Random Radio

Not possible due to ABQ-2. It may have interfered with reception of that channel, first harmonic.

Neither happened and when 102.9 is on the 90m tower, the coverage west is wonderful. Due to the poor site of the 4DDB TX, it’s possible to null it out enough to receive Hot Tomato with RDS on the east facing slopes or ridge of Toowoomba,

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We need a little more disruption in Sydney radio. We need more stations to relaunch themselves and shake things up. And I don’t mean the station that pays Kyle and Jackie O to join them – that’s not disruption - that’s just plain old run out of ideas and I’ll poach the competition’s talent. And it’s an expensive way to get to No. 1.

Here are a few of the disruptors of the past.

1981: 2UW becomes The New 2UW and skyrockets to No.2 in months. Rik Melbourne at breakfast, Better Music and Less Commercials all day and a stack of cash to give away with the 2UW Call Girls and bumper sticker spotting

1984: Whilst 2UW messes around with Magic 11, 2SM becomes the Rock of the 80s and it share hits over 10%. High energy and a narrow playlist rock the AM station skywards. At the same time Triple M get their act together and become No.1 with Triple Plays, Doug Mulray and announcers with deep, deep voices. It was rock radio without the bogan attitude.

1994: 2DayFM finally decides to beat Triple M. Wendy Harmer is teamed with Peter Moon and 2DayFM’s middle-of-the –road music during the day and Top 40 countdown at 7pm means that Triple M’’s at No.1 is over – possibly forever.

2001: Nova burst onto the scene. Never more than 2 ads in a row and 12 inch remixes of dance music spell the end of 2DayFM’s reign – but only briefly. 2DayFM was to again be reborn with updated music and Kyle and Jackie O at the helm.

2012: Smooth – music, music and more music. And the music the others don’t play. The surprises. Sydney’s cheapest run commercial FM station was to become the No.1 FM by doing what FM radio is meant to do – music.

I am hoping that this summer there are secret plans to disrupt Sydney’s FM radio scene. Maybe WSFM, 2DayFM or Triple M are about to do something to mess up 2017. My hopes are thin. I think those stations are happy to keep doing the same-old same-old and maybe gain a 0.5% share in the ratings. Slug it out all year for the same result.

We are ready for a shake up. There is something wrong with the commercial FM stations:

  • How can Triple J be No.1 for 18 – 24 year olds?
  • How can KIIS be No.1 with 10 – 17 and 40 – 54 year olds?
  • How can Triple M rate a 3.8 on the weekends and 3.7 at night?
  • How can KIIS rate a 9.7 on weekdays but only 6.9 on the weekend?
  • How can WSFM rate a 4.3 of a night?
  • How can 2DayFM’s best rating in a demographic be 3rd with 10 – 17year olds?

I hope that in 2017 when I tune to KIIS, Nova or 2DayFM I am served up more than a fake American accent telling me “Fresh Hits, Hit 1041 or Non-stop Hits” before they play the new Bieber song. I hope that WSFM is not playing Blondie’s Heart of Glass or Brian Adam’s Summer of 69 for the ninth time that week. I hope that 1049 is back on my pre-set and I hear 30 minutes of non-stop rock. Six FM commercial FM stations but there was better quality FM when there were two, three of four FM stations.

Please Santa – make Sydney FM radio better in 2017.

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Totally agree the need for a shake up. Not just Sydney. It’s much worse in the capitals with only 4 FMs.

Brisbane radio was better with only 1 FM station.

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Today is the official launch day for www.radioapp.com.au, though it has been operational for a few days. Boasts 250 Australian stations from ABC, SBS and commercials, but no community radio.

Please Santa- make Sydney FM radio better in 2017.

I’m not sure what is more fantastic- your wish or Santa himself.

My wish is to see Radio Caroline pick up a spot on Sydney DAB. They have already done so in several UK markets, and the former pirate broadcaster is privy to innovation and experimentation. More than can be said for all of the Sydney incumbents.

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Yeah Sydney radio was a lot better in the late 80s in my view.

I believe that having two commercial talk stations fighting it out was great in Sydney. 2day fm and triple M was a great fight too. I liked both 2uw and 2ws.

There was more competition with rugby league coverage, until recently Triple M could not broadcast any games except Monday night. It use to be on ABC , 2ue, 2gb and 2ky on Sunday. The cricket was on 2ue and the ABC. Whilst 2ue has the cricket now low rating lifestyle has the priority.

There was more money spent on marketing to really push the radio brand on TV. The great ads like Triple M. And radio active ad by 2ue.

I think if they put some passion into the formats, they may be success. The low cost approach seems to be the way now for all networks.

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The low cost approach seems to be the way for ALL media outlets these days including print and TV, etc.

And I think a lot of that is to do with the internet and the advent of iPods.

There weren’t those kinds of options back in the 80s (and the humble Sony Walkman and the like are no match for even an iPod Classic).

Same goes for free to air TV…It has suffered for the same kind of reasons as radio and the quality of free to air TV isn’t as good as it was back then either.

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All true, but could it be just an excuse the mp3 thing. Not being inside a radio station it’s hard to know if the budget has shrunk that much.

Listening to 2ca on the radio app , seems to be well put together but would they have more budget than say a Sydney station?

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Good god no. Except maybe 2SM and 2CH, but even those stations have personalities that would be on at least half-descent money. 2CA would in fact most likely have the smallest budget of all the Canberra stations given their ratings figures.

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I think it’s only partially to do with internet and iPod. For me it’s simple. Commercial radio no longer plays the music I want to hear. There is no depth or originality to sustain my interest.
In the 80s I could happily listen to FM104 all day and night, with occasional periods on Stereo 10 (mostly in the car). I just don’t find the radio listenable anymore as background at home.
For me it’s simply the music originality - it’s nor there anymore, with the exception of Smooth on FM.

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I agree with you about radio today, most stations stick to their ‘safe’ playlists,are never adventurous enough to find old songs that make you think “I haven’t heard that for ages” .Only The Breeze or River 94.9 are the exception.Some of my workmates now bring their own music to listen to ,such as a Bluetooth speaker so you can play your own playlist from your smartphone.

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It’s a pretty trite conversation, this one. Commercial radio exists to deliver audiences to advertisers, which means lowest common denominator programming. If you want depth, freshness, and originality, your best bet is to exclusively listen to online radio. Both Radio Caroline and Radio Paradise have all three in spades.

It’s interesting that the most variety emanates from Ipswich and the Scenic Rim (River, Breeze and Rebel)… coincidently Pauline Hanson heartland ~ lol.

I have to admit that Rebel can often be too obscure for me (growing up in NZ I missed out on much of that Aussie ‘pub rock’ shite).

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Please explain?

I don’t like it!

:smile:

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I don’t think it’s a trite conversation at all. And I completely disagree that to be commercially successful you have to be “lowest common denominator”. Do you think stations like FM104 didn’t make any money? They made a mint! The station reportedly charged the highest rates in the country for advertising in the mid to late 80s and rated up to 35% of the market - all done with carefully selected and quality music that also appealed to the masses. Sure it was the only FM station at the time but that was actually seen as a disadvantage at the time of launch and it wasn’t predicted to be profitable. It took a while for FM to gain traction against AM in the early 80s even in some single FM markets. It’s worth noting there was only one fewer commercial music station in Brisbane at the time they had those ratings, albeit on AM. Anyway the point is you don’t have to go lowest common denominator to rate well and maximise profit - just look at Smooth in Sydney for a more recent example! You just have to have some skill, and courage.

As for commercial radio existing solely for advertisers, if there is eventually no audience left, what then? A lot of businesses have fallen into that trap over the years and are no longer around. The AUDIENCE and thus customer is king - not the advertiser. Network TV is just about to learn this the hard way I’m afraid, and commercial radio is hot on their heals.

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The FM market in the 80s was embryonic- stations had the luxury of innovation in the absence of competition. In today’s mature oligopolistic market, a regression to more safe middle ground is inevitable, though Smooth capitalised on a clear market gap.

Even if the audience is not a mere conduit to the advertiser, most people are happy with the safe and familiar, with the odd “high school hit” thrown in every now and then. Us forum nerds wanting eclecticism are in the minority.

We have the national and community sectors to pick up the slack, so to speak,and Internet radio as I mentioned before. I now only listen to commercial radio incidentally when DXing. The good old days of commercial FM radio, like manufacturing jobs in Detroit, are never coming back.

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I agree with some points, but I don’t think it’s inevitable. There are still some very decent commercial FM stations overseas that thrive without “safe” playlists. Stations like Absolute Radio in the UK, The Wave in LA and numerous others. It’s not all over - just maybe in Australia.

And that’s the beauty of Internet radio- you can listen to these stations as well as online-only operations, who are the torch bearers of original and thoughtful radio programming in the modern era. Growing up and watching Aladdin, one of my three wishes was to have a radio that received every station on the planet. Little did I know that this would become a reality within a decade of that films’ release.

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