Yes they’re pretty true to how Stereo 10 sounded back in the day too.
I pretty hooked on it now. I think I live in the past too much haha, should listen & support modern music (as one of the ads says). A lot of new music I am discovering from the 80s 
.
1 Like
Yeah I’d stick with the 80s myself. I’m the same, I’m always discovering and rediscovering 80s music
Inspired by this following comment…
…I thought I would look at how those stations are sounding.
The following logs took place at 12-1pm on Thursday 29th August 2019.
101.3 Sea FM
“Hits & Old School”
“Piece Of Your Heart” Meduza feat. Goodboys
“Follow Me” Uncle Kracker
“Boyfriend” Ariana Grande & Social House
“Hey Jealousy” Gin Blossoms
“Little Things” Jessica Mauboy
“Say Something” Justin Timberlake feat. Chris Stapleton
“Motivation” Normani
“California” Phantom Planet
“You Need To Calm Down” Taylor Swift
“Rockin’ For Myself” Motiv 8 feat. Angie Brown
“Good Lord” Birds of Tokyo
“Sexual” Neiked feat. Dyo
Star 104.5
“More Music Variety”
“Hurt Somebody” Noah Kahan & Julia Michaels
“Waterfalls” TLC
“Live It Up” Mental As Anything
“Only Human” Jonas Brothers
“Leave Me Alone (I’m Lonely)” Pink
“Walking Away” Craig David
“You Need To Calm Down” Taylor Swift
“Dancing In The Dark” Bruce Springsteen
“Love Me Like You Do” Ellie Goulding
“What Is Love” Haddaway
“Beautiful People” Ed Sheeran feat. Khalid
“Man In The Mirror” Michael Jackson
107.7 2GO
“Music That Makes You Feel Good”
“When Tomorrow Comes” Eurythmics
“Dancing In The Moonlight” Toploader
“Solid Rock” Goanna
“Is She Really Going Out With Him?” Joe Jackson
“We Built This City” Starship
“Slide” Goo Goo Dolls
“Message To My Girl” Split Enz
“Love In An Elevator” Aerosmith
“Everytime You Cry” John Farnham & Human Nature
“Stuck In The Middle With You” Stealers Wheel
“Let’s Hear It For The Boy” Deniece Williams
This gives a pretty good snapshot of the current state of Central Coast’s commercial radio stations, a market where fortuitous signals from Sydney & Newcastle can also be heard.
2 Likes
Pulse FM Hobart
Saturday, 31st August 2019 - 8 AM
“All To Myself” Dan + Shay
“Cross Me” Ed Sheeran/PnB Rock
“My Name Is” Eminem
“Lonely Boy” Eminem
“Perfect Strangers” Jonas Blue
“Pretty Shining People” George Ezra
“Rise & Fall” Justice Crew
“Piece Of Your Heart” Meduza
“If I’m Lucky” Jason Derulo
“We Found Love” Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris
“Mad Love” Mabel
“Semi-Charmed Life” Third Eye Blind
“Stressed Out” Twenty One Pilots
“Accidentally Kelly Street” Frente
“Lonely” Lauv/Anne-Marie
“Woke Up Late” Drax Project/Hailee Steinfeld
“Creepin’ Up Slowly” Taxiride
“Nightmare” Halsey
1 Like
With all the discussion of why Grant’s FM stations in QLD & Hobart are performing well against the SCA stations in the “Regional Radio Ratings” thread, due to Star performing well in Cairns (where it’s #1) & Mackay (where it made a nice increase in ratings), as well as Hot 91 on the Sunshine Coast( in which it outrated the EON-owned Sea FM), I thought it would be good to have a look at the playlists of the following Grant stations mentioned, as well as comparing it with Wave FM in Wollongong, in which it has underperformed against i98FM for the last few years.
All of the logs took place on Tuesday 3rd September 2019 at 1-3pm AEST.
Firstly, to Wollongong, where I also throw in i98FM for good measure.
Wave FM 96.5
"The Illawarra’s Best Music"
1pm
Macklemore / Ryan Lewis / Mary Lambert “Same Love”
Ed Sheeran / Khalid “Beautiful People”
U2 “All I Want Is You”
KIAN “Waiting”
Lady Gaga “The Cure”
Grinspoon “Chemical Heart”
Taylor Swift “Lover”
Katy Perry “Roar”
Birds Of Tokyo “Good Lord”
Young MC “Bust A Move”
Pink “Walk Me Home”
2pm
Kesha “This Is Me”
Dean Lewis “7 Minutes”
GRL “Ugly Heart”
Red Hot Chili Peppers “Californication”
Kygo / Whitney Houston “Higher Love”
Niall Horan “Slow Hands”
Iggy Pop / Kate Pierson “Candy”
Lewis Capaldi “Someone You Loved”
Sia “Chandelier”
Shawn Mendes / Camila Cabello “Señorita”
Paul Kelly & The Coloured Girls “Dumb Things”
Amy Shark “Mess Her Up”
i98FM
"Feel Good"
1pm
Katy Perry “Never Really Over”
Bon Jovi “Have A Nice Day”
Pink “Walk Me Home”
Backstreet Boys “Larger Than Life”
Billie Eilish “Bad Guy”
Drax Project / Hailee Steinfeld “Woke Up Late”
Shawn Mendes “Stitches”
Tone Loc “Wild Thing”
Clean Bandit / Demi Lovato “Solo”
Miley Cyrus “Slide Away”
Ed Sheeran “Shape Of You”
Tones And I “Dance Monkey”
2pm
Sam Smith “How Do You Sleep?”
Destinys Child “Bootylicious”
Birds Of Tokyo “The Greatest Mistakes”
Marshmello / Chvrches “Here With Me”
Savage Garden “Affirmation”
5 Seconds Of Summer “Easier”
Avicii / Aloe Blacc “S.O.S.”
Flo Rida “Good Feeling”
Fine Young Cannibals “She Drives Me Crazy”
Jonas Brothers “Sucker”
Freya Ridings “Castles”
Jonas Blue / William Singe “Mama”
Hole “Malibu”
Over up in QLD…
Hot 91.1 - Sunshine Coast, QLD (this log also goes out to Hitz Bundaberg & Star in North QLD)
"Today’s Best Music"
1pm
Charlie Puth “Attention”
Taylor Swift “You Need To Calm Down”
Deep Blue Something “Breakfast At Tiffany’s”
Amy Shark “Mess Her Up”
Jessica Mauboy “Little Things”
John Butler Trio “Zebra”
George Ezra “Shotgun”
Midnight Oil “Beds Are Burning”
Tones And I Dance “Monkey”
Kelly Clarkson “Since U Been Gone”
Marshmello / Kane Brown “One Thing Right”
Everclear “Santa Monica”
Jonas Brothers “Sucker”
Ed Sheeran “Castle On The Hill”
Prince “1999”
Rita Ora “Let You Love Me”
2pm
Pink / Cash Cash “Can We Pretend?”
TLC “Waterfalls”
Conrad Sewell “Healing Hands”
Kygo / Whitney Houston “Higher Love”
Katy Perry “Hot n Cold”
Sam Smith / Normani “Dancing With A Stranger”
The Presidents Of The United States Of America “Lump”
Dean Lewis “Straight Back Down”
Swedish House Mafia / John Martin “Don’t You Worry Child”
Loud Luxury / Brando “Body”
Haddaway “What Is Love”
Franz Ferdinand “Take Me Out”
Anne-Marie “2002”
Down in Hobart…
101.7 7HO FM
"100% Hobart"
1pm
Jamelia “Superstar”
Mabel “Don’t Call Me Up“
Foo Fighters “Next Year“
Tones And I “Dance Monkey“
Pseudo Echo “Funky Town”
Hozier “Someone New“
Anne-Marie / James Arthur “Rewrite The Stars“
Red Hot Chili Peppers “The Zephyr Song“
Jonas Brothers “Only Human“
Fergie “Big Girls Don’t Cry“
2pm
Genesis “I Can’t Dance“
Sam Smith “How Do You Sleep?“
Katy Perry “Last Friday Night (TGIF)“
Ava Max “So Am I“
Blink 182 “All The Small Things“
X Ambassadors “Renegades“
Taylor Swift / Brendon Urie “Me!“
Icehouse “Crazy“
Ali Gatie “It’s You“
Sheppard “Let Me Down Easy“
Lenny Kravitz “Fly Away“
Amy Shark “All Loved Up“
A station that I think Wave FM should model their playlist on…
River 94.9 - Ipswich, QLD
"The Best Music Mix"
1pm
Amy Shark “I Said Hi”
Linkin Park “Numb”
Mr Mister “Broken Wings”
BoDeans “Closer To Free”
Michael Bublé “Haven’t Met You Yet”
The Police “Every Breath You Take”
Jimmy Barnes “Shutting Down Our Town”
The B-52’s “Roam”
Oasis “Wonderwall”
Robbie Williams “Let Me Entertain You”
The Offspring “Come Out And Play”
2pm
Spiderbait “Black Betty”
Billy Joel “You’re Only Human (Second Wind)”
Tom Walker “Leave A Light On”
George Michael “Freedom! '90”
Nickelback “If Today Was Your Last Day”
The Pretenders “Brass In Pocket”
Jessica Mauboy “Little Things”
The Black Crowes “Hard To Handle”
Pseudo Echo “Funky Town”
Train “Play That Song”
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My personal first choice would be River 94.9, second 7HO, third Hot91. I can’t believe how similar i98FM and Wave are. 
3 Likes
I can assure you that they’re PM.
Here are the Lava links for the above playlists for further evidence.
Is there a log for Power fm?
The closest I can find for NSW is the Hunter station, but it carries the same log as its Nowra & Bega/Batemans Bay stations.
With the ‘soft’ launch (see what I did there?) of the new Smooth Relax DAB+ station in Sydney, Melbourne & Brisbane today, I thought it would be fitting to compare it with the main Smooth station, particularly comparing it with its Sydney & Melbourne FM station (as well as its main DAB+ station in Brisbane, Adelaide & Perth).
Smooth 95.3 - Sydney, NSW
"Sydney’s Easy Place To Relax"
Friday 6th September 2019 - 9am-12pm AEST
| Date | Time | Artist | Song |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-09-06 | 09:10:28 AEST | Go West | King Of Wishful Thinking |
| 2019-09-06 | 09:12:26 AEST | Charles & Eddie | Would I Lie To You? |
| 2019-09-06 | 09:16:17 AEST | U2 | With Or Without You |
| 2019-09-06 | 09:20:12 AEST | Bruno Mars | Grenade |
| 2019-09-06 | 09:23:43 AEST | The Jackson 5 | I Want You Back |
| 2019-09-06 | 09:28:09 AEST | Nik Kershaw | Wouldn’t It Be Good |
| 2019-09-06 | 09:32:31 AEST | Taylor Swift | Today Was A Fairytale |
| 2019-09-06 | 09:34:28 AEST | Dan Hartman | I Can Dream About You |
| 2019-09-06 | 09:44:01 AEST | Fleetwood Mac | Everywhere |
| 2019-09-06 | 09:50:51 AEST | The Hues Corporation | Rock The Boat |
| 2019-09-06 | 09:54:44 AEST | Bruce Springsteen | I’m On Fire |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:06:24 AEST | Belinda Carlisle | Leave A Light On |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:12:28 AEST | Elton John | I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:16:18 AEST | Colbie Caillat | Bubbly |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:20:08 AEST | Earth, Wind & Fire | Let’s Groove |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:23:55 AEST | Prince / The Revolution | Kiss |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:27:50 AEST | Bob Marley And The Wailers | One Love / People Get Ready |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:29:38 AEST | Cher | If I Could Turn Back Time |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:33:44 AEST | Four Tops | I Can’t Help Myself (sugar Pie Honey Bunch) |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:42:58 AEST | UB40 | (I Can’t Help) Falling In Love With You |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:44:48 AEST | Dixie Chicks | Not Ready To Make Nice |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:48:56 AEST | Donna Lewis | I Love You Always Forever |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:52:25 AEST | Toto | Rosanna |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:05:44 AEST | Billy Ocean | When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:09:31 AEST | Hall & Oates | Kiss On My List |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:13:18 AEST | Lukas Graham | Love Someone |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:17:05 AEST | Whitney Houston | I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:20:55 AEST | Eric Carmen | Make Me Lose Control |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:26:39 AEST | Corinne Bailey Rae | Put Your Records On |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:30:28 AEST | Frankie Valli | Can’t Take My Eyes Off You |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:32:21 AEST | Eurythmics | Thorn In My Side |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:41:50 AEST | Bee Gees | Night Fever |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:45:47 AEST | Tina Turner | What’s Love Got To Do With It |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:49:38 AEST | Lady Antebellum | Need You Now |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:53:14 AEST | Kim Wilde | You Keep Me Hangin’ On |
Smooth Relax - Sydney, Melbourne & Brisbane
"Your relaxing and refreshing music mix"
Friday 6th September 2019 - 9am-12pm AEST
| Date | Time | Artist | Song |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-09-06 | 09:02:54 AEST | Annie Lennox | No More “I Love You’s”" |
| 2019-09-06 | 09:10:28 AEST | Fleetwood Mac | Sara |
| 2019-09-06 | 09:14:22 AEST | Billy Ocean | There’ll Be Sad Songs (to Make You Cry) |
| 2019-09-06 | 09:18:11 AEST | Alison Moyet | That Ole Devil Called Love |
| 2019-09-06 | 09:21:58 AEST | Kenny Rogers / Sheena Easton | We’ve Got Tonight |
| 2019-09-06 | 09:26:02 AEST | ABBA | The Winner Takes It All |
| 2019-09-06 | 09:30:11 AEST | Otis Redding | These Arms Of Mine |
| 2019-09-06 | 09:32:31 AEST | Boris Gardiner | I Wanna Wake Up With You |
| 2019-09-06 | 09:36:31 AEST | Lionel Richie / Diana Ross | Endless Love |
| 2019-09-06 | 09:40:13 AEST | Petula Clark | Downtown |
| 2019-09-06 | 09:44:01 AEST | 1927 | If I Could |
| 2019-09-06 | 09:49:15 AEST | Maria Muldaur | Midnight At The Oasis |
| 2019-09-06 | 09:50:51 AEST | All 4 One | I Swear |
| 2019-09-06 | 09:54:44 AEST | Gladys Knight / The Pips | Midnight Train To Georgia |
| 2019-09-06 | 09:58:36 AEST | Terence Trent D’Arby | Sign Your Name |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:02:22 AEST | Janis Ian | At Seventeen |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:06:24 AEST | John Legend | All Of Me |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:10:38 AEST | Bobby Vinton | Blue Velvet |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:12:28 AEST | Patrick Swayze | She’s Like The Wind |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:16:19 AEST | Roberta Flack / Donny Hathaway | Where Is The Love |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:18:12 AEST | Elton John | I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:22:11 AEST | Eagles | New Kid In Town |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:27:51 AEST | All Saints | Never Ever |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:31:32 AEST | Seals And Crofts | Summer Breeze |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:35:32 AEST | Tina Turner | What’s Love Got To Do With It |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:39:22 AEST | The Hollies | He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:42:58 AEST | John Mayer | Your Body Is A Wonderland |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:46:45 AEST | Champaign | How 'bout Us |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:50:32 AEST | Gary Wright | Dream Weaver |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:52:25 AEST | Christopher Cross | Arthur’s Theme |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:56:17 AEST | Elvis Presley | Return To Sender |
| 2019-09-06 | 10:58:06 AEST | Andy Gibb | I Just Want To Be Your Everything |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:01:58 AEST | Macy Gray | I Try |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:05:44 AEST | John Farnham | You’re The Voice |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:11:24 AEST | Norah Jones | Don’t Know Why |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:15:16 AEST | Crowded House | Don’t Dream It’s Over |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:17:05 AEST | Van Morrison | Moondance |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:22:49 AEST | Josh Groban | You Raise Me Up |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:26:39 AEST | Louis Armstrong | We Have All The Time In The World |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:28:33 AEST | Carly Simon | You’re So Vain |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:34:14 AEST | Brenda Russell | Piano In The Dark |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:38:03 AEST | Dionne Warwick / Elton John / Gladys Knight / Stevie Wonder | That’s What Friends Are For |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:41:50 AEST | The Beach Boys | Sloop John B |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:45:47 AEST | Michael Bublé | Close Your Eyes |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:47:37 AEST | Elvis Costello | She |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:51:25 AEST | Paul Young | Wherever I Lay My Hat |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:55:14 AEST | Percy Sledge | When A Man Loves A Woman |
| 2019-09-06 | 11:57:10 AEST | Keith Urban | All For You |
As you can see, Smooth Relax is reminiscent of the original Smooth FM format from a few years ago before it went more up-tempo to compete more effectively with the Pure Gold stations, WS in Sydney & Gold in Melbourne.
3 Likes
Yes Smooth Relax is a good move. A lot more like the original Smooth format.
I found myself listening to Smooth Relax all day today. And as you say, just takes me back to how Smooth used to be.
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To me the playlist are too similar, why not have an oldies stations focusing rock and pop from the 60s and 70s on dab.
3 Likes
That station is 4KQ
1 Like
Yes, but Sydney & Melbourne doesn’t have a station like 4KQ, which is hard to believe for Australia’s two largest cities. And no, WS & Gold does not count, even though it’s part of the same network.
Here the links to the following logs from 9am-12pm local time yesterday to prove my point (I also throw in 2CH & Cruise Adelaide for good measure).
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Yes I know that. I can’t work out why ARN don’t fill that gap in Sydney and Melbourne by putting a 4KQ format on DAB. I think they should call those stations 2WS and 3KZ. They could also re-brand Cruise in Adelaide to 5AD to complete the “classic hits” network.
3 Likes
Back in late June, we were comparing the regional Triple M stations with Wave FM, and plenty have commented that Triple M is far better than Wave’s.
But how does New FM compare with Wave FM, which both share a similar positioning statement, despite different ownership?
To find out, I had to be in an area where its signal can be received, as they don’t stream online, and therefore its playlist is not available on Lava, so I had to do it the old-fashioned way, by listening to the station & taking notes of what songs were played.
As it happens, I was up on the Central Coast this afternoon, where New FM (+ other Newcastle stations) can be received well.
Anyway, here it is.
105.3 New FM - Newcastle, NSW
Owner: Broadcast Operations Group
"Newcastle’s Best Music"
Monday 23rd September 2019 - 2-3pm AEST
“Body Like A Back Road” Sam Hunt
“Come Out & Play” The Offspring
“Dance Monkey” Tones And I
“What I Like About You” The Romantics
“Counting Stars” OneRepublic
“Love Someone” Lukas Graham
“To The Moon & Back” Savage Garden
“Little Things” Jessica Mauboy
“All Fired Up” Pat Benatar
“Mama” Jonas Blue / William Singe
“Easier” 5 Seconds Of Summer
“Push” Matchbox 20
And thanks to Lava, here’s Wave FM on the same hour.
Wave FM 96.5 - Wollongong, NSW
Owner: Grant Broadcasters
"The Illawarra’s Best Music"
Monday 23rd September 2019 - 2-3pm AEST
“The Edge of Glory” Lady Gaga
“Little Things” Jessica Mauboy
“Blue Sky Mine” Midnight Oil
“1999” Charli XCX / Troye Sivan
“Body Like A Back Road” Sam Hunt
“Kiss From A Rose” Seal
“Straight Back Down” Dean Lewis
“Lay It All On Me” Rudimental / Ed Sheeran
“Nothing Breaks Like A Heart” Mark Ronson / Miley Cyrus
“Rebel Yell” Billy Idol
“Higher Love” Kygo / Whitney Houston
“Big Girls Don’t Cry” Fergie
As you can see, New FM sounds a bit more like an adult station than Wave FM, and IMHO, has a better playlist, something you wouldn’t have said for a BOG station when comparing with a Grant station years ago.
What New & Wave have in common is that they rate behind higher rating rival/s by a fairly significant margin in its respective markets. Granted, New FM competes with two other commercial FM stations (SCA-owned Triple M & hit106.9), whereas Wave competes with only one other local commercial station (WIN-owned i98FM).
Anyway, I’ll be interested to hear anyone’s thoughts.
1 Like
Both playlists are too broad. You may as well also add River94.9 to that broad playlist.
Pick a niche, pick a sound, pick a target demo and stick to it.
And maybe C91.3 as well, which has the same type of competitors as River 94.9, ie. metro stations.
Speaking of which, also from that same hour:
C91.3FM - Campbelltown, NSW
Owner: WIN Corporation
“Rock, Pop & Beats”/“Real Music Variety”
Monday 23rd September 2019 - 2-3pm AEST
“Forget You” Cee Lo Green
“S.O.S.” Avicii / Aloe Blacc
“That’s When I Think of You” 1927
“Motivation” Normani
“Holy Grail” Hunters & Collectors
“Starving” Hailee Steinfeld / Grey / Zedd
“Wherever You Will Go” The Calling
“Throw Away My Number” Jordie Ireland / Riley Biederer
“Friday, I’m In Love” The Cure
“Higher Love” Kygo / Whitney Houston
“Don’t Dream It’s Over” Crowded House
“Get Lucky” Daft Punk / Pharrell Williams
“Candy” Iggy Pop
2 Likes