Ace Radio’s 3MP made a re-entrance into the Melbourne GfK Survey this year with an Easy Music format.
A cume of 76,000 (People 10+) was enough to give them a 0.7 share in Survey 1.
radioinfo asked CEO Mark Taylor about the importance of the name and its heritage value in Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula.
Mark says, “It’s hard to establish a new brand especially with the older demographic we are targeting we believed that the 3MP name would bring back good memories. Judging by the feedback from our listeners that is the case.”
“It hasn’t been great in the last 10 years for 1377AM with lots of format changes. Sport, Racing, Classic Rock and the famous MTR experiment!
“The one thing with all that I have mentioned is that the 3MP branding was not associated with those changes. People remember and associate 3MP with the Easy Music format.”
radioinfo: Why you decided to bring back the old callsign?
Mark: “It was always part of the plan. The station was loved by many, especially on the Mornighton Peninsula. Most of our efforts have been in that area so far, 95% of our clients on located on the Peninsula.
“The moment our sign written cars started running around people were asking our staff all about the return of 3MP.
“Prize winners have been far and wide from across all parts of Melbourne.”
radioinfo: How is the signal strength? Is it heard across all of Melbourne?
Mark: “Like most AM stations we face our challenges. But we all have DAB+ which on 3MP, we promote equally with AM 1377, in fact, I think from listening around Melbourne 3MP promotes DAB+ more than any other station. Our streaming figures are also very healthy on RadioApp and iHeart radio.
“We believe our music format is quite different to smooth and Magic. We are focussed on an easy, relaxing sound that is no longer catered for by any other station in the market. We are fully aware that the rating game is a long game, and we are committed to the format and already close to our first goal of 100,000 cume.”
radioinfo: What about the strategic importance of the station for the rest of the Ace network
Mark: “The network is recovering well from Covid damage. Having a Melbourne station in the stable has already proved popular with our regional clients. It’s also a great opportunity for our staff, some of whom have been with us for over 25 years to showcase their talents at a metro level. We are particularly proud of our all-female on-air lineup weekdays 9 am to Midnight. The passion for the brand that Julie Strini, Emily Canning, Cathy Jubb and Emma Clark have is amazing.”
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While not a Melbourne listener, I was able to listen to the online version of 3MP at https://3mp.com.au/aceplayer.php .
Nothing wrong with the music, comparing it to similar formats in Sydney, 3MP is a hybrid of WS-fm, Smooth and 2CH (DAB+).
The music could best described as music that is not in high rotation of the other stations BUT at the same time, it was the music that were the hits of their day. For example Maria Muldaur's "Midnight At The Oasis", and Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine".
Methinks, what is the meaning of "easy listening" or "relaxing" music or even "beautiful music". It is not a specific genre of music or even bossa nova or Latin-American covers of popular contemporary music as in the latter category.
Easy listening and relaxing could also include performers such as "The London Symphony Orchestra" albums including "London Symphony Orchestra plays The Rolling Stones" and "Essential Classic Rock", Walter Wanderley, Andy Williams, Julie London, Edmundo Ros, Enoch Light, Lawrence Welk and 101 Strings.
I could also include in the definition of easy listening or relaxing, Duffy, Katie Melua, Eskimo Joe, Human Nature, Max Merritt (with or without the Meteors), Rob EG, Macy Gray as easy listening or relaxing. Stretching out, the definition of easy listening, I could also stretch the definition to include 1990s Euro-Dance music from the Visnadi Brothers - Corona, Livin' Joy. May I add artists from the album "Saint-Germain-des-Prés Café The Must Have Cool Tempo Selection from Paris" , reference https://www.discogs.com/Various-Saint-Germain-des-Pr%C3%A9s-Caf%C3%A9-The-Must-Have-Cool-Tempo-Selection-From-Paris/release/3214108
But I bet you none of the listed artists will get airplay. I consider all the examples listed in addition to the music played on 3MP as easy listening/relaxing/beautiful music. They're on my mp3 player.
Thank you,
Anthony of exciting, dynamic and easy listening Belfield
Further to the relaxing music not having a specific genre, an advertisement for Medibank featured a character playing 45 year old client services officer who liked to relax on heavy metal music, reference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1Sgp7QOpdo&ab_channel=Medibank
If "whatever floats your boat", then triplem offer a range of DAB+ channels
for various genres of rock music, including heavy metal, classic rock, country, 90s and soft rock, ref https://www.triplem.com.au/sydney .
Similarly "relaxing music" could also mean listening to ABC-FM (Classic), Fine Music (2MBS-FM, and DAB+).
Thank you,
Anthony of exciting Belfield