Jade Papesch is leaving Wave FM after 10 years with the station. She had been part of the station’s breakfast team with Dave Gorr & Greg Vincent from 2007 to 2010, then one-half of the “Clarky & Jade” drive duo from 2011 to 2012 (in an attempt to try & replicate i98’s “The Backseat”, which was presented by Maje & Fairlie at the time), before going back to breakfast with Travis from 2012 to 2013.
Source: Radioinfo
According to their website & Facebook page, i98 will have a new breakfast team for 2017, which will be unveiled by Marty & Crammy (who moved from afternoons to breakfast a couple months back) at 8am this Friday (6th January). This is due to Fairlie moving from breakfast to afternoons.
The weekday schedule for i98 in 2017 goes like this:
6-10am: Breakfast
10am-1pm: Lachy
1-4pm: Fairlie
4-7pm: The Backseat with Maje
7-10pm: Live Tonight with Justin
It’s not going too well for i98, that’s for sure.
In a few years time when rusted on Illawarra residents realise WIN no longer has 9 programming, they’ll stop watching. The TVCs for i98 will lose their impact on the much smaller 10 audience and i98 will no longer be top of mind.
Advantage over.
That’s despite the fact that in the last Wollongong radio ratings that was conducted in October, both i98’s Marty & Fairlie, as well as Wave’s Mel & Travis, went up in the breakfast ratings. The changes that happened, which included moving Crammy from afternoons to breakfast, happened after the ratings survey has concluded.
In a similar vein, Wave FM’s “Flashback Lunch”, which aired from 12-1pm weekdays during 2016, was dropped after the ratings were released, which showed that whilst the station went up in every demographic, it only rose 0.1% to 13.1% in the 25-39s (whilst i98 went up 4.6% to 39.2% in the same demo), whereas it went up 3.1% in the overall (10+) ratings.
Indeed. If Wave FM were to air TV advertisements promoting the station, it would be well exposed to viewers watching Prime7 & Nine.
According to their Facebook page, the female person to replace Fairlie on i98 breakfast is former Home & Away actress, Christie Hayes.
The Marty, Christie & Crammy Breakfast Show starts on Monday 16th January on i98, going head-to-head with Mel & Trav over on Wave FM.
I won’t cross post, mods can if they want, as this goes across about 3 different threads.
SCA are reported to be in talks with WIN Corp. to off load SCATen TV NNSW to WIN, & in turn buy/get i98FM Wollongong.
This will give SCA a radio presence in the Illawarra region.
SCA will make further comments if a deal with WIN is struck.
Makes sense. SCA want as little to do with television right now, but are WIN willing to give i98 up?
WIN Television Northern NSW…that is an extremely scary thought! 
I wonder what will happen to C91.3 with all of this. Presumably SCA (or most major radio networks really) won’t be allowed to own it since they already have two radio stations in the Sydney market which itself probably significantly overlaps with the one-station Campbelltown/Macarthur radio market.
You’d think that C91.3 will be sold. EON would be an obvious buyer which would give them two Sydney stations, having already bought 2CH.
Yeah, that sounds like a possibility.
If EON were to buy C91.3, I wonder if they would ever broadcast the station on Sydney DAB+? Afterall, ARN can get away with rebroadcasting The Edge on Sydney Digital Radio…
They can do pretty much whatever with their digital spectrum - rebroadcast Gold from Melbourne or Mix Canberra if they liked.
Off-topic: when did The Edge Digital drop national advertising? It’s now a straight up simulcast of 96.ONE as far as I’m aware
Another possible buyer for C91.3 would be Grant Broadcasters.
As for the possibility of i98 being owned by SCA, it would be interesting on whether it would be aligned with the Hit Network or with Triple M. I’m guessing most likely the former, given that its current music format is more closer to that of the Hit Network, as well as from looking at the radio ratings from late last year, which showed i98 dominating in every age group under 55.
It would also spell the end of the i98 brand after 25 years of existence, in which it was born when it converted from the AM band as 2 Double 0 in June 1992.
I too would expect i98 to become part of the hit network if this deal happens. It better fits the current demo, but also they have hit stations in all their other single station markets - the Triple M stations only co-exist with hit stations.
They may however choose to keep the i98 brand, as they have in other fringe markets. Although given they have retained the 2Day brand in Sydney, hit98 wouldn’t conflict with any neighbouring stations.
I see no reason why this won’t happen- SCA want out of anything to do with Ten affiliation, and Bruce has dearly wants the added power that NNSW would give him, and isn’t short of cash to spend. The only real factor would be what value both parties place on the Wollongong licence (financial and sentimental).
I remember seeing the following motto on the wall in one of the SCA stations: “Our radio is strong and we use our TV to make it even stronger” - it basically sums up what SCA’s effort is directed towards.
The Illawarra Mercury has picked up on the story.
A bit bizarrely also just heard on AIR News in Qld - probably a national feed, but hardly worthy of a national story IMO.
I reckon SCA should also make a play for C91.3 as well.
They were a bit miffed that ARN were allowed to buy 96.1 (when SCA were told earlier that they couldn’t buy it).
Personally, I wouldn’t like to see this happen as I think C91.3 does a much better job of serving its market than what 96.1 does,
Interesting that WIN has gone from bidding for 2CH to wanting to sell i98.
Meanwhile, Wave FM are looking for a new Music Director: http://www.radiotoday.com.au/files/Wave_FM_On_Air__MD_31_01.pdf
With i98 facing a possible change of ownership for the first time in 30 years (dating back to the days of 2 Double O), it’s probably a good opportunity for Wave FM to push a strong local angle (eg. 100% Illawarra), with i98 under SCA to be most likely carrying a lot of networked programming as heard on other SCA stations, both metro & regional. It’s a similar situation to that in Hobart, where 7HOFM (owned by Grant Broadcasters, who also owns Wave FM) uses the 100% Hobart tagline to illustrate a strong local focus to that of its SCA rivals.
Had anyone owned 2OO other than WIN or has it always been a WIN asset?
From what I can find online, yes, 2OO has been owned by another company from when it launched on 1st January 1979 until WIN acquired the station in May 1987. During its AM days, 2OO has been rating well behind that of its then stronger rival, 2WL (now Wave FM).