triple j

What a ludicrous change.
The Hottest 100 is inextricably linked to Australia Day. Changing it just seems moronic, regardless of the reasoning.

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It seems a bit pointless to move it by only a few days.

In some years, Australia Day will be the 4th Saturday of January anyway.

If they were going to move it, it should have been to a completely different time of the year.

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Basically it means they get to take advantage of the long weekend still most years.

This was always going to happen though - the regular listeners of Triple J have a strong left wing skew and will support the move.

It will however kill the countdown’s popularity. The Hottest 100’s recent popularly it due to appealing to a wider audience who don’t listen any other day of the year - it will be harder to keep that audience without a the public holiday to make a convenient excuse for a party.

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I suppose the only advantage is that being a Saturday, more people will be able to celebrate it without having to worry about going to work the next day.

Agreed that moving it will cause it to lose its relevance. But if they felt they had to move it, it should go out on New Year’s Eve IMO.

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I agree that New Years Eve would’ve been the ideal alternative date to host the Hottest 100. Although Triple J’s regular listeners will support the move away from January 26, it’s possible that the countdown might lose even further relevance amongst a mainstream audience than it already has through things like the Taylor Swift debacle a couple of years ago.

Personally, I don’t have a particularly strong opinion about the Hottest 100 date change either way although maybe that’s because I very rarely listen to Triple J.

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I really doubt this will have very much impact. I feel like anchoring it on a weekend is the sensible decision, and because it is roughly the same time of year as Australia Day, without actually being on Australia Day, it isn’t too big of a deal and keeps both sides moderately pleased.

I feel like moving the countdown away from late January to NYE would be a huge mistake so I’m glad this is what they’ve gone with.

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The Federal Communications Minister has described Triple J’s decision on moving the Hottest 100 away from Australia Day as “dumb”.

The citizenship saga, same-sex marriage, backbenchers about to pass a banking royal commission, Michaela Cash having potentially tipped off the media of an AFP raid, 25 Newspolls in a row lost, the Queensland election’s ramifications for the federal parliament, Christopher Pyne’s account having been “hacked”…

…in terms of pressing issues for the government to tackle, the fucking Hottest 100 should be right at the bottom. Even Fifield’s portfolio - Communications - is beset by a rolling scandal about the shittiness of the NBN. I don’t think they’re in a very good position to be drawing even more battlelines, let alone with the public broadcaster…

It’s stupefying how poorly this government conducts itself.

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Especially given the whole thing was put to a public vote and the majority wanted a change…

How? It’s only been regularly held on Australia Day since '04.

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Indeed, but the idiots who scream PC POLICE!!! will talk about it, despite never listening to it anyway.

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13 years is plenty of time to develop a tradition.

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Feels more like Triple J aren’t taking a stance on the issue but rather distancing themselves from the debate.

From Triple J website triple j's Hottest 100 is moving to a new date and here's why - triple j

We all agreed that the Hottest 100 shouldn’t be part of a debate about the day it’s on. The only debate should be about the songs

I personally don’t think the date of Australia day needs to change but seems fair enough to me what the ABC have done. No complaints from me.

Certainly plenty of longer traditions that have been broken…

The ‘tradition’ argument doesn’t really stand up in a modern society.

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A day that was always going to come unfortunately… Zan Rowe is moving to Double J next year. Time to move RN to digital only and put Double J on FM IMO, but I might be just a little biased.

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Agreed that this seemed inevitable - wouldn’t mind Double J in Stereo AM here in Melbourne though!

From a ratings perspective it probably makes sense, although I sense that in terms of public service commitments it is far easier to justify RN on AM/FM than it is Double J. Not to mention the commercial sector would have an aneurysm at the mere suggestion.

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Changing Double J to music/personality talk and switching it with Classic FM (to DAB+) would make more sense.

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But Classic FM appeals to an audience which is more likely to be reliant on traditional AM/FM than online/mobile streaming and digital radio. And then again Classic FM has niche value; the ABC is supposed to fill niches and cater to audiences which commercials can’t, and Classic FM fits the bill more so than Double J.

I feel like Double J is fine where it is. It gets heaps of plugs (especially Myf) on Triple J so audiences know it’s there.

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Not to mention that the sort of audience that listens to Classic FM would probably prefer to listen to the station on analogue radio!