I wonder sometime next year Hutchy will kill off 2ch complety and replace it with SEN 2/3 in Sydney then
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I wonder if in 2-3years it will be back. Like what happen with â2UEâ / â2SMâ also if you go back in time. 
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100% 2CH will be back on 1170AM.
Sydney will never be a strong enough market to sustain a 24/7 commercial sports radio station.
What makes SEN any different from MSR, Sky Sports Radio, and the amount of sports already broadcast on 2GB, 2SM and ABC.
Itâs purely not sustainable.
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But a music station is?
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Localism is key. MSR, although Sydney centric was not local enough. SEN is at least having a go at local shifts on 1170, itâs not just a straight relay of 1116 Melbourne.
As for whatâs different -
Macquarie Media (at the time, later Nine Radio) werenât solely in the business of sports. Crocmedia is very solely sports orientated. Theyâll persist with a sports format, and persist longer or sell the station.
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Probably.
Weâve already got SEN Victoria and SENTrack on Sydney DAB+, could imagine both continuing alongside SEN 1170 and (at least for the moment) 2CH Digital.
I certainly wouldnât rule out the possibility of 2CH making a return to 1170AM in the future, but most likely only under different ownership.
In any case, I still have doubts about the longterm viability of 2CH as a music station. Despite some tweaks to the format in recent years (Happy Days, Magic, Easy Classics and more recently Classic Hits), 2CH never really strayed too far away from Easy Listening.
Yeah. Over the last few years 2CH has only really done well in the 65+ demographic, largely hovering around 3% in the ratings. Makes you wonder how much of a listener base 2CH would have in a decade or two from now, during which time many will probably move to Rookwood Necropolis and similar places.
From what I recall, Macquarie Sports Radio also didnât broadcast NRL calls (an essential element for any sports radio station which wants to be taken seriously in the Sydney market) because the last era of 954AM ownership before Nine wanted to protect 2GBâs ratings.
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I agree, but it would be a long time. I wouldnât see Crocmedia giving up that quickly. It took 1377 being offloaded to Ace Radio this year for the return of 3MP but of course this was because they had two licenses is Melbourne.
They wonât be offloading their one license in Sydney anytime soon.
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What is sustainable on the AM Band? . Difficult question to answer. Even on FM. Depends on oneâs definition on sustainable.
The easy answer is, just make great content and donât get bogged down in the ratings or numbers so long it is afloat. Then you build an audience, think long term. I guess successful youtubers think that way because they want to do it and enjoy it and then âbecome successfulâ, some do not. Todayâs twitters / facebook /youtubes were just ideas.
As soon you just chase numbers and not putting effort on content it is an uphill battle in my view. All easier said than done. That balance of profitability vs chasing an idea is not easy one to balance. I guess SEN is an âideaâ, if you look at it logically you think he is crazy given MSR recently disappeared.
However you never know maybe it will work if the content is right. The continuous call team on GB was successful because even non sports lovers like to listen and when they drop the footy calls all those years back (when they were at 2UE and GB got the exclusive calling rights ) it still rated well and won all surveys .
I know 2SM Talkin sport have listeners who donât really like sport, but listen for the personalities like Gavin Robinson, Peter Tunks etc (who knows if they are successful ,no rating survey, my guess they may do better than Sky sports and perhaps 2ch?).
Probably with music radio today, 2CH is the most engaging music radio station in Sydney with the most âlive DJsâ who talk about community events etc (might be pre recorded at times) , although I donât listen to a big slab of music radio stations like Nova/Smooth/2day so people may disagree. Doesnât always work 100%⌠But we will see after a few surveys if SEN can improve 2CHâs ratings.
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Early aim wonât be to improve ratings. Itâs a slow burn, building the brand. But also sports radio is very niche, and advertisers love a niche station that offers affordable targeted advertising.
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More to the point, if you look at the ratings of SEN in Melbourne, I wouldnât say that Hutchy is too worried about it rating above a 3.
As long as it gets niche advertisers, remains profitable, meets the cumes heâs looking for (mainly 40-65 male), and rates better than MSR did and 2KY does, he wonât particularly care about 2CH, and the music side of the business.
Itâs not quite scent of an oily rag territory, but any ratings are a bonus.
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With ratings of maybe 1% and a bunch of so called âsuperstarsâ on air during the dayâŚGOOD LUCK
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The Crocmedia name to be retired. I wonder if the Pacific Star name will also be changed to Sports Entertainment Network in the future?
More importantly what do we now do on Media Spy with the âCrocmediaâ thread and this SEN thread.
Corporate discussion in the (soon-to-be-renamed) Crocmedia thread, SEN and SEN Track programming/content discussion here?
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Yeah fair call. But the other thread also discusses a lot of the syndicated sport content (eg. AFL Nation, NRL Nation, Sports Day VIC, Sports Day NSW, etc) that air on stations other than SEN and SEN Track.
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Good point. Perhaps thereâs merit in starting a âradio syndicationâ thread? 
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This is a good call. Much stronger name and branding.
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I assume the rights are non-exclusive as the races can also be heard on RSN, Sky Sports Radio etc.
SEN has carried commentary of Melbourne Cup Carnival race for quite a number of years now so it seems like this deal just ensures that continues to happen