Pretty sure the 774 tower is gone now
http://forums.mediaspy.org/t/radio-history/236/22?u=australianaerial
Maybe something to do with tropical cyclones and people having portable AM radios⌠Only guessing though.
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Maintenance costs for the masts became too high. The licence was not a permanent one, but a rolling one that could be rejected at any time, so it didnât warrant significant investment.
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I remember in the 80s getting decent 4TO reception between Prosperine and Bowen.
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Rick Lenarcic Head of Regional Media for SCA has announced a number of changes to the management structure of their regional ops.
Ashley Myatt NSW Regional General Manager, who currently oversees all of regional NSW will now be responsible for the Northern NSW television and their radio markets. So Ash will cover off the Northern Rivers TV (NRTV) national sales business unit and will also have a greater focus on Newcastle and Gosford which are SCAâs 2nd and 3rd largest regional radio revenue markets.
In addition to his current responsibilities in Victoria and South Australia, Rod Winner will also be responsible for the Southern NSW region. Rod will become the Southern Regional General Manager for SCA. Rod will be supported by Jason Priestley who will take on the role of GM Central and Western Victoria. Jason will oversee the markets of Ballarat, Bendigo and Shepparton and continue to report to Rod.
Also in Victoria, Steve Hetherton will take up the role of Sales Director in Shepparton reporting to Leanne Hulm.
Ken Wood will join the SCA regional leadership team as the North Queensland GM overseeing Cairns, Townsville and Mackay. Most recently Ken has been the South East Queensland manager for the APN media group and prior to that Ken was the Sales Director of the 7Queensland television group. He has also held General Manager roles in both Townsville and Rockhampton. Ken will report to Tim Davenport, Regional General Manager QLD, who has taken on additional responsibilities in managing the groupâs regional radio hub on the Gold Coast.
âThese changes will enable our leaders to best manage their respective areas across the large geographical spread of our radio and television assetsâ, said Rick Lenarcic.
Mmmmm, on such considerations, when will 4GR receive a new stick? Chappo has been keen to replace since the time before last when he was âchief soldererâ there.
After 15 years with the station, Paul Gale is leaving Sea FM Gold Coast, where he has been presenting breakfast. Following his announcement, his breakfast co-host Charli Robinson is also leaving the station, meaning that âGaley & Charliâ will finish up on Sea FM Gold Coast breakfast at the end of this year.
More: http://www.radiotoday.com.au/news/whats-new/9669-paul-gale-exits-sea-fm-gold-coast.html
Good.
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Maybe Bella Frizza could move to breakfast, she does have a higher profile after being on Married At First Sight.
Yep, I certainly would not be terribly surprised if Bella Frizza gets a promotion to 90.9 Sea FM breakfast in 2017 after her higher profile from Married At First Sight this year.
I wonder whoâd theyâd use as a co-host though. Certainly in a market like the Gold Coast, I doubt theyâd have only one presenter on at breakfast.
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I donât like hearing Bella Frizza on shift let alone breakfast.
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Triple M will be expanded into regional markets next year, with 30 of SCAâs regional stations currently under the LocalWorks network to be âbrought into the Triple M familyâ.
Also, the Hit branding is set to expand beyond the capital cities, which will include 45 regional stations by the end of the year.
Source: Radioinfo
Wonder which ones? Cross over markets will be tough. I think itâs a bit of a double edged sword, not sure if it will be good or bad, time will tell
Itâs about time NXFM 106.9, Sea FM 101.3 and Sea FM 90.9 were re-branded to Hit. It would be interesting if KOFM 102.9 was re-branded to Triple M.
Hereâs Radio Todayâs article: http://www.radiotoday.com.au/news/whats-new/9694-sca-to-rebrand-regional-to-hit-and-triple-m.html
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I donât know how they make those numbers (30 regional localworks and 45 regional hit stations) work.
The same report states that they have 78 - and that includes 10 metro stations (Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth), leaving 68 regional stations.
My Calculations give them a total of 78 stations made up of:
10 metro stations
38 regional hit stations (Star FM, Hot FM, Sea FM, NXFM, hit104.7, hit100.9)
29 regional localworks stations (including KOFM, Gold FM, RadioWest etc)
Mix 106.3 Canberra (ARN branding as part of Canberra FM joint venture, sometimes grouped with the localworks stations)
In addition, Sea FM Sunshine Coast, Mix FM Sunshine Coast, Hot FM Charters Towers and 4GC Charters Towers are not owned by SCA but take SCA branding and programming, so thereâs potential for some or all of these stations to also be re-branded.
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Any rebranding of the AM stations to Triple M would seem a bit odd to me.
How will SCA decide which station will be rebranded as Hit or Triple M? I assume that if there are two SCA-owned stations in a regional city or town, one will be called Hit and the other Triple M.
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Presumably, itâll be the current âHits and Old Schoolâ stations (so the Star FMs, Hot FMs, Sea FMs, NXFM) that get a rebranding âHitâ while the Greatest Hits/Classic Hits âLocalWorksâ stations (the likes of KOFM, Gold FM, etc) become Triple M.
Although personally, I think that SCA needs to to be careful with this rebrand especially when it comes to the Brisbane/Gold Coast and Sydney/Central Coast/Newcastle marketsâŚ
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The stations are already split into 2 networks - being the hit and Localworks networks. Localworks is already aligned somewhat to Triple M, so these would be the stations that will rebrand to Triple M. The hit network is the same hit network that the metro stations are part of, and already share a significant amount of programming and branding, so these stations will rebrand to hit.
I find the wording a bit ambiguous however:
[quote]The Hit Network is primed for continued growth as we extend the Hit brand beyond the capital cities to include 45 of our regional stations into the Hit network family in late 2016.[/quote]I would has said that even branded as Star FM, Hot FM, Sea FM etc, these stations are already part of the Hit network family as they have been referred to as the hit network for nearly 2 years.
[quote]Triple M is set to expand next year as 30 of our regional stations currently under the LocalWorks radio network will be brought into the Triple M family.[/quote]The Localworks stations have also been part of the Triple M family for some time, taking select programming from Triple M and sometimes being referred to as âTriple M Localworksâ.
I think the wording is a little ambiguous due to this being taken from the annual report - a document for investors - rather than a press release designed to actually outline the changes.
However, I think that intent to have just 2 national brands is clear. It remains to be seen how far the rebrand goes and if some stations go with a hybrid branding (eg. âKO FM - Triple Mâ - although that is clunky as hell).
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Different markets can sometimes appreciate a unique brand. Sometimes a regional market or capital city can even love its own unique brand.
Think 4GG in the 1970s, Hot Tomato in 2016, 2WL in the 1980s, Triple M Sydney in the 1980s, EON in Melbourne in the early 80s, Fox now, NEW FM in the 90s or even i98 in the past ten years.
Brisbaners still remember FM104 with so much reverence. They talk about that station with a passion.
I guess this is 2016 though and its much cheaper to just push out the Triple M brand where ever you own a licence. Less to think about and create. So much easier.
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