Whilst I agree with the sentiments behind the petition, I can confidently predict that the chances of Macquarie acting on the petition will be zero. Macquarie already knows there is a significant number of people who are not happy with the stripping of local output from 4BC and 4BH. However, ultimately it’s a business decision for them as to how they operate those licences and the senior managers are answerable only to their Board and shareholders. They are not breaching any regulatory requirements by operating the licences in the way they currently do. Commercial considerations alone will determine any changes they might make in the future to either 4BC or what is currently Talking LIfestyle. They won’t be swayed by a petition. I doubt they’ll even bother responding to it.
With 19 people signing the petition (@8:50pm), its hardly setting Brisbane on fire… With that few, MartP is absolutely right that they won’t even bother responding.
Personally, I think the local content rules that apply to country stations, should apply to all commercial radio licences. It should be the same rules for all.
To be honest I don’t think it would make much difference if half of Brisbane signed the petition. Macquarie will be driven by commercial considerations, and commercial considerations alone. That sadly is the reality.
I doubt the petition will have any effect on Macquarie either, but at least they can’t deny they know there is dissatisfaction out there.
Of course commercial decisions will prevail. But let’s be real, companies make good and bad commercial decisions all the time. Just because they’re hiding behind that particular buzzword at the moment is no guarantee their current strategy is paying off.
I’ve worked in the corporate world long enough to know that spin only goes so far. If the strategy is flawed and ratings continue to be close to Nil in Brisbane and Melbourne, they will eventually change course.
But you’re assuming the commercial considerations that brought about TL were sound in the first place, and are working as expected. I highly doubt the business case was based on near Nil ratings, regardless of the brave face they’re putting on.
I’m not assuming those considerations were sound, the evidence in practice suggests they were not. However, it will be revised commercial considerations that will change things, not a petition signed by a small number of people. Macquarie will already be well aware that broadcasting most output on both stations from Sydney is not universally popular in Brisbane but they have persevered anyway.
While I also agree about the situation with MRN’s Brisbane stations (and possibly also Talking Lifestyle 1278 in Melbourne - is any studio programing for them produced outside of Sydney?), unfortunately I doubt they’ll take action over a petition that 19 people have signed.
Until MRN decide that it makes more commercial sense to broadcast more local programing for the Brisbane market…or in the highly unlikely chance that the usually toothless tiger ACMA decides to take action, don’t expect anything to change.
I get what you’re saying but you can’t really separate the two! Commercial success is dependant on broadcasting what people want to hear. If you’re not broadcasting what people want, you have no listeners, and there are no commercials to consider. That’s where they are now in fact. They’ve made the mistake many companies make by forgetting where their revenue ultimately comes from. In the case of radio it’s not from advertisers, but ultimately from the listener. No listeners mean no revenue.
People can talk about “protecting” the main talk stations by subsidizing TL but this is just bad business.
We’ve gone way beyond the “makes more commercial sense to provide local content” argument. The situation is far more dire than that! Let’s be clear, they have no listeners in Brisbane and Melbourne yet they’re incurring significant costs just to keep broadcasting the expensive AM signal to nobody. They’re past the stage of building a case for change. What they’re doing currently is not sustainable.
Well after being a listener that always flicked between 2GB, 2UE and the ABC, I have officially removed 954 from the pre-programmed channels today and said goodbye.
Talking Lifestyle is just a failure. I didn’t mind John and Garry even in the national format but seriously, the show has now become four hours of “here’s things you could Google”. A breakfast show essentially dedicated to where sayings come from.
And with overnights gone now too, it’s just worthless BS.
John Stanley is such a waste on Lifestyle. I live in hope that one day a saviour will come along, buy Lifestyle for next to nothing, bring back the likes of Stuart Bocking, Mike Jeffreys, even Clive Robertson, Jason Morrison, tweak the format back to talkback and away you go.
That would be a strong lineup. Goodness knows what John Stanley really thinks of the current format. And it’s a crying shame that a competent presenter like Stuart Bocking doesn’t seem to be on air anywhere at the moment.
Mentioning Jason Morrison reminds me of an article he wrote about the time of the merger in which he argued that Macquarie should not ditch entirely the newstalk format on 2UE. From memory his argument went along the lines of:
although 2UE’s ratings were not great, there was still a significant number of people in cumulative terms listening to 2UE who were not also listening to 2GB.
those 2UE listeners who still wanted a newstalk format that was a bit ‘softer’ or more centrist than 2GB might well ditch the station if it changed format
it would be wrong to assume that those listeners deserting the new 2UE would automatically stay within the Macquarie family and switch to 2GB. They could be just as likely to switch to ABC or another station. If they wanted to listen to 2GB, they would probably already be doing so.
it would be particularly challenging to have to attract sufficient new listeners not only to replace those listeners that had left but also to try and increase the ratings.
Seems like his words might have been worth Macquarie listening to.
I was listening to George and Paul in the morning this was just when they begun with the Talking Lifestyle format, Basically management wanted them to change the show format to make it more advertorial, both said that if you did this where going…So they decided to keep the George and Paul Show the way it is. As for the normal weekday morning show with John and Garry I haven’t listened to them since 2016, which is really a pity I saw them both doing their end of year show at Harvey Norman and after the show concluded people where very upset at the way the radio station was heading. I decided to listen to the show other day and to my amasement the topic of conversation was how to remove stains from shirts, Incredible what a waste of 2 good journalist.
I knew the day 2ue was taken over it was always going to be the poorer cousin to 2gb. This takeover was more like the type where they strip the assets of an ex-bitter rival and keep them down. If it was not bitter they would of just kept 2ch going and run the magic network from the smell of an oily rag. Smooth buying WS FM 101.7 and then selling 95.3 FM it would never happen (does not make sense on FM). Melbourne / Brisbane stations just got caught up in this rivalry in Sydney. They really want 2GB to be only talk station in Sydney / Brisbane. 3AW I think are holding on. Luckily 3AW rate well otherwise 2GB would of moved down there too. For the magic brand, they felt it was not rating enough to justify to run on their own so they just re-branded the stations.
So they change the identity of the station of 2ue (after they had the 90 year celebration), it was almost like funeral looking back ( reflect on the great past) . Then they change the branding making sure they will never outrate 2gb ever again under this ownership model.
It does happen in the real world it business. Business can just buy it out and make their product part of their product line. But I guess most agree radio should be different. Formats can change, but with the goal of making it “better” for a clear purpose and different market segment. If this was a great new format, they would of made it Talking Lifestyle 1170 instead of having the expense of buying 2ue and selling 2ch.
In history I don’t think I have seen this type of situation before with a merger, example WS FM and Mix 106.5 (KIIS FM) , also Triple M and 2DayFM. Even 2GB and 2CH. Normally they still want both stations to rate even though they may “network shows” and cut costs. WSFM / KIIS really worked hard to make both stations rate.
Having said this , I do listen to technology shows, George and Paul sometimes John & Garry. There are some other travel shows which can be interesting but I’d rather 2ue to come back as it was.
To answer your questions. I don’t think it will change in the short-term, it will be here to stay until the current leadership move on. I think if it does not rate they will just cut more costs and get cheaper announcers.
The failure of MTR 1377 (and CBC before it, although that’s before my time) was proof enough that blatantly Sydney content won’t fly in the better of the two cities