Nova Network

Nova played Dynamite by BTS when it first came out but dropped it very quickly. I guess now they are playing less of the really old throwbacks, and KIIS is playing it they have decided to reintroduce it again as a fresh hit.

Another Nova crap music decision, jump on a song that is on the way out and then flog it to death for the next six months when it is completely out of the charts.
That is why they cannot convert their large Cumulative audience to TSL, not that song again switch!!!

BTW the Edge is playing some really good new music at the moment, I really like I miss U by Jax Jones, this is another song that should be played on Nova.

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It’s not just because they dropped the throwbacks. This is a common occurrence with them with do many tracks. They do it with so many new songs, all the time.

Another Nova crap music decision, jump on a song that is on the way out and then flog it to death for the next six months when it is completely out of the charts.

They need to play some of their high rotation music a lot less and have more tracks on that playlist. Not just the usual suspects like Bieber, Ariana and Gaga. Go wider.

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So is Nova’s positioning currently Fresh Hits & Throwbacks? Or Non-Stop Hits? Or both?

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They are positioning as both, they don’t know what they want to be.
If it was not for Fitzy & Wippa & KTJ they would probably rate similar to 2day fm. Their music is the weakest of all the networks and it reflects in the workday rating figures in all markets.

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IMO Nova sounded the best around 10 years ago when during the summer period they began playing a lot more dance music - the type you’d hear on a Ministry of Sound Annual CD… along with the regular playlist.

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Every day on the drive podcast the songs seem to be exactly the same in a very similar order. Can’t imagine wanting to listen live.

Why is radio dying? Jeez I fucking wonder.

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This is how Capital. Fm and Kiss UK sound today to some degree.

From memory Nova’s Sydney rating back then were quite similar to what they were today around the 6% share, but I do agree the playlist was more to my taste then what it is today.
It started to get really bad after about 2017 with the focus on Greatest Hits / Throwbacks.

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It fell apart when they brought in Greg Burns from the UK and started networking daytime shifts and thinking they could replicate Smooth FM.

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Greg Burns came to Nova around 2016 so I was close.

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This is how bad their playlist is. These are the top 15 most played tracks on 96.9. Notice how many throwbacks dominate and so many songs which were big months ago.

1 Tate McRae-you broke me first
2 The Weeknd-Blinding Lights
3 Billie Eilish-bad guy
4 brando-Look into My Eyes
5 Ed Sheeran-Don’t
6 Usher-More
7 Shawn Mendes-There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back
8 Justin Timberlake-Mirrors
9 Ed Sheeran-Sing
10 MAGIC!-Rude
11 Ava Max-Sweet but Psycho
12 Kesha-TiK ToK
13 Regard-Ride It
14 SAINt JHN-Roses (Imanbek Remix)
15 Doja Cat-Say So

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No.

Some of those are OK. But Nova, especially in Melbourne and Sydney really need to get down to playing much fresher hits.

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None of those throwbacks should be on the “most played” playlist. The top 40 should all be Fresh Hits, New Music and Recent Hits.

Throwbacks should only be played once or twice in the whole week and not very week.

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I don’t understand why there’s a need for throwbacks to be so repetitive.

Yes, CHR formats are built upon familiarity, and it’s a balancing act between playing fresh, untested releases and recurrents. But the benefit of digging into ‘gold’ tracks is to bring some of that familiarity into the playlist. Why, then, does Nova play such a tiny variety of them?

Take the 2009 tracks off high-rotation and schedule a wider variety of throwbacks, cap them at one or two an hour and ensure the maximum separation possible. The playlist will sound fresher, and it’ll give the throwbacks a real “oh wow” factor, something you lose by playing Kesha - Tik Tok (for example) multiple times a week.

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I agree Sydney and Melbourne need to be on a seperate log with more fresh hits and only a couple of throwbacks per hour. Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth seem to be skewing slightly older, and have a greater tolerance to Throwbacks then Sydney and Melbourne.

I have said this before Nova 96.9 needs to focus on competing with KIIS and not worry about 2day fm, and become much hotter then it is presently sounding.

Nova 100’s opportunity is to pick up the younger listeners of the Fox now they are skewing older.

The problem is Nova Ent are using this one log that does not fit all markets. It seems to work in Perth, Brisbane, and to some degree Adelaide, but not in Sydney and Melbourne. SCA are doing the same in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth with their Hit stations.

It either comes down to them not knowing their markets, or they are to cheap and under resourced to do multiple logs. For a while they really knew Brisbane and did very well there, but that changed when they piped in Greg Burns, and then later cleaned everyone out.

I did read somewhere the success of Smooth was the music selection was not completely down to research. There was some captains calls that payed off that made it a bit unpredictable and fun. This is what Nova in Sydney and Melbourne need rather then an over researched water tight playlist.

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All of those are throwbacks?

Certainly agree there

Yeah that’s what Nova (actually in all markets) should be aiming for now

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Most are throwbacks. Only these are on the chart or recent hits:

1 Tate McRae-you broke me first
2 The Weeknd-Blinding Lights
4 brando-Look into My Eyes
13 Regard-Ride It
14 SAINt JHN-Roses (Imanbek Remix)
15 Doja Cat-Say So

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You can add Shawn Mendes to that list!

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Nova needs to cherry pick a few new/fresh tracks played by KIIS and The Edge.

I hear Everybody Rise by Amy Shark and Standing With You by Guy Sebastian on KIIS and even though they’ve been around for a while they still sound fresh and new. Nova stopped playing those way too soon.

The Edge plays tracks like Past Life by Trevor Daniel/Selena Gomez, To Be Young by Anne-Marie/Doja Cat. But Nova doesn’t want to put songs like this on high rotation. Why? Some songs like Go Crazy by Chris Brown/Young Thug have some racy lyrics but they censor other songs so they can play a clean version of this too.

There are also some great songs that they play for about a week but are dropped too soon. I only hear Complicated by Eves Karydas late at night and I Hope by Gabby Barrett & Charlie Puth was only played for a week and this week it’s top 10 in America and #1 Adult Pop.

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Former Fox FM announcer Keegs will be heard on Nova this Sunday.

Not sure if it’s a one off appearance or a permanent basis.

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