As long as they’re literally just saying the name of the song, then maybe that’s okay. But if they’re going to ramble on and throw in talkback topics, then that’s totally unproductive.
You can get talkback on Nine’s talk stations. The music stations are supposed to complement the talk stations, not compete with them and draw away listeners from them. That’s why Nine’s two radio stations deliver two totally different products.
For me the Nine Radio music stations could do with shorter news bulletins, as those take up 5 minutes at the top of the hour as they just seem to take the same news as the talk stations.
If you had 5 minutes of “talk” through the hour, but only 2 minutes of that was an FM style news bulletin and the rest was a presenter between songs, you’d have a much more listenable station.
I agree. The news bulletins are too long on the music stations.
Don’t forget though that the majority of 2UE/Magic/4BH listenership is oldies - their highest demo is 65+. They might prefer the 5-minute news bulletin whilst listening to all the songs of their generation.
Definately Agree with you, Because Today’s Classic Hits Format on Radio is from the Mid-1970’s through to the Late 2000’s.
I prefer the longer news bulletins. It’s what actually draws me to the Nine Music stations.
As for announcers, please don’t introduce them unless they’ll be live. We don’t need another smooth. But what 2CH does and connecting to the community would be nice.
I’m also looking forward to better websites than present.
And will we see new logos?
I think the best indication of what they’ll do is what they’re currently doing with 3MP. The music might be different to differentiate Magic 1278, but I would expect the general operational structure to be similar. 3MP is likely what has given ACE the confidence to take on these stations.
Dave Ferguson was on Magic 1278 before they changed it to Talking Lifestyle in 2017
If I remember correctly
I also believe Ace Digital more than likely rebuild the websites in the style of Ace Radio Stations
Do we expect the majority of shifts to be networked from the 3MP studios with similar network programs going to air?
I don’t mind a longer news bulletin either especially during breakfast and drive to catch up on the day’s news. If it must be shortened, I like the Triple J style, is that 3 minutes? Still gets a lot of news in rather than the 90 or 120 seconds on some commercials. I’m sure Magic (and possibly MP) used to have a shorter bulletin during the morning and arvo shifts going back a few years.
I doubt the announcers will be live, it’ll be the MP model if they have announcers which sounds like it’s near live, although parts of breakfast may be live as I’ve heard the odd time call, or just very well timed.
Agree with Frankie. Share the 2GB “fat” news at 7 and 8 am and maybe once more at 5pm. They’ve always got access to the Nine newsroom if an occasional “news flash” is required (just thought - it’s a long time since I heard or used that term!)
If Ace want to use it, Nine Radio produces a prerecorded 3 minute national bulletin from 5:30am-10pm weekdays and 6am-6pm weekends. This might be a suitable substitute for the music stations especially outside breakfast and drive.
Some strange music choices lately. Frank Sinatra’s My Way followed by some rock song.
2SM in its heyday had the second best newsroom in Sydney behind 2UE. They played the hits, even if that included "The Rangers Waltz’ and ‘Lords Prayer’ and everything in between. The point is, the more information you give listeners, the more they want. News and music are a very natural fit.
2UE when it started Top 40 radio in Australia had and continued to have an extraordinary news service. until it was gutted.
The 50 plus demo want news and information, plus great music.
I believe Graham Mott is consulting with ACE, if anyone knows how to do it right, it’s him.
Time will tell.
I agree to a point. I just don’t find the news bulletins on the Nine music stations that great. They’re overly long and rambling. Also extremely repetitive for every hour on the hour. If you’re putting news out every hour you have to change it up, not just repeat the same news for 5 hours in a row. Also the sport is rambling and sometimes bizarre. Talking about specific games in the UK soccer or US football like the audience want to be right across the latest NFL game between Tampa and whoever. It’s just odd.
IMO it needs to be sharper and more succinct outside of breakfast, like the BBC news updates on Radio 2.
Hopefully we will get a exact date soon for the Ace Radio Takeover
ABC Local (back in the 2BL days) used to basically serve substantial dollops of news at breakfast, then one or two lunchtime bulletins and a couple more at drive. All five minutes if I recall, except for the 7.45 monster. Outside that there was News in Brief (2 minutes - no Fanfare) - and not necessarily every hour, especially on weekends. I always felt it had the balance about right.
Exactly. Case in point - popular Central Coast community station CoastFM 96.3 runs the same bulletins as Nine’s music stations (what used to be called “Macquarie National News”).
So what changes do we predict to hear/see on the Nine Radio Music Stations come midnight?
Will there be new ACE-style logos? Will Stevie and Lavinia be no more? Will we see the open line number 131 2UE reintroduced?
And would we see any tweak to the music format on Magic to give it more of a difference to 3MP? Or will we see the ENTIRE network change its music format overnight?
Is Ace taking over tonight?