Hit Network set for biggest overhaul in half-decade [exclusive]

Totally smart. The national Hit rollout made sense in a boardroom and to sales but not for audiences.
Good move SCA.

Looks like the poor wifi signal.

It has to be said. The amount of good workers that lost their jobs because of this stupid decision that hit (no pun intended) revenues hard was rediculous and hard as an industry to watch. The empire fell but not a lot of the decision makers did – which is always the way. Now they have just made many redundant again due to Covid but will spend $$$ fixing a mistake that should never have been made.

I feel sorry for those who lost their jobs over this and Covid. I also feel sorry for those who will now have to push it uphill to get rebranding done on skeleton staff.

I’m glad management have woken up, finally, but maybe listen to your staff in the first place. When they oppose the changes, it’s usually cause they live and breathe the station.

Is the money used on the re-branding come from the savings they made from the 90 odd staff that lost their roles late last year?

“It will be a combination of big pop hits of now and familiar songs from past decades”

So like … “Hits and Old School”?

That’s a better way to start survey than losing your key drive member.

Brisbane already gets that feeling and those colours from 4BH

In Perth they need to bring back the great PMFM, such a great station and was very much Perth going way back to its 6PM days. A powerful station.

Ladies and gentlemen, SCA…where everything old is new again.

What a fun, costly journey it has been.

Love it.

Next step – “PMFM” returns to 92.9.

You could not get a better opportunity for Nova to target under 30s. Make the music a mix of Triple J/CHR whilst continuing the red Rooms. Get some younger shows in and make content more edgy.
Perhaps a new approach to advertising could even be considered, people in this demo dislike consuming ads in their current form.

Great to see B105 back.

Now all we need is FM104 back as well.

Really smart move SCA. This is a move that Nova Entertainment should be really worried about given this is the overlap demo of nova and smooth. And with a lot of Nova’s strategic smarts across programming and marketing no longer in the business, I see some very anxious months ahead for NE who have been riding on free kicks for a while now.

And just like that Nova and smooth look like the stale brands in the market.
I can hear the words ringing out in their office now, “Why haven’t we got a new logo and a TV ad and some posters like they do”

Lehmo lives in Melbourne right. And he does The Project in Melbourne right. So he will no doubt be doing the SAFM 107 breakfast show from Melbourne right.

If they don’t bring back PMFM in Perth, I will riot!

Lehmo in Adelaide and the heritage branding of SAFM is going to make Nova look really immature and young. And that demo will not work for Nova locally or its contribution to broader national ratings.
This will show the strategic cracks in Nova’s programming strategy instantly. I just hope more middle management at Nova will not lose their jobs over this.

Logos, names and colours don’t mean much if the shows continue to be stale and predictable.

It’s great to see SCA and ARN investing in their brands post COVID. The industry needs it. I can’t remember the last time I saw any marketing for any of the networks.
I hope both networks get a good result from it

Good on you Nikki. Make hay while the sun shines. The competitor programming teams can’t blame marketing now they don’t really have stand alone capable marketing teams to respond to this. More Dua Lipa on rotation and an Ed Sheehan Red Room isn’t going to be enough here

For a company taking every government subsidy they can find, laying people off, forcing pay cuts and reducing hours, the logical next step was, of course, to re-brand a bunch of stations to their original names from 5 years ago in the middle of the biggest economic and health crisis we have seen in 100 years.

When are the back scratchers going to be held accountable for destroying Australian media?

I hear that Lehmo will be streaming his show from Melbourne, that’s no good.

I don’t understand the logo? Is that a marketing matter!?
I am not sure music tweaking is enough in this world… Dave needs a new team of people around him who can focus on show content.

As others here have noted, the timing of this is disgusting. But I understand their thinking as they’re now skewing older so why not resurrect some brands the people they’re now targetting grew up on. However, brand affinity only works if the consumers/listeners have maintained a relationship throughout, otherwise they’ve moved on to something else. And what happened to national synergy with things like the Hit app? Surely on-demand has never been more important, even for the older folk? This also just raises more questions for (now) off-brand shows like Hughesy & Ed, Ash London Live, Tom & Olly, and Weekend Breakfast. Are they also bringing back major market brands like, PMFM, FM104.7, Triple T, NXFM, and SeaFM? And what’s happening with the wider regional Hit Network? I guess time will tell…

Very good decision. It was crazy to abandon decades of branding and it just confused the listeners. Personally I grew up in Adelaide going to SAFM discos at school and waking up with the Morning Zoo, so there’ll always be that nostalgic link to the brand. And targeting an older demo is smart as most millennials are streaming their music now. Radio no longer breaks music and the Top 40 format is going down worldwide.

Thoughts are that the Perth stations will change network affiliation. Mix moving to the hit network as its format is already close to where the network is heading and SCA can maintain the valuable mix94.5 brand. This leaves 92.9 to become a Triple M, then that network is complete.

@West is Best – that would just be confusing! They’d have to flip breakfast and drive shows and you’d be taking established branding, already associated with 94.5 and putting it on 92.9 (the Mix/MMM Club, Triple M Footy, etc). They’d be much better off pushing 94.5 to Triple M, shifting the music more male skewing.

Only then would it clear the path for 92.9 to join up with the new sound of the the Hit network. Whether than means reviving the PMFM brand (I wish!), calling it just 92.9 again, sticking with Hit 92.9 or going with something new, who knows. If they’re targeting females from 30 to 54, they would have known the PMFM brand. 30 year olds were born in 1990, which means they were 11 when PMFM disappeared. People older than that would be familiar with PMFM. They knew about the Morning Crew, the PMFM Skyshow, etc. Yes, PMFM has been gone for 20 years, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be revived if they’re chasing nostalgia.

Interesting that 96.1 in Mount Gambier also rebranded to SAFM. Could this be an indicator of what SCA might do in other states with their heritage metro brands.. ‘from Mildura to Moorabbin, Werribee to Wodonga – get that feeling on The Fox..’?

Also, I’m calling it here now – it won’t be PMFM that’s coming back to Perth, but Triple M will take over 92.9, with Mix 94.5 joining the Hit Network. Obviously, not a simple switch given the impacts to on air talent, etc (hence the delay), but possibly early 2021 ahead of new ratings year.

Is it true that Lehmo won’t relocate to Adelaide ? Poor form.

Please change HIT106.9 back to NXFM.