Now last year’s acquisition of the Smart Group of eight stations in north Queensland starts to make sense. Macquarie Radio chairman Russell Tate told The Australian the company intends to develop programming and networked advertising across regional areas, but denied that it would trigger further acquisitions. radioinfo editor, Steve Ahern also spoke about the ‘mining network’ to Lindy Kerrin on ABC Radio’s PM program.

The former Smart group of stations covers large tracts of mining country, including 4LM Mt Isa and Cloncurry, 4HI Emerald, 4ZR Roma, Mitchell and St George, 4SB Kingaroy and the Tarong Mine, 4VL and Triple C FM covering the Charleville region.

To cover mining in Western Australia, Macquarie will partner with Redwave Media’s WAFM which broadcasts from Geraldton, Karratha, Port Hedland and Broome to more than 300,000 people across 100 remote towns and mine sites.

The sales network is a smart idea. Miners in remote locations have lots of disposible income and would be a good target for national advertisers from beer brands to household goods. Many towns in the regions covered by the stations are expanding fast, with money also being spent on housing products and building materials.

While the recent ACMA ruling tightened up controls on talk radio advertising further, there are no such restrictions on music programs, and there is plenty of scope for branded networked music shows to be developed for stations in regional mining areas.

Does mining magnate and John Singleton’s friend Gina Rinehart (pictured) have any interest in all this? The Australian reported last year that “Mrs Rinehart, a major shareholder in both Fairfax Media and Network Ten, visited stations in the Smart Radio Group during Macquarie’s due diligence, and she has a close relationship with Mr Singleton.” Read the Australian’s full story here – subscription may be required.