As the date approaches for Tapt Media to take over Nine Radio, listeners to the 2GB, 3AW, 4BC and 6PR station apps are being told to log off and start a new login to continue hearing live station streams.
The cutover takes place tomorrow, Wednesday 29 April. The new owners will be hoping that they do not lose any listeners with the change.
Listeners are being told what to do, with live reads on each station saying, “we are deploying the Tapt Media single sign on… cutover will occur tomorrow… there will be a new single sign on, but you must log in again…”
The official handover day for the stations to change hands is this Friday 1st May, although some logistics and branding are expected to roll out during the following week.
The Laundy Family bought the Nine Radio talk stations, as well as the company’s music stations in January. The music stations 2UE, 4BH and Magic 1278 are leased to Ace Radio for a period of ten years.
The success of the Laundy talk stations will depend on the network’s ability to maintain the agency advertising it gained under the Nine ownership, with a strategy to increase revenue from direct sales. Direct revenue for talk stations can be considerable if it is executed well. With a new business model that decouples radio from Nine’s television and print business, the network has the opportunity to maximise audio revenue, with opportunities in live radio revenue and also talk podcasting.
Nine Radio currenty monetises its radio advertising assets in four areas: broadcast radio, live radio streams, podcasts and station website assets.
Under the new ownership, the network is planning to celebrate the milestones of 40 years for the Continuous Call Team and 100 years of broadcasting for 2GB in coming weeks.
Radioinfo can also reveal that a new News theme will be heard from next week and that the old name Sports Today will return, to replace the Nine network’s Wide World of Sports name on the network’s evening sports show.
This Friday, the day of the official handover, a morning tea will take place in each station, followed by a ‘town hall’ meeting fronted by Tom Malone, where the new station branding will be revealed. Staff will then have a lunch to mark the occasion.