There was a bit of conflicting guidance there from SMC but apparently it still went as planned.
Pat promises there will be break-ins for warnings if necessary, as has been heard on 3AW past several hours.
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2.52am AEDT: Pretty interesting a caller asked about 6PR (something to do with localness or whatever) and Nine Radio ownership.
Not really sure if this is neccessary.
Phil O’Neil who usually does overnights Tuesday to Friday on 2GB and 4BC was doing a national show for the last 3 weeks on those days. He is on holidays as at Friday.
Well done to 3AW on their coverage during this tough time.
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Heidi Murphy hosting Victoria bushfire coverage from 10am to 12pm on 3AW.
Yep was mentioned last night.
I think we can all agree it’s more important than the advertising agreements about gardening, house selling and cars to buy.
Good decision by AW.
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Can only hope. Darren sounds creepy and says some creepy things in the handovers.
He is getting past his use by date, his replacements are better than him.
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Darren James is a radio icon in Melbourne and one of the most liked personalities on the station. Versatile across a number of topics and most importantly, an engaging presenter. I hope he has many years left in him yet!!
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The Australian
Singo pulls plug on Nine radio deal
John Singleton and rival bidders have walked away from Nine’s radio sale after discovering the business receives millions in hidden subsidies from the company’s television division.
https://radioinfo.com.au/news/nine-radio-sale-details-leaked/
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So whoever is going to buy the division has to take into account the amount of money that Nine TV gave Nine Radio through these subsidies and determine just how they’ll much they need to slice. Or have enough money to cover it.
Yeah…Nine might be stuck with radio for a while yet.
I’ve pretty much concluded as such as it’s been a very long while since the deadline for bid submissions.
Or accept less money if they want to just offload it entirely. They haven’t managed the stations well. If I were them I’d just get rid of it and write it off as a bad debt. But with Seven now getting into radio it’s not the smartest move. Use the money to buy ARG or Nova which would be a better move.
Laura Spurway is a hard listen, her voice is really not suited to radio.
Wow. Let’s face it - in today’s age of mergers & acquisitions, anyone who can prop up a radio network, “as is”, without being part of something bigger, is simply dreaming.
Singo has been there and done that. He knows the costs and potential earnings.
Sounds like it’s all part of trying to get it as cheaply as possible.
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So what happens now? Do Nine run another sales process in search of a fair valuation, or negotiate with interested parties and accept the best available offer?
It can be done. The real problem for Nine isn’t the medium — it’s the audience, and that audience is ageing out. Traditional talkback and news radio are in decline because their core listeners are declining too.
Younger and middle-aged audiences are, on average, becoming less right-wing for fairly obvious reasons. They have far less wealth to “conserve,” many have struggled (or failed) to get a foothold on the housing ladder thanks to decades of conservative economic ideology, and they’re watching conservative politics increasingly turn its fire on LGBT Australians.
When that happens, people don’t see the caricature — the “man in a dress” trope conservative media likes to wheel out. They see friends. They see family members. In many cases, they see themselves. Watching people you care about being attacked for living authentically is a powerful turn-off, and it pushes audiences away from media outlets that normalise or amplify that rhetoric.
On top of that, the right-wing outrage crowd now has endless alternative outlets for its nightly dose of conservative talking points: Sky, YouTube, podcasts, Telegram channels, Facebook videos, and an always-on outrage economy online. Radio is no longer the primary delivery mechanism — it’s just one option among many, and not the most convenient or engaging one.
When your entire strategy is built around servicing a shrinking, over-saturated demographic with the same voices repeating the same talking points, stagnation is inevitable. The failure isn’t that radio can’t evolve — it’s that Nine has chosen not to.
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There’s a reason 4BH is flourishing and 4BC is dying.
It’s the format. Nine needs to shift the format. I’d almost argue a Cruise/Gold esque AM format could work in some markets
Nine Radio websites feature a message up the top saying:
Important: The Watch stream feature will be removed by January 22nd, 2026.
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