simply a play on his surname of Barrett.
Whoâs the anchor on 2GO brekky
Whitey
Pardon me, meant to say Whitto.
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Iâm a bit late with this, but SCA Regionals were doing an 80s weekend last weekend as a âvictory lapâ for the 80s winning the title of the best decade of all time during the week (was there ever any doubt?!).
This related to a series of 2 way âbattlesâ over the last few weeks whereby listeners were asked to vote for their favourite year eg. 1985 vs 1994 from that battle. Years from the 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s were included.
For the âClassic Hitsâ stations, they were doing a 70s weekend for the same reason (at least when theyâre not airing NRL/AFL).
Now that the Greatest Decade of All Time is over, it appears that Triple M in Coffs Coast & Central West have gone back to the âGreatest Hits from the 70s to Nowâ log.
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Word around the SCA camp is that the remaining non Triple M regional stations will finally make the transition in November this year.
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To the numbnuts who think this is a good ideaâŚ
Leave the regionals alone. Does everything have to sound like fucking Sydney? I live here and believe me - itâs shit.
I wish this sort of shit was made illegal and they had to identify by their legal callsigns. That would be funny.
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That would mean the Central Coast of NSW would get three Triple M branded stations on 107.7, 104.9 & 102.9. It would also signal the death of the 2GO callsign after 47 years, therefore giving Star 104.5 the opportunity to brand themselves as being âThe Central Coastâs Very Ownâ or similar, much like how 7HO are using the â100% Hobartâ branding in response to Heart 107.3âs rebranding to Triple M. New FM in Newcastle should take on a similar approach as well & no doubt Hot Tomato on the Gold Coast is already performing strong in the market as a âlive & localâ station, outrating Gold.
It seems that SCA are branding all their radio stations & regional TV affiliates to national branding such as Hit, Triple M, Seven & Nine.
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If they think itâs such a great idea, why has it taken so long? Stations like 4TO and Gold 92.5 shouldnât lose their identity, it doesnât make sense. And Mix 94.5 in Perth? Good luck with that one!
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Personally, I think the stations in the overlap markets (of both the Hit & Triple M affiliations) should keep their heritage names for this very reason.
Sea is the perfect name for a radio station on the Gold/Central Coast, likewise Gold for the Gold Coast. As for 2GO, surely even branding the station as âGOFMâ (I guess in similar vein to their one-time sister station here in Sydney) would be a better idea than having a situation where one can receive three Triple M-branded stations in parts of the market?
The prospect of having Triple M 102.9/104.9/107.7 here in NSW and Triple M 92.5/104.5 up in Queensland is going to be ridiculous. Same deal with the Hit stations, although thankfully at least the Sydney station will continue branding themselves with their heritage callsign indefinitely.
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Yes Iâm hearing the rest are going Triple M/Hit in November as well.
Itâs only the nuts at the top who think itâs a good idea, & itâs only being done for money i.e. National sales, you can buy a package nationally on Triple M for $xxxx.xx & all marketing is branded the same.
When I talk to the Austereo engineers in Sydney (regularly), itâs all Austereo & 2DAY FM itâs never been Hit & generally not SCA to them.
You shouldâve also seen all the praise from those in the industry on Facebook, when the BOG Tamworth stations released the new logoâs & changed 92.9 back from ONE FM.
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I agree mate⌠Leave these legends alone, I can see this is going to backfire big time. 
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I hope it does.
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For SCA, in an ideal world the female-leaning stations would all be hit and the male-leaning stations would all be Triple M.
There is nothing stopping the organisation from doing this: most people are clever enough to deduce that Sydneyâs 104.9 Triple M is not the same as The Central Coastâs 107.7 Triple M, and that hit105 Brisbane is a distinct entity from hit90.9 Gold Coast.
With that being said, their half-assed approach to national branding has undermined the entire point of the exercise. We know, for example, that KOFM is part of the Triple M Network - we get reminded of this at the top of every news bulletin. So once that has been established among listeners, why bother dropping the local brand?
The same can be said for Melbourne and Sydney - both stations have now walked back from both the hit branding and the Hits & Old School positioner, with 2Day dropping the format entirely. Especially for the latter, that hit brand is now meaningless, with a music format that is less about breaking new, hit music and more about playing the hits from 20 years ago.
(We also can draw back upon Brisbaneâs experience with transitioning from the Austereo-era B105 to hit: a clunky temporary brand in hit105.3 B105, which made bugger all sense from the time being. I suspect SCA have learnt from this, and thus why we donât have a Gold 92.5 Triple M hybrid running around.)
Instead of the homogenised radio wonderland that exists inside the heads of SCA executives, we still have a mish-mash of brands and formats, albeit with some consolidation. Triple M may rock Sydney, but itâs making Cairns feel good, apparently. I guess nothing says blokes aged 25-54 like the phrase âfeel goodâ.
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When I was up in Cairns at Christmas time, I personally thought Triple M Cairns musically was a female leaning station. Even Triple M in Mackay and Rocky sounded the same as Cairns.
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I was up there a few weeks back - from memory, theyâre all on the â80s to Nowâ music log, which puts them in direct competition with the Grant Broadcasters-owned Star in Cairns and Mackay (and probably 4CC in Rocky/Gladstone too).
Admittedly, I didnât spend too much time listening to the radio (I was on holidays after all 
) but I donât think the music was particularly female-skewing, unlike say Star which definitely leaned in that direction. That said, the âfeel goodâ jingles that Triple M were running would be out of place on the metro Ms, and was somewhat of a shock to this Melbournian.
I suspect that with the internal restructure taking place within SCA at present, it wouldnât surprise me to see a closer alignment between metro and regional formats in the future. Given thereâs been some shifts in the Melbourne and Sydney music logs, I think the future of the brand is probably more middle of the road, as a male-skewing adult contemporary station heavy on 80s and 90s classics.
Happy to be proven wrong here; I think if anything this shows that homogenised radio doesnât work everywhere, and that different markets - be it metro or regional - need localised formats.
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Normally, Triple M in Cairns & Rocky/Gladstone are in the â70s to Nowâ music log, but were in the â80s to Nowâ log during the âGreatest Decade of All Timeâ that was held during the 2nd half of last month. Triple M in Mackay are in the â80s to Nowâ log full-time.
This would put them in even more direct competition with WSFM & Gold 104.3, although Triple M would be a seen as a more male-skewing alternative to the Pure Gold stations.
I agree.
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From memory, 4TO are in the â80s to Now log as well.
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I agree with all your comment prior until the above. The praise is more a veiled message in support for turfing that GM and Gav returning. I read that group with a wry smile to most of the topics.
On the topic within SCA, @Brianc68 hit the nail on the head. None of it makes sense for clients and audiences. For the dills within the agencies and those selling to them, sure. However, this is a great way to destroy all brand value.
Simply, the future is the past. No effort to evolve the station, tentative attempts lacking vision for change have resulted in dismal failures hence the lurch back to what worked 15 - 20 yrs ago.
And if youâre still unconvinced, consider this: would it sound right for Pricey to mention Townsvilleâs MMM?
Of course Mark and Mike in Newcastle will think this is all a laugh and the rest of the company hacks. Good luck to you all.
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