Regional Radio Ratings

That’s not 100% correct.
It’s hard to find up to date details online, but last I heard the schedule was:
6-9am Breakfast (local voice tracks from Longreach or Kingaroy)
9-10am Rural Qld Today (networked talk/news show with Dobbo - voice tracked from Brisbane, but Dobbo is more rural that a lot in rural Qld)
10am-12pm Ray Hadley
12-1pm Lunch Show (voice tracked for each market)
Afternoons - music
Drive - (voice tracked network show)
Evenings - music
Overnight - Luke Bona

So apart from Ray Hadley, there’s a lot of music played.
The problem for Resonate as a whole is that they purchased a network of stations that had been neglected and culled repeatedly for nearly 20 years. Resonate’s current model is quite possibly the first to actually make those stations break even - largely due to severe cost cutting they’ve undertaken since taking over. Their remoteness makes it virtually impossible to get national advertising and there’s not a lot of money locally for local advertisers. They also have an aging fleet of AM transmitters which no longer give good reception.

In Mount Isa, they had a local breakfast host who left and was never replaced, instead opting for the 4LG breakfast host to record voice tracks for 4LM. I don’t even think they have any local staff at all now, with staff from Longreach visiting when needed.

SCA on the other hand have local staff for sales and maybe promotions (they at least used to be quite active with the promo car going out around town a few times a week). Despite having networked breakfast (the same as all other Hit stations) that show is high quality, and SCA have managed to get a good amount of national advertising in Mount Isa by attaching it to the hit network buys.

It’s not eligible for FM conversion because the FM and AM stations have different owners.

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It should be “soon” though once ACMA gets their act together on FM conversions in competitive markets. It’s on their list of current activities.

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I listened to 4HI about 12 months ago and the music was a classic hits / easy listening format. Personally it definitely wasn’t to my taste and found it very bland and repetitive.

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Is that SCA’s Dobbo heard 9-10am on 4LM?

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Yes, Ben Dobbin from the Brisbane Rush Hour.

(not to be confused with Guy “Dobbo” Dobson who was also at SCA and part owns Resonate).

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Yes.

My talk format reasoning was based on what happens in the morning.

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So… Triple M’s Dobbo is working on air at 4LM up against Triple M?

How does this work?

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The whole Resonate network actually. But they don’t compete in any markets and Resonate take some Triple M programming. Last I heard Dobbo records his program from the Triple M studios.

This is a carry back to when The other Dobbo (Guy Dobson) was at SCA so there’s an agreement in place. SCA also represent Resonate nationally for advertising.

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Today, we’re off to Shepparton: https://www.commercialradio.com.au/RA/media/General/Documents/Surveys%20for%20Regional/SHEPPARTON-XTRA-INSIGHTS-PUBLIC-SURVEY-RELEASE_1.pdf?ext=.pdf

Hit 96.9 remains on top with 25.4% (+0.2 from 2021), followed by Triple M with 23.6% (+4.6), ABC Shepparton with 7.4% (-0.8) & JJJ with 6.4% (-2.3).

In the demos, Hit is #1 with the under-40s, with Triple M winning the 40-64s & ABC Shepparton winning the 65+.

In breakfast, Hit is #1 with 25.4% (+1.6), followed by Triple M’s Josh with 23.1% (+3.3).

The Other Stations ratings is at 33.4%, down from 34.5% in 2021.

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That’s a very high ‘Other’ figure for a market that only has 2 community stations and not much overlap.

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wouldn’t be Bendigo as they also have a Triple M/Hit combo with the same playlist and same announcers outside of breakfast. I’m sure the other stations are 2QN, Edge FM 102.5, Edge FM 102.1 and 3NE (reception of all these stations is weak in Shepparton itself but stronger in surrounding areas closer to these stations), and other stations at local strength are 3SR (AM, with horse racing), 3ONE FM, and Vision Australia Radio.

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I used to listen to 3CV from Maryborough/Bendigo when I was in the area. Reception used to be pretty good. I wonder if some people are also tuning into Gold Central Victoria on 1071 now?

Does 2AY get into Shepparton?

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What’s worth noting is that in the 65+ age group, the Other Stations share is at a whopping 61.6%!!! :open_mouth:

This is up from 59.8% in 2021.

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Driving back from Melbourne to Albury on the Hume yesterday the best AM commercial signal between about Kilmore and Benalla was 3CV (reception very good for the most part) so very plausible it would be good into Shepparton as well.

2AY barely gets out past Wangaratta these days, let alone all the way to Shepparton.

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Kingaroy had their survey released today: https://xtrainsights.com/media/2654/kingaroy_survey1_2023.pdf

Hit 89.1 maintained its top position with 23.9%, despite dropping 2.2 from the previous survey in 2021. ABC Southern QLD was 2nd 12.7% (-0.8), followed by 4SB with 8.8% (-0.7), JJJ with 6.7% (Steady) & ABC Wide Bay with 5.4% (+1.4).

In the demos, Hit is #1 in the under-55s, with ABC Southern QLD dominating in the 65+. In breakfast, Hit’s Cliffo & Bronte dominates with 23.8% (-3.4), followed by ABC’s David Iliffe with 13.2% (-1.2) & 4SB with 7.5% (-3.1).

The “Other Stations” ratings share is 38.5%, up from 36.7% in 2021. Most of that would be towards the community station Crow FM.

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That’s a whopping “other” figure. It’s quite possible Crow FM is the number one station in Kingaroy. Not a lot of other options.

4SB needs to get on FM. AM is truly dying.

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Certainly sounds like the oldies are needing to find their hit of Neil Mitchell from outside the Shepp market :sweat_smile: given it’s only SCA and RSN in town… as others have said above, there are plenty of fringe choices (like 3NE or Gold CV).

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Internet radio/streaming is probably getting picked up in the ‘Other’ too.

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4SB needs more local programming and/or music that caters for the market.

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More likely to be from the Wangaratta duopoly - Gold Central Vic rates abysmally as it is within its licence area.

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