Mark Fine was terrific. I loved listening to him every night. Was great relaxing radio.
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3akās ratings were worse than SENāS from memory.
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SENās absolutely a success in Melbourne - theyāve fallen back a bit from where they were, but itās really the only format that could have worked - trying mainstream talk failed so many times before and after, and a music format would probably not have found a niche on AM against Magic and 3MP in their prime before the various experiments.
The format just doesnāt seem to have an audience outside Melbourne, and so much has been spent on trying to get on air, but didnāt stop to check if thereād be enough demand for the formats in other cities.
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Thereās probably room for an all-sports format station in Sydney (certainly these days), unfortunately SEN comes in with the reputation of being a Victorian/AFL brand thatās trampled on a heritage local station in 2CH. A sports station with a Sydney-specific brand and say, the Continuous Call Team as a flagship program, would probably have a much greater chance of success (probably to the level of where SEN is in Melbourne now). Chances of SEN picking up something like that though are arguably less than zero.
I dunno. Iāve lived in Sydney before and donāt think thereās demand for an all sport station. Just my observation but Melbourne and Adelaide are the most sports-interested cities. Sydney and Brisbane are just not so sport obsessed, only for certain events but not 365 days a year. Perth is somewhere in the middle but probably more aligned with Sydney and Brisbane. Melbourne people often find it hard to understand that the other cities just arenāt as interested.
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Agreed. If there was demand for a sports station in Sydney, & Brisbane, then why isnāt Macquarie Sports Radio still around?
693SENQ and 1170SEN have completely ignored history, thinking that times have miraculously changed.
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Hereās 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 backā¦clearly no lessons learnt from 3AKās attempt.
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The Talk1116 format had some big names at the time - John Jost, Derryn Hinch, Jeff Kennettā¦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 backā¦clearly no lessons learnt from 3AKās 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 (thatās 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 Radioā¦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 SENās 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 didnāt. 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 learningā¦). 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.
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So 1116SEN are currently rating the same they were prior to spending big on AFL rights.
No, theyāve averaging worse than that (2.6 v 2.9).
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I think Covid certainly knocked the stuffing out of sports and the way people follow them. Many likely switched to 3AW and decided their scattered sports discussion/news updates/commentaries and end of day show was enough to sate their appetite rather than a full-day programme.
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SEN makes sense in Melbourne. But is mostly nonSENse north of the Murray. The markets are completely different in Sydney and BrisVegas which are not sportsmad like Melb. Easy to predict that SEN would flop badly northwards and will keep rating 0.x in Syd and Bris. They blew up and bulldozed a decent rating 2CH and a great rating 4KQ and replaced them with content of minimal appeal in both markets.
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Thatās an excellent chart. SEN was at its peak in 2008. Also had the Beijing Olympics and some cricket and A-League I think.
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If there are no other buyers in a consolidating market, you kinda get what you get. In a perfect world, where Nine hadnāt done a deal with Ace beforehand, maybe Ace wouldāve taken them over instead of the Magic stations and paired them with 3MP.
Instead, 4BH gets a much-needed bump (and 4BC to a lesser extent), and 2UE is now a comfy number 2 in the place that 2CH used to fill (ie. the 65+ funeral-ad demo). Ace (and Nine) still get what they want.
Same if Rete Italia/Niche and the like saw an offer they couldnāt refuse for the narrowcast stations on AM.
Especially on AM, the likely alternative is probably dead air, so whatever, let them play their games of thinking that an AM slot in each place (especially a 16xx slot) gives them more legitimacy for their podcasts and streaming. 
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the only people they are competing with (especially on the 16xx am range) is vision and i could not care who gets it
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Noticed that the SEN app is now available on Android Auto.
Itās been on Apple Carplay for a while but this is the first time Iāve seen it on Android Auto as well.
I think this sort of thing is a much better investment for SEN than the myriad of narrowcast licences that they have sunk money into.
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Canāt get the BBL on SEN at all tonight, wonder if itāll be the same all AO
No idea why they canāt give you the option anywhere on the app
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Yeah I wanted to tune in as well. Sometimes giving exclusive rights this can happen as a result .
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I was about to mention it. (SEN also didnāt broadcast Strikers v Heat on Saturday afternoon. Instead it had the regular Trackside horse racing show and the A-League Men game between Brisbane Roar and Wellington Phoenix)
The clash between tennis and BBL will become a major issue at the end of January, when the AO womenās and menās singles finals clash with the BBL finals on consecutive nights (Qualifier and Knockout respectively).
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What airs on SEN Track or SEN Fanatic at the time? Itās not like they donāt have options.