www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016/04/29/optus-offers-data-free-music-streaming
I think if telcos start to all provide free data streaming for radio this will not help the success of dab radio.
Maybe dab should go statewide and stream metro radio into the country areas. Having these fake licence areas are not relevant anymore.
It MIGHT get people listening to streams of the digital stations online without having to buy a DAB+ radio.
Be interesting how this product sells.
I managed to record this prank call, which aired on i98fm around 3.48pm. As i’m sure you do as well, I feel sorry for Maje. It must of been really hard for him not to say anything nastier or personally insult him.
Why did he air it if that was the case.
Sounds like a poor setup.
In the last few days some gem of a person has posted the series “2SM Celebration of a Station” that was broadcast in 1988. These went to air in the few days before the once-mighty 2SM became Lite’N’Boring 1269.
1988 was the bicentenary and the name of the series was a play on the “Celebration of a Nation” that the federal government was promoting.
There are 25 clips of this series on youtube. Thank goodness it was not lost. There was only one SM.
I love the of the jingles from 2SM in the 80s that are in this audio. At the end of 22 of 25 is an all time gem from when Stereo AM was introduced in 1984.
“Rock of the 80s - Stereo 2SM”
Such a strong jingle. Very powerful. The only music station to use jingles now is smooth. Such a pity. Jingles do tend to get into your brain and are more effective (noticeable) than a voiceover. And the jingle can me made to match the mood / vibe of the station. Music stations should have music jingles. Discuss.
I miss jingles. Especially the bold 8 second clips of strong music that really pump through the speakers.
I suspect that the main reason for the general demise of jingles as radio Station IDs in recent years (although the same can probably be said about the demise of jingles in general advertising as well) is because the branding/marketing gurus out there think they sound too cheesy and or outdated for this day and age. Both that and/or the fact it’s easier/cheaper for stations to make professional sounding IDs and sweepers out of the music played on the station, some sound effects and voiceovers.
Of course, I agree that jingles make for much more effective and memorable Station IDs than just a voiceover and some sound effects.
I agree that some jingles sound dreadfully cheesy. But some are brilliant. Music is so powerful.
Most advertising on TV and radio use music. It’s a pity that most music stations don’t use music to promote themselves.
But - you are right - it is so much cheaper to use a voiceover. It costs virtually nothing.
I cannot believe Smooth are still running the same jingles since their launch.
Considering that Smooth is probably the most successful format that 95.3 Sydney and 91.5 Melbourne have ever had, why would they fix anything (including the station branding) if it’s not broken?
For what it’s worth, I think that Smooth’s launch/current jingles and station branding suits the station quite well.
The announcement of the demise of radio jingles is a bit premature 
- virtually every station in the US and may other OS stations use jingles as part of their on air presentation. It is just Australian stations that are too stingy to use them.
or that most Australian stations have moved on from the 1980s in presentation style and don’t waste air time and money on something so outdated.
The Smooth jingles are just mind-numbingly boring. Star on the Central Coast is ok because it is punchy.
Jingles are outdated? Jingles are music and music are not outdated. Jingles that were made in the 1970s and 1980s are certainly outdated. Just as 1970s and 1980s ads and news themes are now outdated.
Sydney’s hit music stations have certainly moved on from jingles - we now have voiceovers (many in fake American accents) saying: 'Fresh Hits Nova" Hit 1041 2DayFM" and “Non-stop hits KIIS” between every single song. Every single song.
A jingle on a hit station should be sharp, contemporary, Australian (not with American accents) and punchy. I don’t think voiceovers are outdated. I think they are, however, overused. And when something is overused we tend not to notice it.
Found this interesting blog, which tracks how many times & how often are songs being played on Australian radio stations over a 30-day period: http://lab.jcode.me/radioStatisticsg
That shows how repetitive Nova is with the least number of unique songs of all the listed stations.
Continuing the discussion from Digital Radio:
I wonder how many there actually are?
As far as I know, there’s Hope 103.2 in Sydney, Plenty Valley FM (88.6) and Stereo (97.4) in Melbourne, the Rebels on the Gold Coast and a few narrowcast stations on 88.4 and 100.0
A search of the ACMA database only returns a few:
Sydney 2CBA 103.2 Community
Melbourne Western Suburbs 3WRB 97.4 Community
Plenty Valley 3PVR 88.6 Community
Mount Tamborine 4RBL 99.4 Commercial
Mount Tamborine 4BRZ 100.6 Commercial
Cocos Islands (West Island) 6CKI 96.0 Community
Of course there’s also the narrowcast stations on 87.6, 87.8 and 88.0
Star’s jingle being a rip off of London’s Heart FM “This is Heart” sting.
I recently had lunch in a pub in Moss Vale (Southern Highlands, NSW) and heard the sting in the background. At first I thought they were streaming Heart FM but had a closer listen and realised it was the Central Coast station. I was a bit disappointed they weren’t supporting a local station considering so many travellers pass through and would find value in local information such as traffic reports.
Does it possibly say something about the quality of programing on local commercial radio in the Southern Highlands if a local pub is streaming (well, one would imagine that reception of Star Central Coast would be poor to non existent in Moss Vale due to 2UUU from Nowra also using the 104.5 frequency) a station from elsewhere rather playing a local station?
When I was down in Huskisson back in March, the only local commercial station I found palatable was 2ST and only when they were playing music rather than networked talk/sport! Even though 94.9 Power FM was playing in a few places locally, musically it wasn’t for me and as for the Wollongong stations the less said the better really.