Nine Radio (Talk)

Radio, Print, and Online Major Metropolitan Radio
387

Was 6961278 the old 3AW phone number?

388

9696 1278 was the old phone number.

1 Like
389

I mean before the phone numbers changed, watching an old Frontline and they used it in 1994.

390

[quote=“TVHead, post:389, topic:108”]
I mean before the phone numbers changed
[/quote]so yea, it’s the same thing. The only change in Melbourne was adding 9 to the front.

And yes, I too can firm that was the old 3AW number.

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391

Wonder why they couldn’t get 329-1278 so it was 3AW1278.

392

Yes. Later, Magic 693 had the studio number 96900693 which 3AW took over when it changed frequency to 693.

I think I can even recall 3AW’s open line number from when they were in Latrobe Street … 329 7592 or 7593? Something like that. It wasn’t a catchy number to tie in with the frequency that’s for sure. They moved from Latrobe Street to Bank Street I think around 1990 or 1991 which would have been when they changed to 6961278.

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393

O/t slightly but why did they add a 9 to the front? Ran out of numbers?

394

Basically. Along with a restructure of our national numbering system. All happened in the mid 90’s.

Basically went from a system of metros having 2 digit area code + 7 numbers and regionals having 3 digit area code + 6 numbers to all of Australia having 2 digit area code + 8 numbers.

Lots on info here: Former Australian dialling codes - Wikipedia

395

Macquarie has until 30 September to sell 2CH. Mark Day in The Australian is reporting that without 2GB, 2CH is not worth much at all, which explains the difficulty in selling if MRN was originally looking for $15 million; and expect Lifestyle to replace Magic in Melbourne and Brisbane if the new 2UE is successful.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/opinion/mark-day/2ch-sale-would-create-2gb2ue-macquarie-synergy-format/news-story/7fb5be5d8cce4ffaf58cd32973aae416?nk=eb11dca41f238ee08d99df677dfa8f1d-1471792688

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396

Mark Day is 100% correct. AM Music stations are a dying breed from both a ratings and revenue perspective. 83% of 2CH’s audience is over 55 making it a very difficult product to sell.

397

Magic has been (mostly) successful in Melbourne since it became part of Southern Cross Broadcasting two decades ago. Why dump the music format?

398

Magic’s ratings are not what they used to be. A situation not helped by the constant round of on-air staff changes and redundancies and now networking to other cities. Possibly (although we’ll never know) some listeners have also switched back to 3MP and I imagine Smooth 91.5 has probably picked up some Magic listeners too.

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399

Not necessarily. While that’s certainly true for the Magic stations, 4KQ in Brisbane & Cruise in Adelaide (both owned by ARN) are rating not far behind that of the FM stations in their respective cities.

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400

I think that’s also a result of MRN doing basically zero promotion of 2CH in recent years. Regardless of format, stations that don’t get any promotion will always rate lower than the competition - being a medium where people do flick between stations, promotion is very important to make sure people at least remember the station as an option.

While $15 million is far too much for it, I think 2CH would be a good option for an existing operator break into the Sydney market and focus on a 100% Sydney focused station to bridge the gap between WSFM and Smooth - similar to 3MP in Melbourne, with the added bonus of enough DAB+ spectrum to run 1 or 2 digital only stations.

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401

The reality is that 4KQ
and Cruise don’t make much money as the audience is getting older and older.

402

The new 2UE Lifestyle Radio format starts September 1, according to AFR.

2 Likes
404

Coles is the major sponsor for Breakfast with Ross & John.

Is that sale local or network? As in, do 2GB in Sydney have Coles sponsoring a certain program?

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Unrelated, the largest demographic group in Australia (in terms of population) would be people aged 45 - 65 correct? From the ‘Baby Boom’ era?

Which explains why 3AW & 2GB will remain dominant…

405

If I’m not mistaken, Alan Jones hates Coles & Woolworths so I doubt that either two of the big supermarket chains are a major sponsor of 2GB breakfast.

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406

Luke, do us all a favour and do a little simple research before posting. It’s really not that difficult to google “baby boom”.

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407

Sorry, that’s not what I was asking.

I was wondering what largest population in Australia is made up of.

I assumed around 45 through to 65 (give or take)?