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I listen to 2CH for music. I listen to 2GB and 2KY for sport. I will not need to listen to 2CH for sport. Ratings will tell the story. Years and much money lost?
It was very distressing to read that the radio station that I have listened to religiously for 7 years is being taken off air. I find this to be very disrespectful to the thousands of loyal listeners who tune in on a daily basis, the wonderful radio announcers and the dedicated team that put the programs together.
We are a loyal audience, almost like a family and it is just wrong to end an era with only a few days’ notice and without thoughtful consideration. 2CH is a radio station that has provided decades of entertainment, companionship and it has been a religious inspiration to so many.
To have 2CH taken off with so little regard to its audience is just disgraceful. I am very disappointed with the decision, I think it’s appalling to treat such an iconic radio station with such disrespect and I hope you to reconsider the decision.
Mr Smart was correct in his analysis that 2CH will not remain a music station, given that every radio station takeover by Croc Media has resulted in a change from a music or talk format to a sporting format at https://radioinfo.com.au/news/2ch-keep-music-format-%E2%80%99s-croc .
A radio station is a business and 2CH was losing money. The previous owners of 2CH may have been very lucky that when the ongoing business was sold and taking account of the present value of cashflows, the previous owners were likely to have broken even.
Croc Media have purchased the rights to broadcast on a particular frequencies (1170kHz and 1539kHz in Sydney) and believe that their business model will work in Sydney.
You may think that SEN's 3% rating is low in Melbourne. Still that is over ten times the audience achieved by MM's "Talking Sport" on 1278kHz. In addition, Croc Media supply other radio stations with sporting coverage which includes 2SM and 2UE. The matches on 2SM and 2UE are the same!
It's true that even though Australia is a sporting nation and gambling nation that one would think that everyone would be listening to sporting and racing coverage. It is not so. Yet despite Sky (2KY) rating poorly, it still survives and broadcasts in Sydney on three DAB+ channels and its many low power channels all over NSW. OK two of these DAB+ channels are simulcast but provision is there for three.
Most of my listening to Sydney metropolitan radio stations is via the DAB+ band which I have been listening to since 2009. Sometimes the AM version of a particular station does not broadcast the same content on its DAB+ channel. For example ABC Newsradio on the AM band may be broadcasting Our Federal Parliament while on the DAB+ channel it may be broadcasting its rolling news service. Similarly I have a choice between continuing to listen to the remainder of 2BL's (ABC702) Richard Glover's show and PM on on the DAB+ channel on Friday's between 1800 and 1900 and continue with Christine Anu's or Rebecca de Unamuno's or Emma Crowe's or whoever is presenting the show from 1900. At the same time I could choose to listen to the football on the AM band.
It follows that with 2CH, the 1170kHz frequency will be with sporting content while its DAB+ channel will be the music channel.
As an aside, I have noticed that since the takeover of 2CH by Croc Media, there was an improvement in the sound quality of 2CH's DAB+ channel. I am not talking about the 128kbs data rate, rather that the sound quality of the DAB+ channel's audio processing has changed. It sounds more 'fuller' than 2UE. I will leave out my discussion of my thoughts of "hits and memories" stations. Even with variations in the format, we are over-saturated with "hits and memories" stations and that does not include those low-power narrowcast stations.
Most AM receivers have poor audio quality and trying to establish a niche with a hackneyed format did not help increase 2CH's audience.
Given the superior quality of 2CH's 128kbs signal, the 2CH channel may well fare well. On DAB+ quality alone, 2CH's audio quality is superior to that of Smooth and definitely its Relax formats which broadcast on a lower bitrate.
The question now is will the business model of 2CH as a DAB+-only music station be sustainable and maintain if not increase its audience? Time will tell?
My critique of the Gfk ratings system is that why is there a difference in the presentation of the ratings for AM and FM stations is different to the way DAB+ stations' ratings are presented? Having a consistent way the data is presented is easier to measure and compare.
Thank you,
Anthony of exciting Belfield.
However, now 2CH as a DAB+ station has downgraded from 128kbs to 48kbs. It must have been a very recent change.
Anthony of too late Belfield
My DAB+ has also received the two SEN stations. I have also noted the data rate of the following DAB+ stations.
* 2CH formerly 128kbs, now 48kbs
* SEN 48kbs
* SEN track 32kbs
* 2UE formerly 70kbs now 128kbs
Other observations:
SEN track's content is the same as Sky's two channels.
Thank you,
Anthony of late, late but observant Belfield