1170 SEN debuted in Sydney at 6am this morning in what may well be a defining moment in radio.
Will a sports station work in Sydney, and can Classic Hits 2CH survive as a DAB+ only station?
The future of DAB+ may not depend on the fate of 2CH, but the ability of radio to convert listeners to another broadcast band will be on show.
Can 2CH get its loyal listening audience to purchase DAB+ receivers, a smart speaker or download the app onto their smartphone so that it can retain the gains made in the past survey, or will the station just wither away to nothing.
For Cherie Romaro and her team this will be a huge challenge not made any easier by the recent retirement of Bob Rogers
For the Sports Entertainment Network this is a huge gamble, but one that they are taking on with plenty of gusto and confidence.
1170 SEN launched at 6am this morning with Vossy for Breakfast and guests including Penrith Panthers Coach Ivan Cleary, Melbourne Storm star Dale Finucane and the Prime Minister of Australia and Cronulla Sharks fan – Scott Morrison.
The station has also begun a new advertising campaign with ads running across Channel Seven, as well as news.com.au and dailytelegraph.com.au
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Their website has not been updated.....still showing Classic Hits...no mention of SEN or sports?
I will first give my opinion of SEN1170 then my idea of a fate of 2CH on DAB+.
First SEN1170's overall 'sound' is certainly more exciting than the former 2UE's, Magic1278's and 4BH's "Talking Sport". SEN in Melbourne had a rating, typically 3% while Talking Sport (1278kHz) was rating anything between 0.3% and 0.5%.
To illustrate SEN's lead in program is local compared to "Talking Sport's" 0000-0530 from London. This suggests an audience preference for local content. A good lead into breakfast should produce good ratings.
The fruits of the change in programming should start from the 8th Survey for 2020 and 1st survey of 2021.
Suppose the 7th ratings survey show an increase in 2CH's listenership compared to survey 6, you will wonder whether that will transfer to 2CH on DAB+.
In order to make a valid comparison between AM/FM and DAB+, the GfK organization should present the DAB+ ratings in the way as the AM/FM stations. Why present the data for DAB+ stations in cumulative audiences. It is confusing compared to the tables of percentages broken by age group and time of day. It would be easier to compare say a particular station on the AM or FM band to its DAB+ equivalent. So if the broadcasting station chooses to participate in the GfK ratings system, then the GfK organisation can compute an equivalent rating score combining AM or FM and its DAB+ version. GfK could also produce a table like the AM/FM stations for DAB+ stations only.
Given that 2CH is now a DAB+-exclusive station, it would be confusing looking at cumulative results. It would be easier to see whether the audience has moved from AM to DAB+.
Better still, why not present the ratings of all stations AM/FM and DAB+ in both percentage by age group and time of day and cumulative numbers?
Presenting data in all formats may well assist the sales department in selling advertising time because they're better informed.
A few weeks ago, there was as report that the ABC-me (channel 23 on FTA) rather than ABC(main) was to broadcast selected sporting matches and the assumption was that it was too hard for the average viewer to select 23. Yet at the same time there are many channels on Foxtel compared to the 29 FTA channels and people have not had a problem selecting the particular Foxtel channel
I should think that it should not be difficult for the reasonable person to change to DAB+. By selecting 'alphabetical' channel order, 2CH will be amongst the AM and FM broadcasters starting with '2'.
Finally, what I see for 2CH as a DAB+ I said before, it is rare for live presentations on the DAB+, except for ABC Jazz, Double J, Coles (https://radioinfo.com.au/news/coles-radio-features-live-show) and Kinderling. I would not be surprised if by 2021, 2CH will be mainly voicetracked. Will Chris Kearns' 1900-0100 request program be 'live' where the listener can call 2CH (DAB+) anytime on 1300 13 1170?
My thoughts,
Anthony of curious Belfield