Samuel's Blog

Jim Ball returns to 2GB on Monday

Jim has now confirmed on his website that he will be returning to 2GB’s Midnight to 3:30am weekday show on Monday.

A week later Melbourne’s 3MTR will be coming on board as the show’s first network station.

Samuel

April 7th, 2010 at 09:08pm

Early incomplete results for Canberra Radio Ratings #1, 2010

The first radio ratings for the year for Canberra have been released to radio stations, with the public release expected tomorrow.

Jock’s Journal have received some figures which I’m unable to confirm at this stage. They have published the following figures:
FM 104.7: 20.2% (up from 18.3%)
666 ABC Canberra: 18.5% (up from 16.1%)
Mix 106.3: 16.9% (down from 18%)
JJJ: 8% (down from 13.5%)
ABC Classic FM: 7.6% (up from 7.4%)
2CA: 6.8% (up from 4.1%)
2CC: 6.3% (no change)

This doesn’t cover every station in the market, so I can only be sure that the top four are indeed the top four. It’s also interesting to note that with the exception of 2CC, most of the stations have jumped back to their approximate ratings share in last year’s first survey.

I’ll publish a more comprehensive summary tomorrow when the official figures are released.

Samuel

April 7th, 2010 at 07:03pm

3MTR lineup confirmed – Jim Ball confirmed for 2GB/3MTR overnights – Frank Crook gone?

3MTR’s launch today confirmed a number of things, with some of the more interesting things being bits of information which 2GB haven’t confirmed for Sydney yet.

The schedule is below, but a couple things of interest are that Jim Ball is the confirmed overnight host despite there still being no official word of his arrival at 2GB. Interestingly, Frank Crook’s weekend overnight show is being replaced by current overnight fill-in host Mike Williams, indicating that Frank may be on his way out. If I’m not mistaken, Mike covered the last weekend, so this wouldn’t be too much of a shock.

Andrew Moore’s Wake Up Australia program has been extended by an hour so that it now runs until 6am. Whether this means that Alan Jones will be on-air for half an hour less each day, or whether the latter parts of Andrew’s show will simply not be heard in Sydney are yet to be confirmed. Having Andrew on-air until 6am would open the door for competition to 2UE’s New Day Australia in the Syndication market, especially considering that many regional stations do not start their local breakfast show until 6am.

The 8pm-9pm block is listed as “highlights” which probably means highlights of local shows rather than the Jones/Hadley hour. 9pm-Midnight is covered by locally by Luke Grant.

Weekends are mostly syndicated from Sydney, with only the Midday-6pm block being local, hosted by TV personality Glenn Ridge. Glenn Wheeler’s Saturday night show is being extended by two hours and will start at 6pm in Melbourne. There is no mention of any broadcasting of the NRL, although I will be surprised if Melbourne Storm matches are not aired when 2GB are calling them.

3MTR will start broadcasting on 1377AM, replacing 3MP, in two and a half weeks at 6am on Monday the 19th of March with the following lineup.

Weekdays:
Midnight: Jim Ball
3:30am: Wake Up Australia with Andrew Moore
6:00am: Breakfast with Steve Price (local)
10:00am: Mornings with Steve Vizard (local)
1pm: Afternoons with Chris Smith (final hour local)
4pm: Drive with Martin King (local)
6pm: Money News with Ross Greenwood
8pm: Highlights (possibly local)
9pm: Melbourne Tonight with Luke Grant (local)

Saturday:
Midnight: Mike Williams
5am: The Fishing Show with Michael Guest
6am: The Gardening Clinic
9am: Mornings with Scott Cam
11am: Real Estate with Mark Moraza
Midday: Weekend Afternoons with Glenn Ridge (local)
6pm: Saturday Nights with Glenn Wheeler

Sunday:
Midnight: Mike Williams
6am: The Gardening Clinic
9am: Home Handyman with Simon Stevenson
11am: Health and Wellbeing With Deborah Thomas and Andrew Rochford
Midday: Weekend Afternoons with Glenn Ridge (local)
6pm: Medical with Dr. Graham Malouf (This show is called “Your Health” on 2GB)
8pm: Sunday Nights with Reverend Bill Crews

So we’re looking at 13, maybe 14 hours of local content per day during the week, and six hours per day on weekends. Not anywhere near the amount of local content on 3AW, but one would expect it to be enough on weekdays to be seen as a local station. The weekends worry me though. The interstate programs might be niche programs, but things like gardening and real estate are very local subjects, and it could be difficult to make these locally relevant in multiple markets.

And what is it with radio stations and weekend morning gardening shows? Can nobody do a proper weekend breakfast program, even if it’s only on Saturday? I’d rather listen to a simulcast of Channel Nine’s Today show than most gardening shows…I just don’t understand why they are so dominant on weekends.

I also wonder if 3MTR will use 2GB’s 131 873 for their shows, of if they will have their own number, and how this will work during overlapping programming in Sydney such as the first two hours of Glenn Wheeler’s show where 2GB and 3MTR will have different shows with call-in numbers on the air. One wouldn’t expect Glenn to suddenly change phone number at 8pm…so this could be interesting. Some telephone routing magic perhaps?

Incidentally 13 1377 is owned by Aussie Mastercard, so I can’t see 3MTR buying that. 131 687 (131 MTR) is answered by “NCP” so they probably can’t buy that either. 131 873 might have to suffice, although I’m sure that 3AW will instantly run with the “see, they’re not local, that’s 2GB’s phone number” if they do that.

Interesting times ahead in Melbourne.

Samuel

3 comments April 7th, 2010 at 06:51pm

3MTR launches today

3MTR, the Melbourne talk station which replaces 3MP will be “launched” today but will not be going to air today.

It is expected to be officially confirmed today that the new station will have A Current Affair reporter Martin King as the drive show (4pm-6pm) host, although it will be more of a surprise if they don’t confirm this today as it has been splashed all over the Melbourne media.

2GB’s Chris Smith is not on-air in Sydney today as he is in Melbourne for the launch and it is expected that his show will be syndicated to 3MTR in a slightly altered format. His show will be split in to three distinct parts. Midday-1pm will be broadcast in to Sydney only and will have a Sydney focus, 1pm-3pm will be broadcast in both markets with a national focus, and 3pm-4pm will be broadcast in Melbourne only with a Melbourne focus.

The weekday lineup for 3MTR is expected to be:
Midnight-3:30am: Jim Ball
3:30am-5am: Wake Up Australia with Andrew Moore
5am-6am:Unknown
6am-10am: Steve Price and contributors
10am-1pm: Steve Vizard
1pm-4pm: Chris Smith
4pm-6pm: Martin King
6pm-8pm: Money News with Ross Greenwood
8pm-midnight: Unknown, but likely to be similar to 2GB’s evening lineup, minus Brian Wilshire.

Meanwhile Ash Long, proprietor of Melbourne newspaper The Melbourne Observer is maintaining quite possibly the best publicity stunt for an unlaunched radio station in living memory. For months Ash has been publicly stating that he owns the name “Melbourne Talk Radio” and that Macquarie and Pacific Star have no rights to the name…lots of noise, but no action. It’s true that Ash owns this name, but surely if this was a serious claim he’d be dragging it through the courts and not through the media?

Regardless, my suspicion here is that Ash reached an agreement with Macquarie/Pacific Star a long time ago, and this public “dispute” over the name is just part of that deal as it benefits the new radio station as well as The Melbourne Observer. Case in point: who, outside of Melbourne, had heard of The Melbourne Observer before this all blew up?

It should be interesting to see what the actual lineup is, and whether it will be able to put a dent in 3AW’s ratings. I’m personally hoping that 3MTR will take the rugby league coverage from 2GB even if it doesn’t take the hours and hours of talk surrounding the coverage. Time will tell, and we should all know in about twenty minutes from now.

Samuel

April 7th, 2010 at 10:41am

Radio number plates

I promised the anonymous emailer who sent this link to me, that I would publish this yesterday. It seems that it slipped my mind during my long afternoon nap.

Currently on eBay, a handful of radio station number plates are on sale. 2UE, 2DAY FM and WSFM are all represented, but are well and truly out of my price range as they start at $5,000 with a Buy It Now price of $15,000.

If these things interest you, then enjoy…I’d be interested if I could actually afford them, although I doubt that I could buy any of them even if I sold everything I own.

And a quick hat tip to radionews.com.au who had this story on Monday before I was even emailed about it.

Samuel

April 7th, 2010 at 09:45am