Macquarie Sports Radio is the new player in town.
Following a leaked email from Executive Chairman Russell Tate in March, rumours that Macquarie Media’s Talking Lifestyle was to be replaced with a sports format were confirmed, and the network is set to launch its new sports radio network, Macquarie Sports Radio, on Wednesday April 4.
Newly appointed CEO Adam Lang said: “We are very excited to be launching Australia’s first national commercial sports radio talk network. Australians have a long established obsession with sport and we continue to see growth in a variety of sporting endeavours.
“There are more than 13 million sports fans in Australia. Sport is social, it bonds strangers together and we want to give them a voice and a platform to connect and engage.
“Macquarie Media is #1 for Australian sport with NRL and The Continuous Call Team on 2GB and 4BC, AFL on 3AW and 6PR and our national live cricket in summer amongst our participation in a range of other events.
“Our passion for telling the story flows into our broadcasts of Australia’s top sports. It made sense to extend our expertise into a national format that covers all sports all of the time.”
Monday to Friday in Sydney and Brisbane, Macquarie Sports Radio Breakfast (05:30-09:00 am) will be hosted by John Stanley and Beau Ryan.
The Melbourne breakfast show hosted by Tony Leonard, Tony Shaw and Jimmy Bartel. David Schwartz and Mark Allen will head up a national drive program.
- Mornings will be hosted by David Morrow & Tiffany Cherry
- Afternoons will be hosted by Mieke Buchan, Shane McInnes and Sam Stove
- Evenings with Julian King
- Weekend Mornings with Bill Woods & Brigitte Duclos
- Weekend Afternoons with Craig Willis & Clinton Maynard
- Weekend Evenings with Tim Webster
Macquarie Sports Radio will also feature some of the country’s leading sporting personalities and experts as regular guests and contributors including Leigh Matthews, Des Hasler, Mike Hussey, Mark Riddell and Andrew Gaze.
The new Melbourne breakfast and drive shows will be heard on Macquarie Sports Radio straight after the Commonwealth Games, from Monday 16 April.
Macquarie Sports Radio has also secured exclusive broadcast rights to live English Premier League matches (EPL).
Three EPL games will be broadcast each week, across the weekend overnights program. The network has also signed a partnership with the EPL’s global audio partner talkSPORT, the world’s biggest sports radio station, and will broadcast two of their award winning shows, Hawksbee & Jacobs and Durham & Gough, between midnight and 4am weekdays.
Macquarie Sports Radio will be heard in Sydney on 954 AM, in Melbourne on 1278 AM and in Brisbane on 882 AM and on the respective Digital Radio DAB+ stations.
Radio like any other kind of service is a business and all business involves risk. Having had a look at the lineup, the theme of sport is consistent. This is in contrast to the former "Talking Lifestyle" ('TL') format in which while the segments were interesting in their own right, it was too fragmented. A person listening to travel may not be the same person listening to finance. TL's fragmented format is analogous to Radio National ('RN') where RN's low ratings have been explained as the person listening to "Background Briefing" may not be the same listener to "God Forbid" or "The Science Show".
As I have mentioned in other fora, "Macquarie Sports Radio" ('MSR') may well perform satisfactorily in Sydney since it's another kind of talk format changing to another kind of talk format. I also mentioned that where stations formerly accustomed to being music and changing to talk, the ratings plummet. Examples included "Magic"-branded stations to TL, The same is true for stations that convert from music to talk such as 3MP to MTR even though the former MTR presenters are top rating.
Therefore a lot of money needs to be spent in the Brisbane market in order to create an awareness of the MSR brand. A cursory look at Brisbane's ratings indicates that Brisbane is a music-oriented station, though 4BC (talk) has improved to around 6.2 to 8 depending on time of day.
For Melbourne, there is already SEN. Perhaps MSR could rate higher. BUT as I said, the 1278 frequency has been recognized as a music station for a long time and like Brisbane may need a lot of resources to promote awareness. That's unless MML will be relying on word-of-mouth promotion.
As I have said in other fora, if MSR does not work in Melbourne or Brisbane, it could well revert to an automated music station. But please not another hackneyed 'hits and memories'/'gold'/'classic hits' format because it is so crowded on the AM, FM and DAB+ stations.
A final note on those who liked/disliked the 'TL' or like/dislike the 'MSR' format. Apart from using the radio's "Off" switch, Australia is well served with a plethora of music and talk stations, streaming (IP) stations from all over the world as well as short wave.
In regards 'free-to-air' ('FTA') terrestrial radio. For those who like talk, have any aggrieved person who did not like 'TL' or does not like 'MSR' given thought to listen to 'RN', where there are interesting 'current-affairs' discussions especially on breakfast with Fran Kelly, Geraldine Doogue (Sat) and Hugh Riminton(Sun). Then the drive shows with Patricia Karvelas and the Hon. Amanda Vanstone. Have they thought of ABCNewsRadio? For those who like more conservative-style talk, there is 2SM and its associated networked stations or for those who like to listen to papers and magazines, the RPH network.
When it comes to radio, Australia is well served, It's not too hard to change the frequency (tuning) control.
Regards
Anthony from exciting Belfield
It's a pity Lawsie retired. 2UE has never been the same. What a shame for the icon of Sydney radio! Sorry, but I'm not going to 2GB.