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BY Sarah Patterson June 3, 2026
What's New July 14, 2025
SEN’s purchase of RSN fuels speculation of radio frequency change
Reporter
SEN’s recent purchase of iconic Melbourne racing station RSN has prompted speculation of a potential frequency change, raising the question: Will SEN switch from 1116 to 927 on the AM dial in order to achieve better reception, following in the footsteps of 3AW?
It’s now almost 20 years since 3AW swapped its frequency with sister station Magic, switching from 1278 kHz to 693 kHz.
With 693 considered the stronger frequency on the AM band, the switch was made to improve 3AW’s reception, particularly in Melbourne’s inner-city area.
Similarly, SEN 1116 has faced complaints of patchy reception in the past.
Melbourne’s trams are particularly bad for AM reception, with the electrics and metal tracks contributing to degradation of the AM signal, The higher up in the frequency band, the worse the interference. Which is why the lower AM frequencies are considered better for coverage area, strength of signal and less interference. FM and DAB+ do not suffer from the same reception issues as AM, because the older Amplitude Modulation transmission technology is susceptible to electrical sparks while Frequency Modulation and Digital Audio Broadcast transmission use a different type of transmission system.
Discussing the RSN acquisition on The Sounding Board podcast with Damian Barrett, SEN boss Craig Hutchison himself referenced RSN’s frequency, saying “It’s a great spot on the dial.”
Hutchison – who started his own radio career at RSN, producing the Breakfast show with Kevin Bartlett and Dr Turf when the station was known as Sport 927 – has been contacted for comment.
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What's New
BY Sarah Patterson June 3, 2026
A RSN/SEN frequency swap in Melbourne seems rather plausible although I personally wonder if sometime down the track (no pun intended!) some form of merger between RSN and SENTrack could take potentially place? Even if just for the Victorian feed.
Personally though, I still reckon that if an AM frequency swap is to take place in any metro market, it probably should be between 954 and 1170 here in Sydney…which is actually a slightly bigger gap than Melbourne’s between 927 and 1116 is.
Not sure what the chances are of SEN ever coming to an agreement with ACE/Nine Radio mind you, but I nonetheless think all relevant parties could consider doing far worse things in a bid to generate publicity and ratings.
An interesting thought too with what happens in Ballarat and Shepparton.
IIRC, RSN use to lease those AM frequencies of another party, and they are commercial licences.
Does Hutchy, in agreement with the licence holders, make the programming switch in Ballarat and Shepparton to put on SEN instead of RSN?