MTR 1377 begins on 19th April.

At today's lauch at Crown Casino it was revealed that MTR 1377 will commence broadcasting at 6am on the 19 April 2010. The full lineup has been announced (see below). AW badly needs some commercial opposition so I wish MTR well but the right of centre comments worry me a little. How about some balance guys? Also a bit worried about some of the networking from Sydney. It didn't work for CBC all those years ago with a more talented line-up than some of the proposed MTR presenters from Sydney this time around.
Also we have had no mention so far re MP going digital. We need lots of information on MyMP, which is a really good radio station.

MTR Program Line-up
Timeslot MONDAY -FRIDAY
0600 - 1000 Breakfast with STEVE PRICE
1000 – 1300 Mornings with STEVE VIZARD
1300 - 1600 Afternoons with CHRIS SMITH
1600 – 1800 Drive with MARTIN KING
1800 – 2000 Money News with ROSS GREENWOOD
2000 – 2100 Highlights
2100 – 0000 Melbourne Tonight with LUKE GRANT
0000 – 0330 JIM BALL
0330 - 0600 Wake Up Australia with ANDREW MOORE

SATURDAY LINE-UP
0000 - 0500 Mid Dawn on Weekends with MIKE WILLIAMS
0500 – 0600 The Fishing Show with MICHAEL GUEST
0600 – 0900 The Gardening Clinic
0900 – 1100 Mornings with SCOTT CAM
1100 – 1200 Real Estate with MARK MORAZA
1200 – 1800 Weekend Afternoons with GLENN RIDGE
1800 – 0000 Saturday Nights with GLEN WHEELER

SUNDAY LINE-UP
0000 – 0600 Mid Dawn on Weekends with MIKE WILLIAMS
0600 – 0900 The Gardening Clinic
0900 – 1000 Home Handyman with SIMON STEVENSON
1000 – 1200 Health and Wellbeing With DEBORAH THOMAS and ANDREW ROCHFORD
1200 – 1800 Weekend Afternoons With GLENN RIDGE
1800 – 2000 Medical with DR MALOUF
2000 – 0000 Sunday Nights with REV. BILL CREWS

MTR 1377 unveiling.

Seems that more detail of MTR will be revealed on Wednesday. What we know so far is that Steve Price will be on breakfast from 6am - 10am, followed by Steve Vizard from 10-1pm, then reports suggest Chris Smith from 2GB will follow. I sincerely hope this is untrue as there must be other Melbourne radio "personalities" who could fill this spot. This is usually the time of day that talk stations broadcast a "lighter" program between the newsy morning programs and the drive shows. It seems drive on MTR will be filled by Martin King from ACA. Personally I am looking forward to the new station but I hope it is not entirely right wing propaganda! In my opinion the old 3AW needs a severe shakeup and hopefully MTR can provide it. I am sure MTR will get some good publicity from the Herald Sun to counter act the vitriol coming from the Age owned by the same company as 3AW (Fairfax). I would expect the Age to promote their own station but at least print facts about the new station, not their fantasies!
I am also looking forward to MTR's news service. Melbourne needs a commercial alternative to Fairfax Network news.
Will post more info re MTR on Wednesday.

Towards MTR 1377

3MP breakfast host Shawn Cosgrove finished up on Friday, 26 March 2010. John Tamb and Peter O’Callaghan are still at the station. Looks like it's full steam ahead for MTR 1377!
Speaking of 1377 where 3MP is still broadcasting, the new digital MP (MyMP) is sounding great. If you have a dab+ radio give them a listen. It has music which is not too heavy, not too soft, not too old and not too young and just right for baby boomers. A great addition to the digital only stations. More thought has been put into the station than some other digital stations and I'm sure it will continue to improve as it evolves.

My MP!

Looks like Pacific Star have renamed 3MP-2 My MP. They are using the slogan, My Melbourne, My Music, My MP. Content is more up to date than the old MP but still pretty much "Easy Listening". It is sounding fresh and new, hope they market the station as it deserves listeners!
Well done guys!

CRA Digital Radio Report.

Commercial Radio Australia has released their first official report on Digital radio. It can be accessed at the link below.

http://www.digitalradioplus.com.au/index.cfm?page_id=1013&display_news_id_1104=1044

New digital stations.

ARN Events has become Classic Hits Live and 3MP-2 is playing different music from the main 3MP channel.

The Classic Hits Live is very similar to other ARN digital offerings, Gold 104 and Gold Plus. It's about time the ARN people came up with a new idea!

Not sure if MP-2 will remain but it seems Pacific Star are getting ready for the new Melbourne talk station MTR 1377. The "old" MP will be a digital only station.

Classic Rock update.

Classic Rock has improved their playlist but still too many repeats. it was good to hear the Led Zeppelin 4 Album in full at 6pm Sunday 21/3/10.

Classic Rock.

Have been listening to Classic Rock since it began yesterday morning and I would have to say that I enjoy it very much! I have been reading some forums etc and the vega web forums and am amazed that people are equating this station with Gold 104 or eqivalents in other states. They just played Black Sabbath's Paranoid and I don't remember hearing this on radio for many years. Certainly haven't heard it on Gold.
I hope this station and format is given a chance by the listeners and by DMG.
I have to say though that I would like to hear announcers on the station. I think it's time for the Melbourne station to get rid of the breakfast "comedians" and pay a couple of announcers instead. The breakfast session on Friday just wasted time where more music could have been played. DMG just need to have Joe Bovalino on breakfast and be different from all the other Melbourne stations.

Some of the artists I have heard featured on Classic Rock today:
Black Sabbath
Deep Purple
Led Zepplin
Guns n'Roses
INXS
Kiss
AC/DC
Def Leppard
Pearl Jam
Queen
Jimi Hendrix
Flowers
Eurhymics
REM
Heart
Police
Australian Crawl
Bon Jovi
Foreigner
ZZtop
David Bowie
CCR
Bruce Sprinsteen
Cold Chisel

Vega is no more!

At 6a.m this morning vega 91.5FM ceased to exist. In it's place DMG have a "new" station called Classic Rock playing off course classic rock! I hope this station is more successful for DMG than vega has been.

On a personal note I have to say that vega has been my station of choice since it began broadcasting in 2005. I did however go off it it a bit towards the end of 2009,too many repeats and I didn't like that they had no announcers and switched to DMG's digital station, Koffee. Apparentely the new station will be run in the same manner as vega(no announcers etc.). Will give it a listen to today and see what I think.

New Melbourne talk station named.

Steve Price announced in his newspaper column yeterday that Melbourne's new talk station will be called MTR 1377. (MTR is Melbourne Talk Radio). The station will commence in about 3 months time. It is thought that Price will do the breakfast show running from 6a.m until 10a.m. He has already signed Sam Newman, Jason Akermanis and Andrew Bolt. It seems that Steve Vizard will also be on the station.
1377 is of course where 3MP is presently located on the AM dial but it is apparentely moving to digital.