ARN’s KIIS and GOLD networks to go national in 2026

I wonder if any of these programs will be on their regional stations?

Jackie O the only female talent on air across the entire KIIS network?

“Ben + Liam, now with Belle”

Glad to see Belle back!!

Any mention about Hobart and Canberra?

These radio station name changes and network expansion was always on their radar. Thats what ARN wanted when they tried to buy SCA i.e. a national network. Im surprised they have left off Darwin and elected not to change Mix to KIIS in Canberra.

Goodness this has the hallmarks of being a trainwreck. In two markets with only 4 commercial FM stations ARN decide to be the third contemporary/hit station in the market. With one of those, Adelaide, the most conservative metro in the country. I suppose this is what happens when there is a Head of Content with no experience in programming radio stations.

@Julie

Vastly unfair to LJ. This is not a decision that has been in her hands, Duncan Campbell and Ciaran signed KJ to a contract that is simply not able to be costed to 2 markets. Brisbane was already rebranded to KIIS, and mix Adelaide took up the KIIS national branding in 2014, before LJ was employed by ARN, and they have been running KIIS programing from 4pm onwards for years (Will & Woody as the main example).

This is a bed that somebody else has made. The only decisions that can really be attributed to her at this point are the new shows, and 96fm to GOLD (which even then, was already being pushed that way with identical positioning as GOLD so that’s a stretch too (just great songs).

It very well could be a trainwreck in terms of being the 3rd CHR in ADL and BNE, but the music strategy can’t be put on LJ.

Imagine being in the talent management business in 2026. Just look at that network table for Kiis alone. 10 years ago there would have been 30-40 on-air talent across the country filling those three dayparts. Now it’s just 8… and 2 cost just as much as 40 used to.

@AussieCam58 – considering ARN used the (very) old logos for both JV Canberra stations on their ARN Regional slide, I very much doubt they plan to shift 106.3, the Darwin stations, or any of their other regionals stations to their metro network brands.

Mix 106.3 only started following the KIIS branding style a handful of years ago, but carries no KIIS networked shows (though it does have J&A and Christian best of’s). If anything, they’d be better off switching it to Gold.

Out of all the announcements made, Gold 96FM is probably the only one that made sense. I wonder if that means all the KIIS programming now on 96FM will shift across to being DAB+ only in Perth?

@PJC: As they already carry the syndicated hour at 8pm weeknights, surely there’s a fairly high chance of the new JAM Nation drive show being heard on Mix 106.3 in 2026?

Branding wise, I’m not entirely sure there’s a problem with the Mix 106.3 brand (despite now being “old” compared to what’s happening in metro markets) given they’re #1 in the ratings. The real problem at AmplifyCBR seems to be with Hit 104.7, which has been an absolute mess for at least the last couple of years.

As for ARN Regional, I’d probably expect all those stations to be rebadged as either KIIS or Gold (just as SCA did with the Hit & Triple M brand almost a decade ago) later on down the track, perhaps in Late 2026/Early 2027.

@SydneyCityTV – Since Mix 106.3 is rating so successfully with its ‘live and local’ shows, I doubt amplifyCBR will be keen to rock the boat too much, especially given how soft Hit 104.7 is rating. They’ll probably just stick with the same line up they currently have on Mix for now.

And to add, there’s nothing wrong with the Mix brand in Canberra. It’s more how it visually presents and aligns itself network wise. It took them years to adopt the KIIS lips after the metro ARN stations did. Now that Adelaide’s Mix is becoming KIIS.. that branding alignment is completely out. It wouldn’t surprise me if down the line Mix 106.3 adopts Gold’s yellow guitar pick but retains its Mix name in the same way Cruise and 4KQ did in their respective markets.

In terms of the other regional’s, I think it’ll be a few years before any massive KIIS/Gold rebranding takes place. ARN still don’t live network their Drive shows into the regions so makes little sense to drop local brands when they still push their regional stations as very ‘live and local’. SCA were networking shows into the regions well before their rebrands took place.

@PJC: You could be right about Mix 106.3 being left as it is without change next year but given all the talk about J&A becoming a national show, I’d be very surprised if Canberra and other non-metro markets didn’t pick it up at some point.

Since we didn’t see the introduction of mass networked content on 101.7 Sydney (at least to the level it’s at now) until a few months after the WSFM > Gold rebrand it doesn’t seem unreasonable to predict that might be an eventual plan for ARN Regional stations as well.

As for the logos: It’s to my understanding that historically, both of Canberra’s commercial FM stations have usually been a bit behind the metros in adopting new designs. Whether that’s due to the bureaucracy in this joint venture or some other factor, I’ve got no idea although if this historical trend continues, we can probably expect Mix 106.3 to not receive its Gold-aligned rebrand (whether the name gets included or not) until at least 2027!