Comment from Brad Smart
It was promising to see 3MP re-engage with the Melbourne ratings during the last survey.
At 0.7 (All People 10+), the result may not have been all that stunning. But it gives its new owners a starting point from which to build.
What the figures did reflect was the station’s turbulent history, that had left it an abused and ‘trashed’ AM outcast after the past two decades.
I say that because 3MP and its audience has been pushed and pulled from pillar to post over the past 20 years to try to accommodate often conflicting formats.
Some of us can remember when the station was launched back in mid-seventies.
That was the result of a sustained lobbying effort over many years by luminaries in business and entertainment who were starting to call the Mornington Peninsula, ‘home.’
3MP launched with lavish studios in Frankston and an accompanying fanfare that told the people of the Peninsula that this was their own station.
Former 2UW boss and veteran programmer, Ray Bean, headed up the station and gave it a sound that was highly competitive in the Melbourne market.
To add to that, the station’s transmitter had been located in open country at Rowville, at a time when Dandenong was almost regarded as a satellite city.
Today, nearly half a century later, Rowville is a densely-populated suburb of Melbourne.
The choice of transmitter site was a cunning move.
Not only did 3MP’s signal serve the Mornington Peninsula well, but it gave the station very good coverage across the eastern and south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, at a time when interference wasn’t such a great problem for AM.
Word started to spread.
Within a short time, 3MP was consistently rating at or near the top of the Melbourne survey and had attracted some the best on-air personalities of the time.
But good things eventually come to an end.
Enter FM.
Like most AMers playing music, 3MP started to slide in the ratings during the 1980s and 90s, as FM’s star ascended ever higher.
The station, that had once been bought by the Guillfoyle family for $9-million, drifted into insignificance.
By the early years of the new century, the once-great Mornington Peninsula flamethrower ended up an also-ran aimlessly chasing Melbourne ratings, and lumped in with 3AK, which itself had seen some pretty rough times.
Studios for the two stations were co-sited in Richmond and 3MP drifted along playing, what I’d describe as mellow oldies, until the marauders arrive.
That knock on the door came from 2GB, whose board wanted to take on the ‘quaint’ little-ole Melbourne market, with ‘real’ talk radio, in a way they thought it should be done.
That’s when Melbourne Talk Radio (MTR) burst onto the scene, with a whimper.
Regrettably, Macquarie Radio’s board hadn’t done its homework, egotistically believing that 3AW could be easily knocked off its perch by a 2GB-style conservative talk format, much of which they relayed from Sydney. We all know how Melbourne listeners love that!
Before anyone woke up, for 3MP, the damage had been done.
Its music listeners had left the building and MTR had failed to build a strong enough audience for its new format to be self-sustaining.
Lack of research is a mistake that MRN would later repeat in Melbourne and Brisbane with ‘Talking Lifestyle’ on the Magic stations.
After two years and $20-million of red ink, Sydney’s MTR experiment was abandoned, leaving 3MP a shell of its former self.
So, sensibly, Pacific Star took it back to music.
Music is a safe, low-cost format that has the potential to stabilise a station, and in 3MP’s case, round up as many AM ‘oldies’ listeners as possible.
They didn’t have to wait long.
Jump forward just 3-years, and MRN’s ill-conceived ‘Talking Lifestyle’ format decimated Melbourne’s Magic 1278 and prematurely terminated many long-term radio careers. But, on the positive side, it threw a lifeline to 3MP.
The station picked up some of those hordes of listeners deserting Magic in 2016, but the euphoria would be short-lived.
Over in Richmond, 3MP owners had had enough and were looking to exit radio.
At the same time, Craig Hutchison was in the process of reshaping his image from a Channel 9 sports guy to a media mogul.
Hutchison’s Crocmedia group had been leveraging his wide network of sports contacts to produce brand-funded programming for regional radio, which he’d done very well over several years.
Hutchy was now ready to take on metro.
His primary objective was 3MP’s sister station, 3AK, that a decade earlier had become the sports station, SEN.
Initially, 3MP was left alone playing oldies music, as Crocmedia continued to build its sports media empire, which has recently become the Sports Entertainment Network.
SEN programming expanded to a second stream when Crocmedia struck a deal with the racing industry.
The new programming feed, SENTrack, was carried in most areas on the expanded AM band, 1611-1701Khz, or on FM narrowcast frequencies, but in Melbourne, with 3MP at its disposal, SEN was able to give its racing clients access to city-wide coverage.
For 3MP – it was déjà vu – goodbye music, hello sport.
Again, the music audience left the building in droves, and I suspect, because of its new niche format the Sports Entertainment Network cared little about the station’s market share, which was good, because there probably wasn’t much of it!
In 2020, while everybody else was worried about COVID and hunkering down, Hutchy was on the hustings, buying ‘The Spirit’ in Bunbury from SCA, and 2CH in Sydney from Glenn Wheatley, John Williams and Oceania Capital.
With SEN’s mounting debt from acquisitions, 3MP was offered quietly to ACE Radio and the announcement was made simultaneously with the 2CH purchase.
ACE’s chairman Rowly Patterson and CEO Mark Taylor are normally very cautious buyers. They must have had some sleepless nights at the time, asking themselves whether they’d acquired a great opportunity or a poison chalice.
For years, radio operators in the U.S. have been saying that you can’t revive a trashed AM station. With an FMer and its sound quality, you’ve at least got a shot, but AM is next to impossible.
However, that’s the U.S. with 4,000 commercial AM stations. Down Under, we only have around 100 commercial AMs, so you’d hope the odds are possibly stacked a little better.
Adding to their problem, 3MP came as just ‘bare bones. All ACE got with the sale was the transmitter site, and both an AM and DAB+ frequency. They were literally restarting the station from the ground up.
However, in my opinion, if there’s any broadcaster who can rebuild 3MP, it’s ACE Radio. Metropolitan AM operators wouldn’t stand a chance – they have the wrong mindset.
ACE has been a very successful regional broadcaster, acquiring and operating only quality properties.
As a regional broadcaster, they’ve learned how to run efficiently. In the bush, it’s a matter of necessity.
I’ve seen successful metro AM broadcasters replace their transmitters and studio equipment every two or three years.
Regional stations can’t afford to do that. They need long term ROI on the equipment they invest in. Regional operators discover over time how to get a quality program to air with a minimum of cost.
No doubt, ACE has taken all those regional lessons on board and is now applying them to the way they’re operating 3MP.
Now, instead of trying to compete as an all-music station in a market dominated by highly professional FM music stations, ACE appears to be refocussing 3MP on its original heartland – the Mornington Peninsula.
I think this is a very smart move. Parochialism always works.
The Mornington Peninsula of 2021 is a far cry from the 1970s.
It’s now an extremely wealthy well-populated region, easily accessible by freeways from Melbourne, and has become the weekend playground for professional people with sizeable incomes and multi-million dollar holiday homes.
More importantly, many of those who made their fortunes in Melbourne over the past three decades have chosen to retire there, creating a disproportionate share of retirees with high disposable incomes. For an AM station with most of its audience 55+, that’s a definite bonus for advertisers.
The new 3MP still doesn’t have dedicated studios, and possibly, never will.
ACE has plenty of high-quality studios in its stations across Victoria, and they’re using a lot of their on-air talent, who are metro quality.
With their regional insights, they’ve automated the programming process to ensure their voice-tracked announcers from around Victoria integrate seamlessly with 3MP’s programs, and that they sound live.
To me, this a really smart use of technology and resources that’s allowed ACE to take a breather from worrying about their content and concentrate on promoting the station in its renewed target market.
Of course, those who want to listen on AM in Melbourne’s suburbs still can, but listeners in the metro area also have access to 3MP’s DAB+ signal, which showed reasonably good cumes in the latest survey. Hopefully, they’ll improve as word gets around.
Topping it all off, ACE has legendary programmer, and former 3AW Managing Director, Graham Mott, onboard to get the programming on track.
They’ve also brought in some top metropolitan radio salespeople to help rebuild the market. Rumour is, that sales-wise, they’re looking pretty good so far.
The way I see it, Rowley Patterson and Mark Taylor have put all the ingredients together to give 3MP the greatest possible chance of disproving the dreaded curse plaguing ‘trashed’ AM stations.
If they steadfastly refuse to believe in superstitions, keep their processes focussed and rebrand the station well in its old heartland, they may just have a chance of ‘ace-ing’ it.
Sorry, but I couldn’t resist the pun!
About the Author
Brad Smart previously owned and operated the Smart Radio Network through regional Queensland.
He sold his stations to the then Macquarie Radio Network.
He has been a journalist, broadcaster and film producer for over 30 years.
Brad is available as a freelance writer, voiceover talent and consultant.
Brad’s articles and podcasts are also available through his website www.bradsmart.com.au
Related report: 3MP is back in the Melbourne market.
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Insightful article as usual Brad. A few history points to mention about MP. Brian Simpson PD and his team of polished announcers took the station to the top of the ratings launching a true easy music format in the late 80’s. It was successful until the mid 90’s when they split the market by launching Magic 693 around 1994 after simulcasting MP on both frequencies for at least a year. 693 had been the failed 3EE male skewed AWA talk based station. Magic 693 took a large chunk of MP’s older audience playing the unforgettable songs 40’s, 50’s and 60’s and Johnny Young on live breakfast with DCS voice tracking the rest of the day. It was still all out of Frankston, with a Melbourne sales team based at the old 3EE studios in St Kilda Road. Unfortunately, the parent company APN needed to sell both stations when they secured TTFM and Gold FM. 3AW purchased them and had to off load two stations as they already had 3AK. Fusion media, a Christian organisation picked up 3AK, which moved to St Kilda Rd and Golbourn Valley Broadcasters, owner of some Shepparton commercial stations, stepped up to the big smoke to run MP out of Frankston, ironically, using some unknown regional talent. It apparently failed and Data and Commerce picked it up and 3AK, which was relaunched as Talk 1116. Both stations were moved to Richmond and eventually 3AK was leased out to Danny Steffari to create SEN 1116. Danny launched SEN in Adelaide a year or so later by leasing the frequency from ARN (APN) which became Cruise when he hit financial difficulties. DCL continued to operate SEN as 1116 SEN due to copyright issues and apparently not being prepared to pay the creditors a reported fee of $50k for the brand. Somehow DCL became Pacific Star after various issues with DCL and 3MP had been reasonably stable with a heritage line up of legends in the early 2000’s including Sean Cosgrove, Greg Evans, Jane Holmes, Peter Tarnawski and I recall the late Peter O’Callaghan, with both stations under the guidance of PD Peter Butler. After the failed MTR experiment in 2010, MP came back as MY MP, which had continued run on DAB during the entire MTR period until the plug was pulled during drive on a Friday night. MY MP was a very a mix of 70’s and 80’s, similar to Gold FM at the time, not surprising as both My MP and SEN were under former Gold FM staff member Mark Johnson as PD. My MP was re launched as 3MP featuring the old jingles as a nod to the past including the famous Mike “up there Cazaly” Brady jingles. The music didn’t seem to change much, but live and voice tracked shifts were reinstated with Johnson and SEN staffers including Eddie Olek and John Tamb. Some paid weekend shows were introduced too including Jim the Trading Tutor, that Radio Show and Richard Stockman’s Big Breakfast. The station was relaunched as Classic Rock to pick up the audience from MMM’s Classic Rock DAB station when it closed. It was jock free and gained a small cult audience playing some album versions of classics from the 60’s to the 80’s. It was advertised on SEN to get male sport fans to cross over when they wanted music. After Pacific Star took over and Mark Johnson was gone, MP was released as SEN plus, mostly a simulcast of SEN with some live sport that wasn’t available on SEN such as the A League, NBL and local football from the Eastern Football League. In its last few months before changing to SEN track during Covid, it was running live SEN SA programming into Melbourne as well as live sport not on 1116
SEN. SEN track is now on 1593 in Melbourne a narrowcast frequency formerly used for Italian language station Rete Italia. Ironically, this merry go round started when Peter Corso bought 3AK around 1990 to start an Italian station. He later sold AK to AW and kept the transmitter sites, which I believe he may still own today. He may sold AK as he was able to get a narrowcast frequency, which I believe was 1116 prior to AK moving to it. 1503 is now a community station 3KND. It had previously used for narrowcast Italian, possibly by Corso until the ABA allocated community licenses in 2001.
My knowledge is gained from working at MP from 1994-1996, again from 2005-2006 and at SEN (formerly Crocmedia) since 2011.
Magic 1278 also came back from a disastrous sports format the same as 3MP. Magic is beating 3mp in the ratings is because they play better music and the AM signal spreads around Melbourne where as MP am signal is absolutely crap. No wonder MTR didn’t survive.
3MP should go the way of the old 3AK format which was the beautiful music format. The only way ACE radio and 3MP will survive is that they go FM and the federal government must improve the DAB+ signal as it keeps dropping out.
The saga of 3MP's changing format continues.....
According to this article, 3MP enjoyed top ratings in Melbourne despite being licenced for an audience in the Mornington Peninsual and poor signal reception in Greater Melbourne.
Yet moves to improve 3MP's signal coverage have been raised in 2011 and the ACMA was ready to change the licence conditions accordingly, reference, https://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/3mtr-may-get-power-increase .
It is likely that the improvements to 3MP's signal strength have not been carried out most likely due to the over $20 million loss by the then owners, Macquarie Media alone when running 3MP as MTR 1377.
So the issue of signal strength and reach in Greater Melbourne continues today as this page said. Yet 3MP topped the ratings with poor signal strength.
As a result, it can be said that management is in full control of its program content. One ratings survey result under new management ACE is not enough to indicate 3MP's success. Several surveys are needed to indicate a trend.
The article and "nigel's" post suggests that a central studio as in the former Rowston St and Bendigo St are not needed given the staff in the regional areas can produce a professional product live or voicetracked and deliver the program content via the IP networks.
Nevertheless, despite notions held by some in the professional radio community that AM as a music format is dead, let's not forget 4KQ's ratings results being 4th in the market and 50% lead (3% higher) above talk station 4BC, reference: https://www.radioinfo.com.au/sites/default/files/NewsImage/Brisbane012021.png
When it comes to music format, 3MP was a beautiful music/elevator music format such as 2CH. The format topped the ratings in Melbourne and Sydney. Beautiful music was associated with the verb 'relax' and 'relaxing' is associated with 3MP's current slogan.
But 'relaxing' is not restricted to the formats of yesteryear and is not a particular genre. People can relax with classical music and they can relax with heavy metal music.
One poster to this site mentioned how his friend, a scientist was relaxing to 3MP when it was playing "classic rock". The scientist was not happy when 3MP changed from "classic rock" to sports.
Having sampled 3MP and not having a problem with the music played, it seems to be another variation of the "hits-and-memories"/"golden oldies"/ "classic hits" format. It's a hackneyed format and there is likely to be overlap in stations using this format.
The "beautiful music" format of yesterday with lush string arrangements, orchestral arrangements of contemporary adult hits and crooners has been ditched world wide. It is not unique to Australia and the circumstances leading to the dropping of the format and not resuming the format are different.
For example when 2CH was taken over by Wesgo in the late 1980s, the "beautiful music" format was dropped and ratings never returned to its "beautiful music". Ironically in 1992, when 2SM went from a "Lite 'n Easy" format to an automated "Muzak"/"beautiful music" format, its ratings went from 4% to 7% then flopped down never to get above an asterisk rating.
Should there be a return to "beautiful music"? This site knows that my music tastes are wider than what the radio station defines as relaxing or beautiful music.
I believe that people's tastes in music may well be wider than a radio station's music format for a target market and is not reflected on air.
Perhaps the late Mr John Brennan was right when he said that program/content directors should go outside the demographic. He said that in the context of radio presenters, but it may well apply to the music.
Thank you,
Anthony of exciting, dynamic and opinionated Belfield
3MP is often cited as an AM station station with inadequate coverage across its licence area which is true. 3MP's licenced service area is the Greater Melbourne metropolitan area, the same as the other commercial broadcasters in Melbourne.
I can only suspect that at sometime in the past the Melbourne and Mornington Peninsula licence areas were merged together, but the Rowville transmitter site was never intended to provide coverage into the inner city or Western suburbs. A similar thing happened with 2WS in Sydney which was originally licenced to only the Western suburbs of Sydney. Ultimately the Western Sydney and Greater Sydney licence areas were merged as a result of court action by the owners of 2WS and 2WS were actually successful in winning an FM conversion bid.
In all honesty, it is no longer possible for any station to provide adequate AM coverage across Melbourne with a 5kW AM transmitter. The only AM services in Melbourne that provide adequate coverage are the two ABC services, which operate at 50kW.
Hi everyone,
We think that the new 3MP is such a great station.
They often play my favourite song for me which is called "High" by Lighthouse Family.It's a great easy listening track from the 90s and I love hearing it on the radio.
I think that the CEO of 3MP called Mark Taylor is doing a great job as the boss and I really hope that 3MP stay on air now as they're doing a great job having competitions for listeners where they can win large amounts of money and I love the music themes on the weekend such as Best of the Best etc.They're doing an Aussie music theme this weekend.
I really hope that 3MP gets more regular listeners and they go higher in the listener ratings as they're such a great station.
From Jono and Ben