DMG Radio, fresh from its Brisbane FM licence triumph, has denied speculation that it plans to implement a nationally networked programming stream on its Nova stations.

With DMG owning a Nova station in every major market, Sue Javes in The Sydney Morning Herald’s Guide says there is talk of the Sydney based Merrick and Rosso breakfast show being networked nationally, along with Melbourne’s Dave Hughes, Kate Langbroek and Dave O’Neil moving from breakfast to a national drivetime program.

The speculation has been fuelled by DMG feeding Merrick and Rosso’s program into Adelaide on its yet to be launched Nova 919.

Despite statements that it is better to do this than have three hours’ silcence, others in Adelaide think there might be a deeper motive. Merrick and Rosso have a national following from their Triple J days, comedy tours and more recent Channel 9 exposure.

Shared programming between states is one way to keep costs down, as Austereo has done with Triple M, and DMG already networks heavily to its 55 regional stations.

However, DMG’s head of programming, Dean Buchanan, says it won’t happen: “Nova is a name, not a format.

“It’s not a cookie cutter which goes across the land. Each Nova station has been developed for its individual market. That’s one of the key reasons we’ve done so well in such a short time.”