Kq and 2CH are no longer (or soon to be no more) ACE has a great opportunity to grab more listeners and market share.
There is now a gap in the market in Sydney for a classic hits station. If ACE could launch Magic on DAB in Sydney that would fill the gap, as 2UE is still an easy listening format.
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I heard a rumour, although not sure if it is true that when Channel 10 was getting ready to launch in Perth in 1988, they were running ads on Seven and Nine promoting that they were starting.
I guess on the rare occassion given the circumstances, it’s good that rivals can help one another out in 2UE’s case.
Anyone know if 4BH has been running promos on 4KQ?
Haven’t heard any ads for 4BH on 4KQ.
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So on 4BH they have a winner from the public on the music survey. He’s apparently from Toowoomba. This surprises me a little as I’m not really sure 1116 gets into Toowoomba that well at all. Not in my experience anyway. DAB is doubtful too. Possibly he’s a commuter into Ipswich or Brisbane I suppose… BTW I completed the survey and it was LONG! I felt I deserved $1,000 
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Probably someone who streams as local radio probably isn’t that great, also could be someone who has recently moved from Brisbane
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Does ace need a survey for them to add 90’s hits/songs to Magic 1278?
It would be good as well if they add the songs that 2ch used to play as well
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Nah, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s are the way to go.
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Magic are playing plenty of 80’s and there are some great songs from the 90’s they need to add. Those who 30 years old in 1962 are now 90 (or dead) 30 in 1972 are now 80, 30 in 1982 are now 70 and 30 in 1992 are 60. Time to sneak in the 1990’s.
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Should never restrain for decades - find music that fits the format, some songs from the 2010s will fit, while some classic hits just deserve to stay buried.
There’s 80s and 90s stations on DAB, variety is the USP.
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I completely agree. It’s about song choice. Breeze plays 60s to now and sounds great. Most music is 70s - 90s but the newer stuff post 2000 that they occasionally throw in works perfectly. 4BH used to do the same in the late 90s/early 2000s
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Most music programmers today, due to age or network/brand tenure really don’t understand that music radio is not a ‘Juke Box’, an excuse to do uninterrupted sweeps/hours of multiple songs without any real human interaction.
Top 40 radio began in Australia, March 1958 at 2UE.
It was presented by big name Disc Jockeys - Bob Rogers, John Laws and others who knew how to ‘sell the sizzle’ of the format. It kept on evolving until the 2SM, 3XY, 4IP and many others exploded in the early 70’s, compression, reverb, hot jocks, big promotions and great programmers.
Since those early days it’s all been a variation on a theme: Beautiful Music, All Time Greats, Classic Hits, Hits and Memories and many more, the problem, you need the profile presenters to partner with the music, to sell it, to provide continuity, ebb and flow and contact with the local community.
4KQ is a perfect example, for Brisbane of ‘live and local’ working with some of the elements mentioned above.
However, it costs money. 4KQ is successful, but if it were standalone and not part of ARN, the current format/staff would be unsustainable today.
With the diversity of choice in audio these days, of all genres, it’s too hard to find the ad dollars that used to be available a couple of decades ago. Revenue which could (mostly) sustain a solid line-up.
4KQ had a cume of 283 (mainly 55/65+) survey 3, 97.3 - ( a younger) 511, the demo’s and TSL work well in this combination and is attractive as a package buy.
These are bare numbers, look at all the other markets, the networks are cross selling demo’s in each city to sustain costs, with not much, if any, real revenues.
The reality in this era, without a major network backing, it is extremely tough to survive in today’s economy. On top, currently, all media stocks are taking an absolute bath on the ASX.
I, like many here, would like less networking more localism, live presenters, just like it used to be. That was before, this is now. Sadly, it seems, those days are now behind us. The hybrid’s like 4BH/2UE/Magic hopefully can run lean, be clever (ACE are good radio operators) and hopefully create a model which is sustainable and feel ‘sort of’ local.
Time will tell.
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Journo, you are 100% correct when you said: However, it costs money. 4KQ is successful, but if it were standalone and not part of ARN, the current format/staff would be unsustainable today.
It simply is not. It’s unfortunate for many of the staff who will probably be out of a job shortly…but given their tenure, at least they’ll get a good payout.
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It’s interesting to note that even Duncan Campbell was saying recently that if the opportunity to convert 4KQ to FM came up, it wouldn’t make commercial sense for ARN to do so, due to the demographics of its target audience.
As ARN have mentioned, the revenue from Hot 91 and River 949 is greater than the revenue of 4KQ which is why it was sold. It’s a pity that SEN decided not to continue it running as a cheap DAB+ only station, keeping the log, but they have also come out and said their focus is on sport, not music, so it’s understandable.
The demise of 4KQ will be a boon to 4BH as will the demise of 2CH be a boon to 2UE. I will be very surprised if ACE don’t pick up more listeners as a result and a higher TSL share.
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ACE should add the songs that is currently play on their Heritage regional stations to Magic 1278 playlist
I believe that will make Magic 1278 even better
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What songs did 2CH play that Magic1278 doesn’t? Not the easy listening (dreary, sleepy) ones! They belong on 3MP. Magic is reasonably upbeat.