they already have 1053am as well as the new SENQ digital station. for a station that will register at a max of 2% they are doing well
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If Grant wanted it, wouldnât it already have been included in the deal already then?
I doubt the owners held on to the Geelong stations by choice. Only that ARN werenât allowed to buy them
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Iâve always scoffed at the WSFM âGrand Vinylâ segments, because I thought that they werenât actually playing songs from a record.
Today, however, they aired Jeff Buckleyâs version of âHallelujahâ - and, low and behold, I could actually hear some surface noise in the quieter sections! Iâm not taking about the initial needle drop at the beginning (which is surely fake), but actual crackles and pops throughout the track.
Maybe it actually was a recording from vinyl. Surely they wouldnât be desperate enough to take a digital copy and add fake surface noise to it 
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Thanks for the feedback Radioman19. I can confirm that Ugly Phil selects songs, and has songs brought in by listeners on vinyl to WS HQ in Macquarie Park (The Hollywood of Sydney). At great expense to ARN management we had a turntable installed in the WSFM studio for this feature.
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But couldnât stretch the budget to get a Technics SL-1500C?
Iâm geering you up, the Audio Technica AT-LP140XP is a great TT as well.
How long ago did you get the Axia consoles?
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That would be good but money might be an issue as ARN would want a good price for it, considering it is rating above 10%.
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Is he asking how you managed to get into the studio again?
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And how does the the jock/operator play things from it when itâs on the opposite side of the desk?!
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Wow, thatâs impressive. Thanks for the info!
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The record would be set up beforehand and then fired off from the desk. 
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No⌠Ugly Phil has arms like an ape⌠he can reach all the way over to place the record on the turntable. This is a valuable skill of his and an asset to WSFM. Unfortunately we havenât been able to curb his penchant for also flinging his faeces at other staff⌠but weâre working on that.
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Itâll be interesting to see what the new owners do with this successful station.
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If Nova purchases it, it could be blown up and become Smooth 693.
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A year or two ago I would have been ok with that, but not now. Smooth isnât what it was. Theyâd be better off leaving it exactly as is. Itâs within a whisker of being the No. 1 station in Brisbane. Any new owner should be extremely careful before changing anything.
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Back in the days when Higgo was at Triple M he used to bring his father into the studio with him on Christmas Day. It was such a special day and I loved listening to them and would look forward to it each year. I donât know if his father is still around but itâs something I will always remember.
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Still pondering what ARN might do with 97.3 in Brisbane. Most people seem to think it will stay aligned with KIIS, but I just canât help thinking thereâs a reasonable chance it will go the other way.
The combined audience of 97.3 and 4KQ would have to be very tempting for them to try to keep - at least most of them. If they sell 4KQ to someone like SEN (worst case scenario for listeners) surely they would be tempted to migrate as many 4KQ listeners across to a new âGold 97.3â. They could do it without losing too many of the current 97.3 listeners if they kept the newer music but just added more songs that would appeal to ex-4KQ listeners. i.e. broaden the age range of the playlist. If they pulled it off they would be so far in front at #1 it wouldnât be funny. They could even move most of the River 94.9 audience across to Gold 97.3 and then re-launch 94.9 as either Edge or KIIS.
Imagine the ratings of Gold 97.3 with a sort of amalgamation of 97.3, 4KQ and River listeners. I really think it could be done with the right music selection.
Greater Brisbane/SEQ could even see all three brands under this scenario - Gold 97.3, Edge 94.9 and KIIS 91.1/102.9 (Gold Coast). But the ultimate prize would be a Gold 97.3 that would completely dominate the ratings IMO.
Personally, Iâd still prefer 4KQ be sold to someone who will continue it in the current format, but do we really think ARN is going to do that?
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No she does the news doesnât she?
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96FM should rebrand and realign with the Pure Gold Network in 2022. Now with Gary Roberts leaving, the station needs to align properly with a network.
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