There is a difference between EON and MSR. EON was digital only(and was target to a sydney audience in my opinion and MSR has digital but has got AM Coverage. Better for the advertisrs for MSR. So You can not compare EON(or even the racing networks) ratings to MSR. You can’t even compare rating of MSR last year to now because it is not peak listening season for Sports fans. It there are worse rating in the Spring Ratings survey well change is maybe on the cards.
EON was set up from People whom have no or very little radio knowledge( Yes wheatley been in the music industry but has not been in the radio game since EON FM started in Melbourne in the 80’s which is now Triple M)
If MSR was a Melbourne based radio station like SEN is, Yes you have a point. However I think MSR is clever on putting on Rugby League with Melbourne Storm games in Melbourne and putting the Contiunious call team this year while puting all the 3aw AFL stuff into Sydney and Brisbane. Good Move.
There needs to be an alternative to the primary sports in the different market and MSR are proving it this season.
So far the only point Macquarie Media has made is that they have been able to totally destroy three radio stations. I will be very surprised if the Melbourne and Brisbane stations are rating over 1 by July this year.
I get why people think the major sports should be on the sport station rather than the news/talk station, and I agree with the logic of that, but in my view the AFL is so entrenched on 3AW and the NRL on 2GB that moving them to the sport station would risk confusing and losing a decent chunk of the audience to rival calls.
Eg. In Melbourne AFL can be found on 3AW, SEN, ABC, Triple M. In Sydney NRL can be found on 2GB, 2SM, ABC, Triple M.
A decent number of people who tune in for match coverage will not be regular listeners to 3AW or 2GB during the week. They just know that those stations are among their choices for match coverage. If they tune in expecting to hear a game in progress and instead find a random talk show, they’re more likely to quickly switch to another station with coverage than to wait for instructions between callers about where the coverage has moved to.
Some might find MSR by accident while searching for coverage, but I think most would just go straight to a competitor where they have found coverage previously.
An extensive (and expensive) advertising blitz to announce the change could mitigate the risk, but I can’t imagine any radio network in the country spending that much money for what would amount to minuscule revenue gain, if any.
And now under Nine’s overall control I think MSR will have a limited lifespan unless it seriously ups its game. Nine won’t tolerate failure for too long. 1% in the Sydney ratings is nothing to celebrate and then there’s Brisbane and Melbourne!!
Someone might correct me but I’m not sure that Nine owns Macquarie radio outright. I think it’s still a joint venture between Nine (ex-Fairfax) and John Singleton
Mate how hard is it to understand. It’s rating appalling. Just because it’s still on the air is not a measure of success. It may have a few fanboys that wax lyrical about it but again the ratings speak for themselves.
Maybe Santa will reprieve its radio execution for another 12 months but I’m still holding out for an MTR (and EON) style on air axing!
Yeah, you’ve only been calling for the station’s axing since April so I’m not sure how that is giving a format a chance?
I don’t think the 3 stations require the two big sports (AFL/NRL). They’re secondary stations, it’s completely understandable (and financially wise) to have the main sport in the respective state on the higher rating station. It’s like saying 7 have to show AFL live on the main channel in Queensland - it’s outrageous. As long as the presenter(s) know who is being thrown to what they will be fine.
Yes the format isn’t perfect, neither is SEN for that matter. They are pretty much networking everything now, I believe this is what they should have done from the outset. I think they have a better mix this year, finding I’m listening to them more and more, I’m just not within a ratings area.
add MSR presenters to as many 9WWOS panels as possible to promote them to a sport-following audience. I’d probably make extensive use of them on Nine News / Today etc whenever a comment is needed on a sport story in the news.
