No they won’t do that even though it would be great. There are 3 other commercial AM’s (4BH, 4BC and 4TAB) that would also love to convert to FM and there isn’t room for all of them.
At best 4KQ could try to get an FM translator for part of the coverage area like Radio TAB has in Beaudesert.
Brisbane need a new FM license, not an AM conversion.
I would say they need 10 new FM licenses and for the ACMA to take a cram’em’in approach to spectrum planning, but I’ll settle for 1.
I’m shocked but not shocked that we’ll probably end 2020 with Mandurah being the only expansion beyond capital cities for DAB. Do easier cities if Gold Coast is too hard.
I completely agree. Brisbane is in dire need of a new FM service but the ACMA just won’t act. They use the crowded spectrum argument to avoid ruffling the feathers of the incumbents by adding a new FM.
All they need to do is shuffle a few of the sub-metro community licences around like 99.7 in Redcliffe which is exactly on Brisbane’s FM spacing. Also it’s ridiculous that they’ve put some Gold Coast stations on the Brisbane spacing (eg. 102.9 and 94.1) when I’m sure they could get away with something different as they have with 107.3 Juice FM on the Gold Coast. Juice is crammed between Nova and Triple J in Brisbane but seems to not cause issues. Similarly Radio Metro on 105.7 is crammed between Triple M and Hit 105 without any problem.
I simply don’t believe they couldn’t find a way fit another 1 or 2 commercial FM stations in Brisbane.
And yes how depressing is the lack of progress with DAB on the Gold Coast. Utter failure they haven’t pushed that through. If they’re having this much trouble with the Gold Coast it’s hard to imagine them doing any better with Gosford or Wollongong.
Yep the spectrum in the Subtropical Empire (SEQ/Northern Rivers) is a right mess. You have Toowoomba/Warwick on the ‘Sydney’ channels as well, together with Lismore and Gympie. The ‘Melbourne’ channels aren’t used until Wide Bay (northward) and Coffs Harbour (southward). Then the Scumshine Coast occupies some of the ‘Canberra’ channels, with Scumshine FM on 104.9.
My only hope is that a government desperate for cash after the huge spending recently will use spectrum auctions as a means of generating some revenue in the short term.
You could easily bank 10s of millions with new licenses in the state capitals and some paid conversions from AM to FM in other regions.
Might need to wait a few years before the media operators can spend again, so you avoid SEN launching an FM station in Brisbane, but it’s seemingly easy money.
I don’t know Brisbane’s situation well enough to comment in depth there - but my view is we shouldn’t be having small community and HPON licenses until broad markets are covered - the point of community radio and narrowcasters are to fill in niches - but if you need to give a chance for the commercial market to serve those listeners first - so you don’t end up with commercialised community stations trying to do it themselves.
I was browsing through some of the various playlists on Lava & I’ve noticed that the ACE’s ‘Heritage’ stations across Regional VIC have a real ‘classic hits’ format of late. They’re mostly on AM, but one is on FM, which is 3YB in Warrnambool. They play a good decent amount of 60s & 70s music along with the 80s & 90s.
With a good AM radio, some of its stations, such as 3CS from Colac, could be heard into Melbourne quite well.
That’s exactly what they’ve done wrong. There are insufficient FM commercial stations outside of Sydney and Melbourne at least to cover the broad market. Instead they’ve swallowed up space with narrow appeal niche community stations.
You can kick the TAB off their high powered FM frequencies for a start. But such is the clout of the racing industry ($$$) that’s never going to happen.
i would think given how much DMG paid for 106.9 ($80 Million) in 2004 i would think a new licence in the caps would make at a minimum $150 million, especilly if it’s a given that there would be no more licenses issued any time soon
(and yes i know DMG needed the BNE licence to complete a national network and was probally worth alot more to them because of this, but given it was 15 years ago i’d think the value of a new license would at least double)
this should have been done in 2016/7 to get it going and working pre-comm games. as someone who regularly drives to the coast (well not now due to obvious reasons) not having DAB down there is real frustrating.
Given the Gold Coast is the largest non cap city in australia in terms of population (and bigger than canberra, hobart and darwin) it should have been included in the launch of DAB to be honest
ACMA initially did a consultation re Digital Radio on the Gold Coast at that time. However, it didn’t get finalised, mainly due to a dispute with Brisbane on the issue of overspill.
And here’s Brad Smart’s opinion piece on Radioinfo from November 2017 on the issue: Brisbane’s DAB+ Dilemma: the Gold and Sunshine Coasts’ unwelcome visitor
I agree Gold Coast and Newcastle should have been included in the capital city roll-out. Both cities are significantly bigger than Canberra, Hobart and Darwin.
I’m not sure a new FM licence would make as much money as the last round of auctions but it would still be in the ten’s of millions in Brisbane and Perth.
If Newcastle is to ever get DAB+, then the NSW Central Coast probably should too.
Though the last plan proposed that Campelltown cochannels with Newcastle, and Central Coast cochannels with Wollongong.
Which I can see being an almighty mess during summer.
Yes agree but just going by population size alone Gold Coast and Newcastle are the big cities outside the capitals. Central Coast and Sunshine Coast are next I believe in size.
But yes they should be targeting the Sunshine Coast - Brisbane - Gold Coast corridor and the Newcastle to Wollongong corridor. Add in Melbourne - Geelong and you’ve got the vast majority of population covered.
The amount of commuting that happens in these 3 corridors is huge and justifies them as priorities.
Looking at their schedule it looks like RSN Melbourne feature more sporting programs than what Sky Sports Radio do in Sydney.
Their Sunday night program looks like something from 2CH or Hope103.2.
Even their show page images look rather similar to SEN’s…
The latest music radio crossover report for Sydney has been released: https://radioinfo.com.au/news/2day-and-nova-share-almost-one-third-their-music-sydney
Comparison pairings:
Points of note:
2Day & Nova share nearly a 1/3 (32%) of their playlist, with 2Day playing far more unique tracks (54.4%) compared to Nova (19.3%).
Nova & KIIS share more than a 1/4 (27.9%) of their playlist, with KIIS playing more unique tracks (41.2%) than Nova (30.9%).
WS & 2Day shared only 10.1% of their playlist.
The crossovers between WS vs Triple M and WS vs Smooth are similar at around 23%.
Both Triple M & Smooth played more unique tracks than WS.
Father Gerard has been doing Sunday night counselling for about 50 years. Not all of it at 3UZ, he had a few years at 3DB.
meanwhile it’s the consumers that miss out. surely there must be a solution that does not screw the consumer…
Yes I’ve made that exact point to the ACMA in a complaint. They always respond with the same wishy washy response. You should also complain and others should too. Maybe if enough people annoy them they just might pull their finger out. It is their job to fix it after all.
I will send an email when i get the chance. unfortunately work has been killing me since the lockdown (i’m an employment lawyer)
