@crankymedia
Thanks for the insights! Love your commentary always. Cheers.
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Thanks, more here to answer further questions.
@radioengineer might know more, driven the loop from Kilkivan round to Kilcoy, but considering Bald Knob signals donât reach well into Gympie, what can you expect significantly further west?
Look at the licence area map in the survey PDF. Eidsvold is the NW-most town in the licence area.
Once you drive north of Murgon/Goomeri, you leave the South Burnett region where Kingaroy is based. You leave the South Burnett council area, travel through a little bit of the merged Gympie council (old Kilkivan Shire) and reach the North Burnett. That region from Eidsvold through to Biggenden are on or in the catchment area of the Burnett River which flows to Bundaberg. 4BU reception west towards there is often relied upon. Likewise 4QO carries the ABC Bundaberg studio program as does the FM on Mt Goonaneman. Theyâre distinctly two different regions in the same licence area - much like the area south of Toowoomba to the NSW border in the Toowoomba/Warwick RA1.
Historically, 4SB had common ownership with the local paper. Then APN sold these last two radio stations in 2001 to RG Capital (SCA) who promptly shut programs down from Kingaroy, decimated the FM station by piping everything in from Margaret St Toowoomba. Result is a successful FM breakfast show (thanks to mainstay Hamish) which stretches from Roma to Gatton, NSW border at St George and Stanthorpe north to the South Burnett, 3 licence areas, many regions with strong local identities and rivalry with the next region.
Hence SCA have only had a focus on the South Burnett area. The 89.1 service is under spec too in height and TX power. On the AM side, 4SB has always been run as a traditional AM station with John Laws in his UE days, local announcers and music remotely overnight, might have taken Overnight talk. Brad Smart did ok out of Kingaroy but it was the lack of local knowledge and care by 2GB during their time that decimated the station with large slabs of talk content with of little relevance. Hence the rise of Crow FM filling a much needed gap and on a better band.
If Sal and Rex and the rest of Resonate are bringing back the audience to 4SB, Crow will need to adapt to remain relevant and not follow the decline of TEN FM Tenterfield who have not adapted to the introduction of Jowittâs formats.
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Are the full time announcers on Crow FM paid? Would it be worthwhile for Resonate to look at luring one or two presenters across from Crow FM?
Great question! (some did come across from 4SB didnât they when RG Capital took over?)
I recall the sale price of 4SB/Power FM was a total steal. However, each subsequent change of hands of 4SB would have been significantly less.
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I donât quite follow this bit⌠What does Resonate have in Tenterfield / Stanthorpe?
I thought all of commercial broadcasters there were SCA, Bill Caralis or Rebel/Breeze?
Sea, Mix, Hot dont even get well to Kilcoy due to the terrain at Woodford⌠I would guess Mix would be around 20dbuv and hot at slightly higher due to their more âomnidirectionalâ pattern⌠Last time I was out there once you get past Kilcoy cemetery its curtains for Bald knob reception.
in my opinion the people that arent listening to the locals out there are listening to Crow FM or River949 in the southern parts of that service area⌠Nanango, Blackbutt (not sure if thats in their service area)
At a guess having been out there a lot when I was based in Toowoomba servicing 89.1 and 4SB⌠River in those towns would be an easy 40dbuv⌠once you get out of Yarraman thou it dies very quickly.
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Itâs Romaâs turn this week: http://radioitsalovething.com.au/RIALT/media/RIALT/PDF/ROMA-XTRA-INSIGHTS-PUBLIC-SURVEY-RESULT.PDF
Hit 95.1 is #1 with a 29.7% share, followed by 4ZR with 23.9% & ABC Southern QLD with 22.5%. Demographic breakdowns are not available for this survey.
Great result for 4ZR.
Again if you add up the two local ABCâs their combined figure is No.1
Not much overspill in Roma.
Regarding Hit, Iâve often thought in small isolated markets like Roma being the only commercial FM they could afford to skew older during the day and revert to CHR at night and keep more people happy.
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Hard to do when all content is networked though.
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Emerald has had its radio ratings released: http://www.radioitsalovething.com.au/RIALT/media/RIALT/PDF/EMERALD-XTRA-INSIGHTS-PUBLIC-SURVEY-RESULT.PDF
Hit 94.7 is #1 with a 38.3% share, followed by ABC Capricornia at 25% & 4HI at 15%. Hit is #1 in the under-40s, with ABC Capricornia dominating the 40+.
No surprise, same flawed methodology continues.
The promotional driven station with the greatest audience recall wins every time the phone researchers call these far flung regions.
Resonate, who got a bargain for their purchase from MRN would be glad they didnât pay any more considering the damage of what MRN have done to those AM stations with chopping and changing of local staff and rubbish network filler from 2GB.
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I could not agree more there mate.
Its a shame what MRN did to 4HI. I donât think that right wing rubbish went down well with the miners.
It was once a unique radio station. I always remember listening to Miners Overnight. They would play anything from Johnny Cash to Megadeth. And those Zinc HI days 
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Today, itâs Launcestonâs turn: http://radioitsalovething.com.au/RIALT/media/RIALT/PDF/LAUNCESTON-XTRA-INSIGHTS-PUBLIC-SURVEY-RESULT.PDF
Chilli is #1 with a 23.9% share, followed by sister station LAFM with 22.5%, ABC Northern Tasmania with 21.2% & JJJ with 12.2%.
In the demographics, Chilli is #1 in the under-40s, LAFM is #1 in the 40-54s & ABC Northern Tasmania tops the 55+. In timeslot breakdowns, Chilli is #1 in breakfast, LAFM is #1 in mornings & afternoons, Chilli is #1 in drive thanks to Hamish & Andy, whilst ABC is #1 in evenings.
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Well look at that, all on FM, all similar shares.
No AM/FM commercial divide this time.
Flawed methodology proven once more.
For a network that watches its pennies, why, with no competition do they waste money airing H&A. What a waste, punt them, employ a quality local announcer and give them a good slot to train on.
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Probably still cheaper to take H&A than to put another local shift on.
Locals probably wonât complain much since H&A are a known commodity and unlikely to cause any backlash.
How does this prove the flawed methodology. With the better sound quality on FM and LAFM/7LA essentially having been the only commercial station in the market for many years I would expect it to rate better than an AM station with a similar format.
[quote=âcrankymedia, post:315, topic:111â]
For a network that watches its pennies, why, with no competition do they waste money airing H&A. What a waste, punt them, employ a quality local announcer and give them a good slot to train on.
[/quote]why should regional listeners have to get inferior programming just because theyâre not in a competitive market? H&Aâs popularity would suggest that listeners prefer them over a standard music shift.
Ballarat has their ratings released this morning: http://www.radioitsalovething.com.au/RIALT/media/RIALT/PDF/BALLARAT-XTRA-INSIGHTS-PUBLIC-SURVEY-RESULT.PDF
Power FM is #1 with 27.4%, followed by sister station 3BA with 22%. The ABC stations rate quite relatively low, with JJJ rating 7.5% & ABC Ballarat with 5.1%. Power FM wins the under-40s, whilst 3BA wins the 40+.
The Other Stations account for 34.4% of listeners, most of which would be towards the Melbourne stations (particularly ABC Radio Melbourne & 3AW), as well as towards the Bendigo stations, particularly Gold Central Victoria, which transmits on 1071AM from Maryborough.
That might explain the very low share for the local ABC station.
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also a couple of ACE Radio stations can be received from Ballarat: 3WM Horsham and 3CS Colac.