Looking for reaction to conversion of 2BS, found that all comments were on the standard (or lack thereof) of the stations and losing local revenue within town:
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All of Rex & Dobboâs regional stations are as far as MMM is aware, still taking their shows.
Grant Broadcasrers Maybe?
@thestyles83 No, SCA. Theyâve had their hooks into Ronnie for quite some time, warming him up for the eventual sale.
It would be nice another owner other than Lithgow or Orangeâs bought the station to maintain the diversity of ownership.
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Was it the pre feed Macquarie news bulletin at 10pm that was the problem or a transmission problem with Rebel? Into the sport section of the 10pm news, the bulletin became stuck repetitively looping a second or so for minutes, then silence, then the novelty wore off following it.
Cruising around the Atherton Tablelands this afternoon with Kool FM on: Blancmange - Living On The Ceiling, then Steve Wright - Evie.
The next song? DJ Khaled and Rihanna - Wild Thoughts
Talk about jarring
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I visited Shooters Hill today where you can receive 2GNâs Crookwell translator on 106.1. Itâs currently relaying 1368 straight off air; the sound was awful even during Alan Jonesâ show. Previously it relayed 2GNâs webstream- it was about 20 seconds behind 1368.
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Oh my, wouldnât that be prone to fading at night, thunderstorm interference etc?
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Yes, weâre down to the style of FM relay that has been heard on FM 104.1, 103.5 for 2MW, off air relay of AM signal. Not pretty.
Correct, this was the case in Jan 2017. Eagleâ's translator had RDS too.
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All the talk about the Lithgow stations in AM-FM conversions thread has got me thinking about their operator. Midwest Radio Network would have to one of the most mysterious media operators Iâve come accross.
The stationâs major shareholder, John McEvoy, who must own at leat 85.1% of the company as his is the only name listed on the ACMA ownership control database, has owned the 2LT licence since the early 70âs, execept for a brief period in the early 2000s when the company went into administration for a number of years before being phoenixed.
The websites of 2LT and Move FM claim to be âYour local stationâ, yet make no mention of any local content.
The Midwest Radio website lists a bizarre assortment of online newspapers which the company owns, as detailed here: http://www.midwestradionetwork.com/about-us.html. These titles do exist, and do have limited current news (if a top story from 2 days ago counts as current) - but they cover a wide varierty of areas from Afganistan and Iraq to Chicago and San Francisco to Australia and New Zealand, all with a Sydney contact address. It reminds me of the Australian comedy Very Small Business.
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Even their name is curious.
Exactly how is it a radio network?
I donât think it is.
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Whilst Emily is on maternity leave from Hot Tomato bâfast, former swimmer, and daughter of PR wizard, Brooke Hanson is filling in.
Has anyone tuned in? Whatâs your thoughts?
Iâve not heard, genuinely interested to hear.
Currently, suitable female talent on the sidelines is an ever increasing list. Hot Tomato have used Clare Blake to cover for Moyra on maternity leave. River used Michelle Anderson for Marnie. In Perth, thereâs Carmen Braidwood.
The other big talent who so far has not filled in nor begun another gig is Sarah King. Yes, her sister Renae worked for Hot Tomato in well, shall we say with some challenging colleagues. 
Just spent some time down in Tasmania - and I was driving for it so did quite a bit of listening to what exists of radio stations.
Some observations -
7AD desperately needs that FM conversion - their coverage is absolutely woeful compared to that of the 107.7 Sea FM transmitter. For a station that I can easily receive at night in Victoria, Iâd have thought it would do well within its intended coverage area.
Instead - it was unlistenable within about 50km travelling towards Cradle Mountain - while Sea FM stayed receivable pretty much right down until I got in range of the 7XS transmitters.
I didnât mind 7XS as a station - for it being the only commercial station, itâs a fairly good format. I read somewhere that it shares a music log with 7HOFM, but either that isnât always the case, or I just got a better run of their music choices for the time I was in the area. Once actually in the range of the Hobart stations, I didnât listen to HO nearly as much.
LAFM and Chilli FM both seemed very odd coverage wise - I was able to receive them fine when I was well outside Launceston - including a large part of the middle of the state where I seemed to get both Hobart and Launceston FM just fine (with Hobart a bit stronger the further east I went) - but once I actually got to Launceston - they were hopeless. Switching to the inner city repeater didnât help either - plenty of places driving around I found both of them to be scratchy, and I lost them entirely once about 20km north west outside Launceston - only for them to return and be fairly strong in parts of Devonport.
Dunno if thatâs the general experience with LAFM - but it seemed noticeably poor coverage wise driving around Launcestonâs surrounds, and even if it was useful, they donât promote the city repeaters on air - so Iâd assume most people would have to just put up with the poor signal.
That said, it wasnât a huge loss - I didnât listen to much of LAFM - their music selection just seemed strange. I did like the Tasmania Talks program though - it was interesting hearing âBrian Carltonâ on the radio again - having listened to The Spoonmanâs night time show on Triple M a decade back.
They probably could slot in a little bit more music into the show - they seemed to play just 1 song an hour - especially as two of the stations it airs on are FM and others will be soon.
This is the non-SCA thread, so Iâll just quickly comment on finding the âFeel Goodâ sweepers on Triple M a bit strange - as was hearing some of the song selections on a station called Triple M - but I certainly preferred it over 7HOFM.
If it is the same music selection - it works far better on 7XS when thereâs no other option, than on 7HOFM where thereâs Hit and Triple M as well.
Didnât listen to much of Hit/Sea/Chilli - I was about to say that I donât get why Grant have kept with the Sea FM name, but given âChilliâ is what they came up with for a unique name, I suppose thatâs why.
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Itâs because theyâve let the maintenance go on the site. The ground wave is not getting out like it should and used to. When they complain to ACMA the tower is rusty, itâs due to their lack of maintenance.
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Thanks for the review. I must say Iâm not a fan of the name Chilli. Itâs just weird.
Also the Triple M âfeel goodâ sweepers are wrong. I just heard that on the Fraser Coast.
I agree, it seems so wrong. It sort of puts me off the station.
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I donât mind Chilli FM- better than the generic Sea, Hit, Star FMs we usually get. Their positioner âHome Of The Hottest Hits- Chilli FMâ is one of the best in the country.
I find the oddest choice for a name Eagle FM in Goulburn- with the callsign 2SNO. Perhaps they were originally intending to name it Snow FM and the Cooma station Ski FM?
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Could we see the Chilli brand into NW Tasmania Plus Queenstown?
Yep, itâs that time of year again.
Mix FM on the Sunshine Coast is doing â80s Augustâ for another year throughout this month.
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