Speaking on his program this morning, Ray Hadley slammed the now defunct 4BC format as being a “poor imitation of ABC612” Brisbane, and promised that the station will not be running last by the end of this year, once he and Alan Jones join the station later this month.
“It was confirmed yesterday that Alan Jones and I will be broadcasting on 4BC from 27 April. It’s a challenge… I’m looking forward to the challenge.
“It’s similar to what we found at 2GB when we came [here] in 2001 and 2002.
“The station was a basket case. It’s now the number one station and I’m proud to have been part of that…
“We’re coming off a low case at 4BC, it’s a station that is coming last, but I’ll be disappointed if it’s still coming last by the end of this year.
“I’ve listened to the station over the past few months, it appears that you’ve been serviced by two ABCs. The ABC and a poor imitation of it on 4BC…”
Hadley assured listeners tht he will call it as he sees it. “it won’t be hard, the problems we confront in Brisbane are the same as we confront in Sydney,” he said.
Listen to the grab below.
From poor imitation of the ABC to dumbed down clone of 2GB. Goodbye local content. Networked bigotry, bullying and abuse. Just what Brisbane needs.
Another dimwitted analogy lost.
4BC's format was standard Fairfax Media right-wing conservative talk. ABC612 - like all ABC radio - is fact-based hard news with no corporate or political agenda. What its detractors label as 'liberal.' Considering ABC612 constantly dominated the Brisbane talkback ratings, based on Hadley's assertion 4BC was a formatic 'imitation' of ABC612 4BC's ratings would have been higher.
What Hadley is denying (as dictated by his employer) is the fact conservative talk in Oz is dying. Hence the Macquarie/Fairfax merger as a last ditch effort to save two financially hemorrhaging media failures.
As future ratings will tell, the only accomplishment the MacFax merger achieved is to lower the overhead to raise the profit margin. Which is the sole reason commercial media exists.
Well, I don't know which universe you inhabit RSKazimer, but in the one where I live Macquarie's key radio station 2GB, from which the Jones and Hadley shows will be sourced for 4BC, has been the top-rating Sydney station for 80 consecutive ratings periods – so back to about 2004 (source: The Australian).
Alan Jones has 15% plus of the Sydney breakfast audience, which makes him number one by a wide margin.
Ray Hadley rates at 17% plus for the Sydney morning period, which is streets ahead of the competition (source: The Daily Telegraph).
What you would call “conservative talk”, I would call “common sense commentary”, the latter having been conspicuously absent from radio lately, with a complete dearth of it in Brisbane.
“Fact-based hard news” is hardly the way I would describe the ABC output. It is more a case of their deciding for us what comprises our news priorities and then seeking to influence our opinion over these issues, to meet their generally soft to moderate-Left agenda.
The way I see it, if the newly-merged Macquarie/Fairfax are appropriately inclusive of the Brisbane audience, as they have made positive signals they intend to be, then the newly-minted 4BC will soon rate it's socks off!