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.

New digital station.

A new digital radio station called The Buckle will be launched by the Fairfax Radio Network at next Tuesday December 22. The station will only be heard in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. It will have a modern contemporary country music format, created specifically for capital city listeners.

Christmas digital stations.

ARN has a new digital radio station especially for Christmas called Elf radio. The station will be on air until just after Christmas.
ABC is also planning a Christmas station to begin closer to the day.No doubt it will be a bit more Classic than Elf!

New Talk station for Melbourne?

Macquarie Radio Network Limited (Sydney)and Pacific Star Network Limited (Melbourne) have announced taht they are forming a potential partnership that may see a third talk station in Melbourne.
John Singleton's Macquarie Radio Network and Pacific Star Network, owner of 3MP and SEN (formerly 3AK), announced they have "concluded a Heads of Agreement that contemplates the formation of a joint venture for the production and supply of radio programming in the Melbourne market.
The new company has apparentely approached both Neil Mitchell and Steve Price to work on the new station.

Results of digital auction.

In Brisbane, the successful bidders were Austereo, DMG and Australian Radio Network (ARN)
In Melbourne they were Austereo, Sport 927 and ARN.
In Sydney they were Austereo, Supernetwork and ARN
In Perth they were Grant/Capital Broadcasters and Austereo
In Adelaide it was Austereo
So Austereo were the big winners Australia wide. Wonder what new stations we are going to get? Hopefully something other than dance and pop!

Excess digital capacity auctioned off.

Australia's Digital Radio joint venture companies have auctioned off excess digital capacity on the digital radio multiplexes. Auction results are expected to be announced this week. The excess spectrum was offered for auction last Friday at an auction house in Sydney. The Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney digital radio joint venture companies will hold auctions to allocate excess capacity access entitlements.

All Music Breakfast

Seems vega 95.3 has already gone to their all music breakfast due to support staff leaving. What a good idea this is! Nothing new though! So good to hear a station with no so called comedy in breakfast, just the info that is needed to start the day. Hopefully it will rate well for them. Wondering how Dicko, Dave and Chrissie are feeling at Melbourne's vega 91.5?

Saw a (new to me) brand cheap DAB+ radio in Dick Smith's Chadstone, today. The brand name was Kaiser Baas. Checked them out and manged to ascertain that they are an Australian company.

Kyle is at it again!

By all reports today it looks like Kyle Sandilands career is on very shaky ground. It's a pity the producers of his show can't keep their finger on the button; or maybe there is no button?

Launch of Digital Radio in Federation Square.

The launch of digital radio this morning was a very successful function. I enjoyed talking to those such as Graham Redmond that I had bought my PURE radio from. I also had a long conversation to the Sangean rep.
All Melbourne stations were represented except Gold amd Mix.
AW were the only station broadcasting from behind glass. All other stations were in open stalls.
The most popular station was ABC's 774!

More to follow.

From DigitalradioPlus website.

Radio unites in massive outside broadcast

In a world first, Australian commercial radio broadcasters and the public service broadcasters are putting competition aside on 6th August 2009 when more than 40 different radio stations hold a simultaneous outside broadcast in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide to promote digital radio.

The event billed as “Radio United” will see the highly competitive commercial sector broadcasting side by side with their commercial counterparts and public service broadcasters to promote the benefits of digital radio.

Joan Warner, chief executive officer of Commercial Radio Australia said the radio industry was coming together with one voice, at one time, on one day to highlight the new digital radio technology.

“Breakfast radio is a very powerful medium with Neilsen research figures for survey four 2009 showing the average cumulative breakfast radio audience Monday to Friday in the five state capitals for all stations is 8,761,000 people. Radio is a big part of Australians way of life and we want to tell them about our new digital technology,” said Ms Warner.

“As an industry we will be speaking to this audience about digital radio in a unique event. We are inviting listeners to come to the outside broadcast in each city, meet many of the top radio personalities and listen to digital radio,” said Ms Warner.

The outside broadcasts in each city will be held from 5.30 am – 9.00 am in central city locations; Sydney - Martin Place, Melbourne - Federation Square, Brisbane - Reddacliff Place, Adelaide – Victoria Square and Perth – Forrest Place.

Each city location will have a digital radio “Listener Post” where digital radio manufacturers: Roberts, Sangean, Yamaha, iRiver, Bush, Revo, Grundig and Pure will showcase a range of digital radios and enable listeners to hear and see digital radio on a variety of different receivers.

A fully fitted out car featuring a digital radio adaptor will also be on site in each state. Plus there will be a preview of the first screen based digital radio showcasing the visual aspects of the new technology with the transmission on screen of album covers, radio presenter photos and station logos.

Hundreds of digital radios will be given away to lucky listeners on the morning but they must attend the outside broadcasts and enter on site to win.

A countdown clock to the start of the Radio United event begins today at the www.digitalradioplus.com.au website and all participating stations start the countdown on their websites soon.

Radio United Event - Participating Stations

SYDNEY – MARTIN PLACE

Super Radio 2SM 1269AM Breakfast - Grant Goldman
Austereo Triple M 104.9
Austereo 2DayFM The Kyle and Jackie O Show - Kyle Sandilands & Jackie O
DMG vega 95.3fm Tony, Bec & Mikey - Mikey Robins, Tony Squires & Rebecca Wilson
Macquarie 2GB 873 Breakfast with Alan Jones - Jason Morrison broadcasting on-site & crossing to Alan Jones in-studio
Macquarie 2CH Easy 1170 Breakfast with Gareth McCray
Tabcorp Sky Sports Radio Big Sports Breakfast with Terry Kennedy & Michael Slater
Fairfax 2UE Breakfast with Mike & Sandy - Mike Carlton & Sandy Aloisi
DMG Nova 96.9fm Merrick & Rosso & Kate Ritchie - Merrick Watts, Tim Ross, Kate Ritchie
SBS Radio Foreign Language Programming
ABC ABC702 702 Breakfast with Adam Spencer
ARN The EDGE Digital Mike E & Carmela - Carmela Contarino & Michael Etheridge

MELBOURNE – FEDERATION SQUARE

Pacific Star 3MP The Easy Breakfast - John Burgess
Fairfax Magic 1278 Magic 1278 Breakfast - Ann Gilding & Kevin John
Austereo Fox 101.9 The Matt & Jo Show - Matt Tilley & Jo Stanley
Sport Entertainment 1116 SEN Morning Glory - Tim Watson, Bill Brownless & Andy Maher
Fairfax 3AW Breakfast with Ross Stevenson and John Burns
DMG Nova 100 Hughesy and Kate - Dave Hughes & Ed Kavalee
DMG Vega 91.5fm Dicko, Dave & Chrissie - Ian Dickson, Dave O'Neil, Chrissie Swan
Austereo Triple M 105.1
SBS Radio Foreign Language Programming
ARN The EDGE Digital Breakfast Broadcast
ABC ABC 774 Breakfast with Red Symons
Tabcorp Sport 927am Prime Time Sports Interactive with Michael Christian and Angela Pippos

BRISBANE – REDDACLIFF PLACE

Fairfax 4BC Breakfast with Jamie Dunn Jamie Dunn
ARN 4KQ 693 Laurel, Gary & Mark In The Morning - Laurel Edwards, Gary Clare & Mark Hine
Austereo Triple M 104.5 The Cage - Ian Skippen, Emily-Jade, Greg "Marto" Martin, Greg "Sully" Sullivan
Austereo B105 Labby, Camilla & Stav - Jason "Labrat" Hawkins, Camilla Severi & Stewart "Stav" Davidson
DMG Nova 106.9fm Breakfast with Meshel, Ash & Tim - Meshel Laurie, Ash Bradnam, Tim Blackwell
Fairfax 4BH 882 Moyd and Loretta - Moyd Kay & Loretta Ryan
ABC ABC 612 Spencer Howson's All-day Breakfast - Spencer Howson
UNiTAB RadioTAB Sportsbet Breakfast Program - John McCoy, Graham Rigby & Ray ”Razor” Phillips

ADELAIDE – VICTORIA SQUARE
DMG FIVEaa Breakfast on FIVEaa - Keith Conlon, Tony Pilkington, Jon Blake, Jane Doyle & Chris McDermott
Austereo SAFM Rabbit, Amber & Cosi - Rabbit, Amber Petty & Cosi
ARN Cruise 1323am Cruise Breakfast with John Dean John Dean
ABC 891 ABC Adelaide Breakfast with the Bald Brothers - Tony McCarthy & John Kenneally
Austereo Triple M 104.7 Kym, Ali & Dzelde
DMG Nova 919 Fitzy, Claire & Jules - Ryan “Fitzy” Fitzgerald, Claire Murphy & Julian “Jules” Schiller

PERTH – FORREST PLACE

Austereo Mix 94.5 The Bunch with Fred, Lisa, Joss & Capt. - Paul Fred Botica, Lisa Shaw, Joss Dwyer, Paul Shepherd
Austereo 92.9 Em and Sam Mac now with Basil Zempilas - Emelia Rusciano, Sam McMillan & Basil Zempilas
DMG Nova 937 Nathan & Nat with Shaun McManus - Nathan Morris, Natalie Locke, Shaun McManus
Fairfax 6PR Breakfast with Millsy & Tony Mac - Tony McManus & Steve Mills
Fairfax 96fm The Crew with Gary, Fitzy & Aleysha - Gary Shannon, Brad "Fitzy" Fitzgerald &
Aleysha Knowles
Capital 6iX Johnny Young's Big Breakfast
ABC ABC 720 Breakfast with Eoin Cameron Eoin Cameron