Nine Radio (Music)

In regional areas not metro AFAIK.

Yes they did but maybe tongue in cheek as they can be heard all around the world. Macquarie seem to think they have all their stars in Sydney. Does this mean that the likes of Alan Jones & Ray Hadley might get a gig in Melbourne through the backdoor??

Unlikely unless it was in the form of a highlights show outside of a key timeslot. 3AW is too successful with its current format and personalities for anything to be changed - and Macquarie have acknowledged this by largerly leaving 3AW untouched in 2 years.

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Macquarie could have Jones, Hadley, Chris Smith, the full two hours of Ross Greenwood and the full four hours of Steve Price in Melbourne had they wanted to, they could have set up a digital channel for this or replace NTS.

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I think even Macquarie will have realised in the light of the MTR fiasco that broadly speaking Sydney shock jocks don’t go down well in Melbourne. The arrival of Steve Price on 3AW Nights was marketed very much as the return of the “prodigal son” (Price was of course at 3AW for many years previously, including a spell as Program Director or similar title). Ross Greenwood is fairly middle of the road in comparison with the main 2GB presenters, so unlikely to upset the Melbourne audience. I guess Macquarie simply wouldn’t consider it worth investing in a digital channel to simulcast 2GB in Melbourne.

Can’t wait to see Tragic 882 and 4BC slump even further in the ratings if they do indeed relay 2UE onto the 882 AM signal. Seriously, how can someone this that this is an acceptable practice??? Will broadcast radio move to more talk stations now we have the likes of Pandora, Spotify etc…

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The whole Talking Lifestyle thing is a bit of a mess anyway. Lifestyle programs continue on 2GB (and presumably that will also be the case for 4BC and 3AW once Talking Lifestyle arrives in Brisbane and Melbourne). I appreciate there are financial reasons why these programs continue on 2GB etc but it doesn’t make for a clear strategy nor for a clear distinction between 2GB and 2UE

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Seems to be the route Triple M is taking as well, to some extent… more talk/sport based content.

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That Talking Lifestyle thing is gonna rate about 0% in Brisbane. If they go there I’d be surprised if they even bother going in the ratings.

Having said that, this is surely still speculation at this point? Magic 882 may still survive? Not that that is necessarily a good thing either. It just doesn’t fit in Brisbane as it is too similar to 4KQ, and they have that market all covered up. What’s missing in Brisbane is Smooth on AM/FM.

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I agree entirely on the ratings point but as it seems staff at Magic in Melbourne have been given redundancy notices, I really can’t see Macquarie running Magic as a Brisbane-only station. Macquarie have said more than once that launching Talking Lifestyle on 2UE was a test run for rolling it out to other cities.

The Magic stations should be playing Christmas or “Holiday” music non-stop at the moment. It is a very common format in the US for the variety stations like KOST that switch in December. What have they got to lose? - it would be a point of difference.

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Back when it was Magic 693 they used to do that at least on Christmas Eve. I’m not sure if they did it before the 24th though.

But a point of difference doesn’t matter if the station is about to become a cut price relay of 2UE. Why would they bother.

Sharina has started promoting the fact that she will be heard in Melbourne from “early in the new year”. Assuming they won’t be ditching the very popular Remember When on 3AW in favour of Sharina, this is another indication that Talking Lifestyle is on its way to 1278.

I think they’ve tried Sharina on 3AW in the past. I don’t think it went over well at all from memory?

Oh yes I’d forgotten about that!! Wasn’t it something like the 3AW bosses apparently hated the first show and pulled it after an hour claiming technical problems with the line from Sydney but she was never heard again on 3AW?! Bodes well!

I only remember it didn’t seem to go well i hadn’t realised just how badly it went :grin:

I don’t understand this desire for them to gut 1278 and 882 to be no more than a relay from 2UE. I’m sure it will be cheap but what’s the point if they’ve driven all the listeners away? You’d think even just a local presence in one of the morning or afternoon shifts at least give some impression that the lights are still on in the studio.

The Macquarie studios in Brisbane will be very lonely place. Just one local weekday presenter on 4BC, a couple of newsreaders, and ad sales staff.

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I struggle to understand why Macquarie are still in Brisbane, other than to avoid having to sell to competitors. They clearly have no interest in the city and the stations are hardly a cash cow for them. Rumours persist that the local afternoon show is only one set of bad ratings away from being replaced by Ben Fordham networked in from 2GB. If that does happen, that would be the end of what little credibility Macquarie still has in Brisbane

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Can you imagine the Christmas parties? what a hoot! Hold them in a telephone box

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Simulcasted Carols by Candlelight a number of times as well. AW did it a couple of years ago (even though Bruce and Phil often spoke through the program even after TV went to commercials) but I don’t know if any station performs the simulcast this year.