Up until around a decade ago if you were doing the morning commute to work on the hour and listening to the radio, the only way you could avoid listening to the news was if you switched to music on a USB, CD or cassette. With the advent of a multitude of DAB+ stations, plus your Apple or Spotify playlists, there are now many ways, and I wonder how many of you skip some or all of the news if you’ve already caught the previous bulletin, don’t care for sports or just want a break from what is going on in the world.

For the whole of last week I did a 90 minute commute to and from work in the morning and afternoon peak hours. It certainly reminded me why I love working from home. I did need a break from the news cycle second time around. In the process of checking out digital radio stations I discovered two that are doing things differently.

In GfK Radio 360 Survey 1 2025 the Capital Radio Network in Perth debuted its Forever Classic 60s digital station. With more than 10,000 listeners first up, many who will have only discovered it by listening to 6IX, word of mouth or stumbling upon it, it’s a promising start.

Via word of mouth I heard that the Capital Radio Network has also launched Forever Classic 70s which should be seen in Perth’s GfK Survey 2 results at the end of April. I’d already stumbled on the 60s version in the ACT (and loved it) and it was a friend not connected to radio who alerted me to the 70s station launch when she had found it on her daily commute.

On April Fools Day I was driving down the six lane motorway into Canberra city when on came Nights in White Satin by The Moody Blues. I rolled down the window and cranked the volume as high as my ears could tolerate. It was followed by The Carpenters‘ Rainy Days and Mondays, one of my favourite songs and one you would never play on commercial breakfast because it is just not upbeat enough. In the space of that ten minutes I fell totally in love with Forever Classic 70s, radio and car sound systems. Everyone who I have encountered in the days since has been regaled with this story.

The point of this article however, besides rediscovering the joy of a radio station playing something different, is that Forever Classic 60s and 70s is also providing local news bulletins. 

I’ve thought about this in the week since and feel that the audience listening to these stations are older, and will engage with and appreciate current and relevant news amongst their music and the advertising. It all fit together.

For the DAB+ offerings owned and run by ARN, SCA and the Nova Network I wonder whether local news on the hour might also fit on some of their music station offerings too? Not something like Coles Radio but maybe Gold 80s or even smooth Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane?

GfK Survey 1 for Canberra is out at 9:30am this Wednesday April 9. Digital stations are not yet included in provincial market surveys.

Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo.