What even is this? (Smoothfm is getting weird with the Old Skool Disco Party.)
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That reminds me of the old 97.3 Saturday Night Party Shuffle.
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Would I call that weird? Not really.
If anything at least 80-90% of it fits into a rhythmic oldies format, one of which I’d imagine would do reasonably in some cities here, however is somewhat common in the US, especially in California.
For Australia, probably the closest comparison is Dance Super Digi (if it’s still alive) on digital in Sydney, otherwise, it’s pretty much an untapped market.
Sure, it’s a bit of a odd choice for Smooth, but as Smooth seems to be leaning toward a soft AC these days, nothing is really weird anymore, unless they start playing heavy rap or punk rock.
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Green Day is a punk rock band but they also do ballads like Good Riddance and Wake Me Up When September Ends.
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Agree it’s rhythmic oldies and is quite similar to many US stations these days. I don’t mind it.
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To find out, let’s look at an hour for SWR & how it compares to some of the commercial FM stations from within the Sydney metro area from within the same hour this afternoon.
SWR Triple 9 - Blacktown, NSW (Sydney’s West)
“70s to Now”
Tuesday 22nd September 2020 - 2-3pm AEST
Icehouse - Crazy
Badloves - Lost
Nea - Some Say (Felix Jaehn Remix)
Eagle Eye Cherry - Are You Still Having Fun
Billy Idol - Rebel Yell
Justin Timberlake - Say Something (ft Chris Stapleton)
INXS - Disappear
Queen - Don’t Stop Me Now
Fall Out Boy - The Takes Over, The Breaks Over
Dragon - Young Years
Everlast - What Its Like
Topic - Why Do You Lie To Me (ft Lil Baby)
Creed - My Sacrifice
C91.3 - Campbelltown, NSW
“Rock, Pop & Beats”
Tuesday 22nd September 2020 - 2-3pm AEST
Jonas Brothers - Only Human
Usher / Will.i.am - OMG
Nea - Some Say
Genesis - Invisible Touch
George Ezra - Shotgun
Baby Animals - One Word
Guy Sebastian - Standing With You
Shakira - Whenever, Wherever
Maroon 5 / Christina Aguilera - Moves Like Jagger
Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
Pete Murray - Found My Place
Alanis Morissette - Hand In My Pocket
101.7 WSFM - Sydney, NSW
“Better Music & More of It”
Tuesday 22nd September 2020 - 2-3pm AEST
Dave Dobbyn / Herbs - Slice Of Heaven
Pat Benatar - Love Is A Battlefield
Simply Red - Stars
The Police - De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
Fleetwood Mac - Dreams
Kim Wilde - You Keep Me Hangin’ On
John Legend - All Of Me
Bruce Springsteen - Dancing In The Dark
Heart - Alone
Janet Jackson / Luther Vandross - The Best Things In Life Are Free
Martika - Toy Soldiers
The Black Sorrows - Chained To The Wheel
smoothfm 95.3 - Sydney, NSW
“Sydney’s Feel Good Station”
Tuesday 22nd September 2020 - 2-3pm AEST
Starship - We Built This City
Sonia Dada - You Don’t Treat Me No Good
Bee Gees - Stayin’ Alive
Cher - The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss)
The Police - Every Breath You Take
Rufus / Chaka Khan - Ain’t Nobody
Jackie Wilson - Higher And Higher
Martika - Love… Thy Will Be Done
Giorgio Moroder / Phil Oakey - Together in Electric Dreams
Jamelia - Superstar
Candi Staton - Young Hearts Run Free
Huey Lewis & The News - If This Is It
104.1 2DayFM - Sydney, NSW
“Get That Feeling”
Tuesday 22nd September 2020 - 2-3pm AEST
Dario G - Sunchyme
Katy Perry / Snoop Dogg - California Gurls
Guy Sebastian - Standing With You
Gin Blossoms - Hey Jealousy
The Weeknd - Can’t Feel My Face
The B-52’s - Roam
Keith Urban / Pink - One Too Many
Pandora - A Little Bit
Robbie Williams - Rock DJ
Maroon 5 - Memories
Destiny’s Child - Jumpin’, Jumpin’
Ava Max - Sweet But Psycho
Kygo / OneRepublic - Lose Somebody
DJ Sammy / Yanou - Heaven
Roxette - Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave)
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Interesting song on WS. I don’t think I heard it before. 
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I don’t think I’d listen to a full hour of any of those stations. SWR probably is the pick, maybe, with WS second.
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I sort of have a soft spot for that song. 
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Another 2013 song on WSFM/Gold 104.3? First we had Riptide, then Geronimo and now this?
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It was briefly used in a Smooth FM TV ad campaign in 2014, before they reverted back to the Michael Buble commercials.
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My log from today.
1300-1400
Fleetwood Mac- Seven Wonders
Fleetwood Mac- Family Man
Roachford- Family Man
Sly & The Family Stone- Everyday People
Arrested Development- People Everyday
PM Dawn- Set Adrift On Memory Bliss
Spandau Ballet- Gold
Klaxons- Golden Skans
Cut Copy- Hearts On Fire
Machinations- My Heart’s On Fire
Nick Lowe- Heart Of The City
Pet Shop Boys- Suburbia
Inspector Gadget Theme (gap filler)
1400-1500
Huey Lewis &The News -Hip To Be Square
Adam Ant- Goody Two Shoes
The Rubinoos- Revenge Of The Nerds (Wrong Song)
Kraftwerk- Computer World 2
Tina Arena- The Machine’s Breaking Down
Metric- Speed The Collapse
Bucks Fizz- Making Your Mind Up (request)
The Reels- Quasimodo’s Dream
Allniters- Love & Affection
The Dugites- In Your Car
Steve Miller Band- Living In The USA
Damn Yankees- High Enough
Sesame Street Theme (gap filler)
Sorry- didn’t get the show off the logger as nobody was around to show me how! Will have to get that sorted, or use dar.fm for next week. Have just unearthed my XHDATA D-318 BT radio and recorder so might use that instead; saves dicking around with webstreams and the logger. So you should have a genuine off air recording for next week.
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Some good ones there. Love Suburbia/Pet Shop Boys. You don’t hear that on the radio much in this country anyway.
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Another day of Smoothfm’s Old School Disco Party!
M - Pop Muzik is also on that list on that time too.
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It’s the Hot Dub Time machine mix on Nova.
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With the recent change of 94.9 Power FM in Shoalhaven/Southern Highlands going from CHR to Hot AC (taking the 7HO log), I thought I would look at how the Illawarra/Shoalhaven commercial FM stations are sounding these days.
Tuesday 29th September 2020
1-2pm AEST
Wave FM 96.5
"The Illawarra’s Best Music"
Owner: Grant Broadcasters
Zedd / Maren Morris / Grey - The Middle
Justin Bieber / Quavo - Intentions
Fun. - Some Nights
TLC - No Scrubs
Mabel - Don’t Call Me Up
Ganggajang - Sounds Of Then
Kygo / OneRepublic - Lose Somebody
Fergie - Big Girls Don’t Cry
Joel Corry / MNEK - Head & Heart
Marcy Playground - Sex And Candy
Post Malone - Circles
i98FM
"Feel Good"
Owner: WIN
Freya Ridings - Castles
Topic / A7S - Breaking Me
New Radicals - You Get What You Give
Surf Mesa / Emilee - ILY
Powderfinger - (Baby I’ve Got You) On My Mind
Taylor Swift / Brendon Urie - Me!
Jason Derulo - Take You Dancing
Cold Chisel - Khe Sanh
Dua Lipa - Don’t Start Now
Maroon 5 - This Love
Miley Cyrus - Midnight Sky
Taio Cruz - Dynamite
Guy Sebastian - Love On Display
94.9 Power FM
"The Shoalhaven & Highlands’ Best Music"
Owner: Grant Broadcasters
Joel Corry / MNEK - Head & Heart
The Chainsmokers / Daya - Don’t Let Me Down
U2 - Vertigo
Maroon 5 - Memories
Dead Or Alive - You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)
Taio Cruz - Dynamite
Marshmello / Halsey - Be Kind
Cake - Short Skirt/Long Jacket
Eves Karydas - Complicated
Sam Smith - Stay With Me
3 Doors Down - Kryptonite
Pink - Leave Me Alone (I’m Lonely)
Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy
Hozier - Take Me To Church
Interesting to note that in that particular hour, Power FM was playing more 80s than either Wave or i98.
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Strange radio market Wollongong. All 3 stations seem to be targeting the same AC market.
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WTF going on here? Surely the audience that would like those tracks right up against each other must be so small? Nevermind that all the stations sound EXACTLY the same.
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Yeah I don’t get the Wollongong market. As per some other posts in the 2CH thread, it seems that prevailing mindset is the only way for an FM station to make money is to target the younger audience. Ironically , in my opinion this is very old fashion thinking especially i98s roots was a classic hits station back in the 90s.
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Grants could do well flipping Wave to classic hits or even a rock format. As you mention everyone seems to think that they should target the same audience because it hypothetically will make the most money. But there can only be one market leader.
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