Currently on a trip to Australia and thought I'd feed in some observations to DS.

I've done a fair bit of listening (lots of driving here!) and the main thing that strikes me is the huge focus that each station has on what it is trying to achieve.

The HIT Network from Southern Cross Austereo is massive, and in Perth the station is HIT 92.9 - loads of other Hit stations across the country (inc. 2DAY FM in Sydney and FOX in Melbourne).

MIX 94.5 is good, also owned by SCA and officially part of the TripleM network. I visited Mix last week and sat in with one of the presenters on air. He did 4 links per hour, but each was handcrafted together with a complete structure yet sounded perfectly natural. He used pre-recorded calls very well too. The man was a genius!

Nova sound good too - very punchy and well produced.

A lot of the main stations are on their 'Christmas break' now, and have been since Dec 5th. This is where the regular breakfast and drive shows are dropped until about Jan 10th. In their place are either 'best of' shows mixed with news and travel etc, or alternative duos. So Mix 94.5 and Hit 92.9 are running their 'summer breakfast' shows - each with a set cover duos; Nova are running highlights.

Elsewere, there was a HOT FM network (owned by the same people as HIT), and this is a mini network - lots of programme sharing in daytime (across massive geographical areas) then takes the main Hit programmes in the evening and at night. However, these stations all rebranded last Thursday to become HIT FM! Programme structure is still the same, for now. More details here: http://www.southerncrossaustereo.com...-australia-2/0

The network programmes are of a high quality - so a Drive show or evening show that originates from Sydney is well produced and presented, with good quality presenters and entertaing content - and still with local news and travel etc.

There some little local stations as well, all doing their thing as well. Such as 6MM in Mandurah, also Magic 87.8, and RTR in Perth. 6PR is a local news and talk station - seems capture day to day life in Western Australia.

Dec 5? Seems really early to drop down to minimal content.

This is what I've been trying to tell people over here when they're banging on about Capital FM. It just isn't a patch on stations like 2day FM where each link is entertaining and like you say, well crafted. I'm over there for 3 weeks in May, QLD, NSW and SA so will get lots of listening in.

And as I've tried to tell you, 2Day FM is a ratings disaster. It's currently 10th out of 15 in Sydney. Capital is number 1 commercially in London on reach. Why the hell would Global want to copy a station that is failing miserably?

It speaks volumes that the group programme directors of the other two big Australian networks both came from Leicester Square. And both are outperforming 2Day FM.

It's funny. The radio nerds in Australia geek out about how great UK commercial radio is in comparison. The grass is always greener.

The reality is Australian radio is just as dire and struggling just as much to remain relevant to a tech-enabled population.

The thing I find most odd (other than right wing AM talkback stations far outrating FM music stations in most markets) is the presence of a show "anchor" on many major shows; essentially a third wheel who pipes up as a sort of continuity announcer in and out of the ad breaks. Seems an unnecessary luxury.

Actually, slight mistake - it was Friday 9th Dec. 96FM are running
promos about their breakfast show back from Jan 23rd.

I just happen to like 2day but you could substitute Kiis Sydney for it if that makes you happier. Massively personality driven with Kyle and Jackie O on the breakfast show. They are known internationally, you can't say that about bloody Dave Berry.

Just look at how presenting teams are poached between KIIS, 2Day and Nova. That's because they are crucial to a station's success.

Nail on the head. While the rest of the world moves on, radio execs copy other radio execs on the other side of the world, and the medium risks irrelevance

Can big personalities save it? Possibly. I'd like to hear more examples of best practice in Aussie talk radio, as I think it has more of a long term future than music radio.

A little video from Hit 92.9 summer breakfast team:

https://www.facebook.com/hit929/vide...3024852084675/

That is a very long break....

If you say so, although the profit figures for the likes of Southern Cross Austerio don't really paint the same picture. They're struggling in Sydney but are number one in other markets and profits are up.