Southern Cross Austereo (Regional)

Let’s also not forget about how Hit Regional Victoria’s breakfast show is coming out of Tasmania. Might as well just relay Fifi, Fev and Nick into Regional Victoria at this rate.

It would be better to have a Melbourne breakfast show on Hit Regional Victorian stations than have it come out of Tasmania. Seriously. Not only that, Bendigo and Shepparton are 2 hours away from Melbourne, so it makes sense. Put Mildura and Albury-Wodonga in too, as they’re part of this market. Or just reinstate the Albury breakfast show and then just leave it alone.

I say stop axing existing shows and moving them interstate, so then listeners have a breakfast show from another area with a pair they don’t know and don’t know if they’ll like or not. No wonder why Triple M wins the regional markets at Breakfast with their “hyper-local” strategy.

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I reckon, you might not ever see that…why, lets look at todays ratings, to compete in Melbourne Metro they need to be hyper-Melbourne.

I not sure you want to water that down with regional Victorian content. Plus I suspect (internally) there’s a metro network and a regional network strategy, with regional Victoria and Hobart sitting in the regional network.

Hobart is quite competitive, where as, I suspect, regional Victoria is quite stable, so why wouldn’t you put your ‘talent’ in the Hobart market.

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Even if they did network the Fox brekkie show to regional VIC, I doubt they’d water it down.

It’s not like there is much other competition in regional VIC and their Hit listeners probably wouldn’t really care that much anyway.

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They wouldn’t, it would be just networking a Melbourne show into Regional Victoria, and, they (Fifi, Fev and Nick) would not give any mention of Regional Victoria on their program.

And as @Radiohead said, no one in Regional Victoria listening to Hit would care any less about there being no local breakfast show in the area, as we all very much live in a society these days where programs are networked.

The only time they would mention a regional Victorian town would be if someone called up as part of a segment or a competition they had.

Agreed, don’t water it down, just keep it hyper local in Melbourne and network it to Regional Victoria. Having a breakfast show from Tasmania makes no sense. No one in Regional Victoria listening to Hit cares anyway as most of its target audience are a young audience, given the music they play. Triple M skews older and also towards anyone who are rock diehards. :laughing:

Here’s what’s happened so far (per SCA announcements)…

2020 - Albury breakfast networked to Regional VIC, local shows axed
2023 - Hobart breakfast networked to Regional VIC, Albury show axed

And what could happen next…

202? - Fifi, Fev and Nick networked to Regional VIC, Hobart show axed

I’m saying the Hobart show wouldn’t be axed entirely, just only in Regional Victoria should this Melbourne show expansion be able to happen. If SCA announces new breakfast shows soon, perhaps this change might occur next year or in 2026?

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Not sure how that meets any local content quotas?

Ignoring that most SCA markets have Hit at #1.

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Opt outs for local news, weather ?? (assuming only 30 mins per day required in those markets).

Or they get a local 9-12 morning with a single announcer instead if they need 3 hours?

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The same way the do with Hit.
Most of the regional markets in WA only require 30 minutes of local content, which is easily met from local news, weather, CSA’s etc as suggested by @Radiohead .
The remaining markets are Bunbury, Albany, Geraldton, Kalgoorlie. They get a 3 hour morning shift voice tracked by the network announcer with local references, CSAs etc, but different the remainder of the network. I know it sounds pretty weak that 15 minutes maximum of voice tracks between songs meets the requirements for a 3 hour shift, but it does, so they do it. It’s the same strategy already employed by Hit in many of their smaller regional markets that share the “local” shift with a nearby market.

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Can i just say, while discussing brekky networking, that Hit Hobart’s Dan and Christie is a very underrated show. These two pump out quality every break. Christie’s laugh is infectious and Dan’s quick wit is always on display.

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You may Gladys, how’s Optus?

Seriously, agree. The Hobart show is quality. They need the shackle of networking removed and return to Hobart only to better build share and be competitive.

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I can’t help but think SCA are going back to the future with regional WA. Most of the stations in the SW of the state 60 years ago relayed one of the Perth stations on a full time basis.

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The moment we see Fifi, Fev & Nick become a networked show is the moment we’ll see their ratings decline.

They need to stay local.

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In the lead-up to McHappy Day tomorrow (Saturday, 16 November), The Hit Network’s Dan & Christie have been on a mission with their House-to-House Tour, covering more than 1,500 kilometres to support Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC).

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Now confirmed:

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More cost cutting at SCA and WA listeners once again are the losers.

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Have they said what is happening to Abbey for Breakfast on Triple M Goldfields?

It sounds like the existing local breakfast announcers will be moving to workday shifts, similar to what the east coast Hit stations have.

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That’s good news I think.

Someone’s going to have to do those shifts - if the change in timeslot means local markets can sell more Harvey Norman OBs, I suppose it can only help local revenue…

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Reeve’s final Drive show program will air on December 12 and can be heard on Triple M WA or via LiSTNR.

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