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132

With Wave FM sounding more like a Top 40 station & therefore less of an adult music station these days, I don’t blame them wanting Smooth on instead. :wink:

This says more about the sorry state of local commercial radio in the Illawarra being one of the less diverse in Australia, music-wise. Even smaller cities & towns have more music format diversity across their local commercial stations than the Illawarra does!
In fact, you could say that comparing Wave FM with i98 is like comparing Seven News with Nine News: they’re pretty much identical with one another. :wink:

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I would suggest it simply shows how consumers etc are so savvy these days - my local pharmacy has KOST 103.5 Los Angeles playing.

I would also think it gets around those fecking ridiculous licencing issues that APRA or whoever it is bears down on shops/offices with, demanding they pay royalties to play a radio or music.

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134

NewsWeary - you are bang on! To compete against the Sydney stations C91.3 needs to find the weak spot and attack. That weak spot could be:

  • the hundreds upon hundreds of hits from the 70s, 80s and 90s that WSFM does not play.
  • skewing as a hit station that focuses on dance music.
  • playing the hits from the 60s (and scoop up the 55 plus demo).

I loved being on the Central Coast in the last school holidays and listening to Star. It was playing hits form the 80s and 90s that I forgotten. It was like bumping into a long lost friend. Dead set - I was singing out so loud in the car. And I could not care less. I suppose other drivers realised I was a tourist from Sydney who had not experienced radio like this for ages.

135

Nope - they need to pay the APRA license regardless of where the music is sourced from - though there are a large number of businesses that don’t.
http://apraamcos.com.au/about-us/faqs/music-customers/

136

Cheers - those idiots piss me off.

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137

An interesting comment was made in the “Macquarie Radio Network” thread:

The reason why Melbourne radio is far superior than Sydney radio, at least in the music radio front, is because of the fact that Melbourne has 1 more commercial music radio station than Sydney does (not counting the ‘fringe’ stations such as The Edge, C91.3, i98, Star etc), which is 3MP. Apparently, Caralis’ ownership of 2SM is letting them fall behind on that front. Their metro-wide community radio stations, such as RRR & PBS, is more superior than FBi & 2SER, whilst they also have a decent AM music station from a nearby regional market, which is 3GG from Warragul, which has a “Forever Classic” format, similar to that of 2GN/2XL. And their DAB-only stations, Aussie & Koool, are fairly unique in any metro market, in which it’s not available outside of Melbourne. To be fair, Sydney does have two dance-based DAB+ stations, Gorilla & Dance Super Digi, which is not offered anywhere else, either on FM or DAB+.

You could also say that if I was in Melbourne or Brisbane, I’d be listening to radio more than in Sydney, even if I don’t have a DAB+ radio. In other words, if I was in Sydney, having a DAB+ radio would be considered to be almost ‘compulsory’, due to the fact that most of the ‘fringe’ commercial FM stations that are receivable in most parts of Sydney are mostly Top 40-skewed (ie. C91.3, The Edge, Wave, i98 & Sea), with very few being adult music-based (Star & 2GO).

Back in 2012, when I was over in Perth, I generally found their local commercial music radio stations to be better than what Sydney offered back then, with or without DAB+ and/or the ‘fringe’ stations. At the time, 96fm was owned by Fairfax, which offered a rock-based format without the sport/talk that is present on Triple M in the eastern states. But now, since ARN took over 96fm last year, it became a Mix 94.5 clone, complete with their positioner of “Your Favourites from the 80s to Now”, as well as having a talk-based drive program. This means that Perth now has only 2 formats across its 4 commercial FM stations, with 2 having a CHR format (hit92.9 & Nova 93.7), whilst the other 2 have a AC format (Mix 94.5 & 96fm). This leaves 6iX, an AM station, as the only commercial music radio station to have a completely different format, in which it has a ‘classic hits’ format. With that in mind, having a DAB+ radio in Perth is now almost a requirement, as the only rock & easy listening stations in that city are found on DAB+ (ie. Classic Rock, MMM Modern Rock, Smooth & My Perth Digital).

With just one ownership change of a single Perth station (96fm), this meant that Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane & even Adelaide now have better commercial music radio stations in general than Perth, even when not including the ‘fringe’ stations. In fact, Canberra is now not far behind Perth in terms of its commercial music radio stations, in which they also have 3 formats (1 x CHR = hit104.7; 1 x AC = Mix 106.3; 1 x Classic Hits = 2CA) across just 3 stations instead of 5! :open_mouth: As a bonus, unlike all of the Perth commercial FM stations, at least Mix 106.3 has a music-based drive program if you prefer more music & less talk for the drive home.

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Dance Super Digi is no longer broadcasting. Although I suppose that Fun Classic Hits could also be classed as a unique DAB+ only station for Sydney that’s a decent alternative to the usual stations…if only they had better audio quality!

Anyway I’d probably agree that Sydney certainly isn’t one of the best radio markets in Australia for music variety although compared to many regional areas where commercial radio is simply a choice between primarily Top 40-skewed music or either classic hits and/or talkback, we don’t do too badly…

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Oh, I wasn’t aware of that. :astonished:

That’s true I suppose.

Or in Wollongong’s case, at least for its local commercial stations, it’s a choice between primarily Top 40-skewed music or primarily Top 40-skewed music (ie. i98 & Wave). And if you throw Power FM from Nowra into the mix, that’s another station playing primarily Top 40-skewed music. :wink:

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140

3GG doesn’t reliably make it into Melbourne much past Narre Warren, so it’s hardly worth a mention. That equates to about the same as how far the Ballarat stations make it into Melbourne from the North West.
The Geelong stations on the other hand have reasonable coverage through a lot of Melbourne.

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You’re not wrong. :wink:

Perhaps the only noticeable difference between the three stations is that 94.9 Power FM has a bit of a “rock” skew; many of the songs it plays can also be found on Triple M. One thing I have noticed in particular about Power FM is that it doesn’t play the most recent top-40 hits. For instance, i98fm and 96.5 Wave FM could play the new Justin Timberlake song (“Can’t Stop The Feeling”, if i’m not mistaken), whereas Power FM would most likely play a song such as “Happy” by Pharrel Williams, which was released three years ago. I have also found this somewhat intriguing and it’s pretty strange, considering that the station is more or less a “top-40 station” like it’s local counterparts. Power FM’s “rock” skew is primarily the reason why I prefer to listen to the station over i98fm and 96.5 Wave FM, at least when 104.9 Triple M is not available. Although admittedly, in recent times I have preferred to listen to i98fm over Power FM & Wave, as Power FM have been playing less 90’s rock music in recent times.

It’s pretty sad really that Wollongong, the third largest city in New South Wales, realistically only has the option to choose from the “top-40” stations or ABC Radio. I know that many of the Sydney FM station can be received in most areas of the Illawarra, but in some parts, the reception is pretty poor and almost inaudible. Based on my observations, the western shore of Lake Illawarra (around Dapto) can not receive the Sydney FM stations too well. Whenever I travel through the area, I always have to change it to a local station instead, as the reception of Triple M is simply too poor to listen to. Even parts of the northern suburbs, such as Fairy Meadow, can sometimes have difficulties in receiving the Sydney FM stations.

Apart from the Sydney FM stations, the only other options would either be 106.9 Vox FM or for something a bit more mainstream, 87.8 Oldies FM. Oldies FM is a pretty good alternative to the “top-40” stations, especially for those who favour a “classic-hits” format. Despite being a narrowcast station, the music played on Oldies FM is pretty well-known too. I have heard a number of songs from The Beatles on the station before. However, in saying all of that, the reception of Oldies FM isn’t exactly favourable. Based on my observations, the northern suburbs of Wollongong can not receive the station at all, especially considering the fact that a yet-identified religious station is transmitting from that part of the Illawarra. Interestingly enough, even the coastal suburbs can struggle to receive the station. One of my parents informed me that they couldn’t even receive the station in Warilla, despite the fact that it is in reasonable distance to Kiama! From my location, I can receive the station reasonably well, although the signal does have a bit of static at times. I can not receive the religious station at all on the 87.8 MHz frequency, even during high tropo levels.

Sorry for the incredibly long post. :stuck_out_tongue:

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142

I think it depends on the radio re: Geelong stations in Melbourne. I get Bay FM and K Rock clear on my car radio pretty much anywhere that I drive over Melbourne, but my indoor radios at home barely pick them up. Likewise I can get Warragul, Ballarat and (sometimes) Bendigo stations on FM on the car radio but not at home… but I’ve no reason to want to tune in to them for any prolonged period,

I get an OK signal on 3GG but its programming is hardly compelling enough to make me want to tune in for a signal that gets a bit scratchy.

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Are 2xl’s fm relays in the snowy mountains in
full stereo?

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I THINK they are…

There are quite a number of them, 96.3 Jindabyne, 92.1 Thredbo, 92.5 Charlotte Pass, 92.5 Bombala, 98.7 Perisher so doing stereo would be viable.

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I would also guess that they are.
The Jindabyne transmitter is the most local to the studio, as well as a relay point for the STL to the 918AM transmitter in Cooma.
Thredbo is fed by a digital link, and I believe that Charlotte Pass and Perisher are off air relays from Thredbo. (This is the same for both 2XL and Snow FM).
As for Bombala, I pretty sure someone on the old forum said that it’s not switched on yet, and I think it would be unlikely that it ever will be given the small population of the area and the distance that would be required for an STL to reach.

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2XL’s website does list 92.5 FM for Bombala. But yes, with a population of only 1,000 odd and not really in the tourist area as such, I could see why they may hesitate to activate it.

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Here’s my random thought for the day.

There are a lot of websites that reminisce about Sydney’s hit music station of the 70s and 80s - 2SM. There are also several Facebook pages remembering the once-mighty 2SM.

Yet there is no such fondness for Triple M, 2DayFM or even 2UW even though they were also hit music stations in the 70s or 80s.

What’s the lasting power of 2SM? Was it the logo? Powerful jingles? Music? DJ’s?

I just bet if we fast forward two decades no one will be thinking about the KIIS, Nova or the 2DayFM of 2016.

What etched the sound of a 70s and 80s radio station into so many minds?

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148

In the case of Triple M, haven’t they always been (and still are) a rock station? I’m sure that 2DayFM has been mostly a Top 40/CHR-based station since the 1990s as well.

How long was 2SM a predominately hit-based music station for? Maybe about 15 years or thereabouts? If 2SM remained mostly the same for at least 25-30 years with only a gradual evolution of the music format, DJs and so on like Triple M and 2DayFM have been, I somehow doubt that there would be many websites or Facebook pages reminiscing about the 2SM of old.

Could the fact that 2SM is currently a pretty amateur-sounding (with possibly a rare exception for John Laws) talk station also help fuel the nostalgia that many have for 2SM in it’s 70s and 80s heyday?

Unfortunately I wasn’t around to experience 2SM’s glory days, but I think it would’ve been a fantastic radio station to listen to back in the day judging by the little I’ve heard online. One wonders if 2SM would still be a music station today if it had decided to convert to FM in the '80s or Early '90s. Although with that in mind, it’s probably highly likely that 2SM as a music station would’ve somehow eventually changed formats if it converted to FM, knowing what happened to 2UW, 2WS and 2KA (the commercial station, not the country music narrowcaster which was still on until about 18 months ago) when they converted from AM to FM in the Early '90s.

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149

I think it is because 2SM was such a powerhouse, had a very good news service, had an influential Top 40 chart (it was the only chart available at the two music stores I frequented), sponsored the very popular 2SM Coca-Cola Surfabout, and had the legends Ian MacRae, George Moore, Frank Hyde and John Brennan. The Italian program, and the Catholic social affairs program (where Warren Boland got his start iirc) on Sunday night probably didn’t rate that well I would think, but the rest of the week 2SM blitzed the competition. I have fond memories of 2SM.

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150

Probably also the fact that the FMers are still around in something like their original formats ie. it’s still classic or modern popular music one way or another.

Whereas 2SM is nothing like what it is, it exists in name only.

And that there are no rock/pop popular music stations left on AM in metro areas anymore anywhere really. A station like 4KQ is as close as you get to that anywhere in metro areas.

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151

I’m still disappointed that 4KQ never converted over to FM,Thankfully Triple M here in Brisbane are playing more classic rock tracks these days