Here’s the last 25 years of 3AK/SEN.
Whilst technically, SEN is still owned by Pacific Star Network (in its new guise as Sports Entertainment Group), I have treated the ownership as being different from 2018. My take is as follows:
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The Christian group Fusion struggled, but they did start with a station that had been through the ringer as it was most likely perceived as the Italian radio station (due to previous ownership by Peter Corso). It is interesting that the lifestyle format was similar in nature to that which was recycled and failed on former sister station Magic1278 under the branding of Talking Lifestyle a few years back…clearly no lessons learnt from 3AK’s attempt.
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The Talk1116 format had some big names at the time - John Jost, Derryn Hinch, Jeff Kennett…but struggled against the ingrained talk listener bases at 3AW and 774 3LO. Somewhat like the previous point, the format was recycled and failed on former sister station 3MP under the branding of MTR1377 a few years back…clearly no lessons learnt from 3AK’s attempt.
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The SEN sports format was a good move and the rating generally reached the low 4s once the AFL radio rights were acquired. Definitely the most successful era of SEN (that’s the green bars). At least in Melbourne, its clearly a lot harder to be a sports station without AFL (as seen in the red bars from 2004 to 2006). The approach of a sports station with no AFL was recycled and failed on former sister station Magic1278 under the guise of Macquarie Sports Radio…maybe learning in the radio industry, means repeating the actions of a competitor to see if you can get a different outcome.
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Seemingly aligned with the transition to SEN’s two-tone logo, Craig Hutchinson tends to produce a binary reaction in sports followers. The ratings under his stewardship are back at the pre-AFL level of SEN (2004 to 2006), so not that impressive. To be fair, 2020 knocked the sails out of most non-talk stations as listeners gravitated to COVID updates on 3AW and 774 ABC. The concern is more 2022, with music stations reclaiming their ratings and the switch off from 774 ABC, SEN naturally should have rebounded, but it didn’t. It could be the Craig factor. It could be the increased national content as SEN tries to manage costs for its expanded footprint by adopting increased networking (aka less local content). It could be the mid-week changes in breakfast hosts, when people just want to wake up to the same voices each morning (I wonder if 774 ABC management have signed up for radio industry learning…). In reality it is probably all of the above and more. Given SEG seem to be persisting with the current approach, its hard to see the ratings changing much going forward.
Anyway, no doubt some wiser heads may have some better interpretations.