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Hello, I'm James Cridland, the radio futurologist,

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and this is Radioland, my radio newsletter for

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August 3rd, 2025. Time to kiss goodbye in Brisbane.

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The UK's Rajar radio figures came out this week.

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Matt Deegan has highlighted the serious warning

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lights flashing, he says, about young listeners.

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In 20 years, the time spent listening to the

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radio for those aged 10 to 18 has fallen by almost

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50%. Meanwhile, Adam Bowie also crunches the

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numbers, pointing out that Boom Radio, targeted

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at those aged 60 or more, has new record figures.

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Audiences up 14 .5%, and hours up an astonishing

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49%. Success with the old, concern with the young,

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and it's all looking quite hard to attract younger

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audiences to listen more. Now hold that thought

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for a second. On Gold 101 .7 in Sydney, the breakfast

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duo Jonesy and Amanda announce that they're moving

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to Afternoon Drive, and it doesn't take a genius

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to guess. that this probably means Christian

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O 'Connell's breakfast show on Gold 104 .3 in

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Melbourne will be simulcast into Sydney. O 'Connell

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is a class act. I worked with him in London,

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and Gold 101 .7 already takes an hour of his

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show, so listeners will be at least partially

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familiar with what he does. Gold is owned by

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ARN, which also owns Kiss, which has simulcast

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Kyle and Jackie O's smutty, advertiser -unfriendly

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Sydney breakfast show into Melbourne. And while

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that has failed because of the dire polarising

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content of Kyle's show, the technology for networking

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is now tried and tested, and you can see ARN

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using it again to bring Christian into a new

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market. But you'll recall that there's a problem

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with young audiences in the UK, and you would

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assume that the same is true in Australia, although

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we don't see time spent listening in the same

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way here. But what about Brisbane? Well, ARN

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owns two radio stations here, Kiss 97 .3 and

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River 94 .9. River's a full service station licensed

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for Ipswich, a city that overlaps Brisbane's

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transmission area. And it doesn't operate its

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gold brand in Brisbane. It used to with 4KQ,

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but that often number one station was a casualty

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when ARN bought Grant Broadcasters. Ownership

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rules limit you here to only two radio stations.

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On FM then, Brisbane has Nova, fresh hits and

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throwbacks, with a 10 .3 % share. B105, Brisbane's

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number one hit music station, with a 12 .2 %

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share. Kiss, Brisbane's number one hit music

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station, again, 9 .3 % share. And the ABC's Triple

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J, the best new music from around Australia and

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the world, 4 .5 % share. Younger audiences are

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deserting radio in terms of time spent listening,

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yet Brisbane has four FM's chasing them. So similar

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sounding, two have the same catchphrase on air.

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The only real oldies station in Brisbane is owned

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by Nine Radio, but operated by Ace Radio. It's

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called 4BH, Brisbane's home of great classic

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hits, and it operates on an AM frequency so bad

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that 4BC switched away from it. It's mostly voice

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-tracked from Melbourne, but with a breakfast

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show from Brisbane, and it's currently the number

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four station by share. At 10 .1%, that's higher

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than Kiss. Triple M is oldies. It's currently

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number one in this market at 13 .3%, but oldies,

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yes, kind of, but it's all rock and sport and

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tradies and blokes. There's plenty of space for

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competition. Older audiences aren't deserting

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radio. They love 4BH so much that they're willing

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to tolerate a mostly voice track station on a

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bad AM frequency. ARN already owns a similar

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format and the advertisers, but no outlet in

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Brisbane for them. Its KISS station isn't winning,

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and it's unlikely to, assuming Kyle and Jackie

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O comes here too. By all accounts, Kyle Sandilands

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is a notoriously difficult person to manage,

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and is someone who doesn't listen to direction.

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He's toxic to advertisers, does a show that unashamedly

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doesn't welcome in new listeners and seems not

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to care about his show being a success. Christian

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is the polar opposite, someone who wants to succeed,

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who listens to direction, who works well with

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advertisers and is eager for more success in

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the future. And Kyle's co -host Jackie O this

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week announced her retirement from radio in 2034

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at the end of her current deal. It's hard to

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argue that she cares much either. Well, it's

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obvious, surely. Surely Gold 97 .3 in Brisbane

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is the obvious choice for a format flip. The

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opportunities for a more female -friendly oldies

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station here is clearly obvious. And I'm not

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the only one to think that. I noticed that Mr

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Brisbane has also suggested this in the past.

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Could you take it one further with Network's

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Christian O 'Connell at breakfast? Then Morning's

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with Brisbane's Robin Bailey, who's currently

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one of Kiss's breakfast team, perfect for the

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audience. She's been on air here for over 20

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years. She's already contracted with the broadcaster

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anyway, followed by Network Drive. And calling

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it Gold 97 .3 4KQ, for the first year at least,

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would be even more astute, remembering that we're

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predominantly a diary -based market here. There

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are a lot of people in Brisbane who'd be delighted

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that 4KQ was back, and it would immeasurably

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help with marketing. ARN still owns that brand,

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you'd assume, so it's still valuable. And if

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the ABC was clever, surely they'd simulcast ABC

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Radio Brisbane onto FM as soon as they can, as

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a defensive move. Now last week I was on BBC

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Radio 4's feedback programme produced by Whistledown

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trying to explain why the BBC has turned off

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BBC Sounds and also how you can listen. You'll

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find the audio if you check out my website at

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james .cridland .net. I also wrote a blog post

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about how to listen to BBC Radio overseas which

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I will keep updated and I hope you find it a

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useful enough guide to reshare. You'll find a

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link to that in the show notes as well. Here's

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a fun thing. Echo Radio is a piece of installable

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software that time delays a radio stream for

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you so you can listen to a radio station in your

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own local time, assuming, of course, that the

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radio station you want to listen to is on the

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right side of the world and not on the left side

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of the world, where, of course, now hasn't happened

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yet. And Triple J ran a hugely successful Hottest

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100 of Australian songs a few weekends ago. It

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was one time when I listened to the radio in

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the evening, curious as to who was number one.

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In excesses never tear you apart, so it turned

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out. It was simulcast across Triple J, Double

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J and Triple J Unearthed. Now personally, I'd

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have simulcast it across all three stations,

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but branded it Double J rather than Triple J.

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But it was a surprisingly captivating piece of

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radio. Game Changers Radio the podcast has some

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numbers in it of how popular it was which is

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worth a listen and a good debate as to whether

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or not it was a good idea you can find the full

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chart by searching for it in your music app of

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choice And thank you to Dave Charles of Media

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Results International for your kind support of

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this newsletter and my podcast and my work in

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general. They've got an experienced team over

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there. The company focuses on format, content

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development, sales revenue generation and, Canadian,

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regulatory issues. Of course. And it's got experience

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in Canada, Australia, Malaysia, South Africa

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and other countries as well. Thank you, Dave.

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Much appreciated. And the website, in case you're

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wondering, is mediarezults .ca. Next, I'm speaking

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at Podcast Movement in Dallas in Texas, August

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the 18th to the 21st. And thank you to some excellent

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supporters, including Clyde Broadcast. Broadcast

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Radio, Meliora, and Radio King for your kind

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support. If you would like to support my work

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in any way, you can buy me a coffee, become a

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member to give regularly, or just give a one

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-off coffee or five. You can do that at buymeacoffee

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.com slash jamescridland. I'm on Blue Sky as

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james .crid .land or on Mastodon as james at

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bne .social. And my website has more details

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about who I am, what I do, and whether I can

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help you further. You'll find that at james.

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James .Cridland .net. And until next time, keep

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listening.