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Sydney's 2UE will shift further to the right in a desperate bid for ratings. Just look at their sister station 3AW in Melbourne to see how far they are prepared to go.

Graham Mott, the head of Fairfax Radio is on record many a time as saying right-wing works on talk radio. Just look at A. Jones esquire. Lots of people like him although, of course, most don't. Still those that do, afford him a lead in Sydney breakfast.

2UE is slipping further and further into the abyss, I'd suggest not because it's not right wing enough, but because there's no passion. Alan Jones does research and work hard, I'll give him that. He provides a lot of  information some of which, like the time-checks for example, is believable.

The result is 2UE will move more to compete with 2GB for the older extremists with very firm opinions on immigration, dole-bludgers and ... er, immigration. We've already seen it start with David Oldfield, dumped from 2GB, filling-in on drive and getting in the news for choice comments about "frying" asylum seekers who try to escape from Christmas Island. That would have been a story on - oh yes, immigration.

2UE is well placed to pitch to the knuckle draggers because they are already doing it so well on 3AW in Melbourne. Read the transcript from this week's Media Watch of John Michael Howson prattling on about Muslim women wearing the Burqa. Appalling stuff, but a clear ratings winner with certain elements of the population. A cheap win I'd say.

Now, freedom of speech advocates would say 3AW should be able to broadcast whatever it likes. I agree. But let's free up the radio industry first. Let's give them at least 50 prospective competitors, so only the strongest survive --- then let's see how they do. Otherwise, they have a scary proportion of the total voice and that does harm to the well being of the Aussie community, of all walks and races.

2UE won't move anywhere except to the right. And, by the right, I don't mean towards unfettered capitalism. There's the interesting thing. These stations talk about the free market and protectionism in the same breath. Their version of the right is not economic, it's xenophobic, the sort that the chap with the moustache played to in the forties.It's basically wall-us-in fear mongering. Talk radio's fight for lebensraum. Is that a cheap shot? Well you have to fight fire with fire.

And we can't expect anything less as long as Mott's in charge, but wouldn't it be refreshing for 2UE to decide that there's scope for a different approach. Keep the passion but channel it in a more positive direction. 2UE is failing, not because the presenters are too nice, but for three reasons:

1. The subjects are banale.

2. Listeners learn nothing new.

3. There's no passion.

There are thousands of topics for discussion every day - why limit it to immigration and ... was there another topic?

There's another issue here. This is Fairfax radio. Do the publishers of the Herald, the Age and the AFR really want their brand tattered by these peddlers of filth? Time to offset the assets I think.

Here's the audio of that Radio 4 interview where Russell Crowe is accused - quite rightly I think - of giving Robin Hood an Irish accent. Or at least an Irishman who holidays in Australia a lot.

Admit it Russell, you just can't do north of England!

Another example of Crowe showing the world what an arrogant prick he really is! What do you think?

Here's a look at the Sydney ratings in graph form. The headline news as usual is Alan Jones leads, 2Day doing well etc etc.

See also:

Digital Radio Proves the Sceptics Wrong

My Radio Blog

There are some early indications that digital radio in Australia might just be proving sceptics wrong.

Many, myself included, argued that it was all too late, pointing to the mixed success overseas and the rise in online listening. With most sets over the $100 mark, limited abilities to pick it up in your car and availability restricted to just five state capitals, you would expect a low take-up rate. Forecasts were far from optimistic, with the industry predictions put at 50,000 receivers sold in the first 12 months. In reality, in less than half that time, there are 104,000 digital sets out there in Australia, although I suspect this figure includes many still sitting on the shelves at your local technology store.

Those that do have them love them and, yes, I count myself amongst them. The first radio survey of the year shows that of all radio listeners in the five state capitals 3.7% listened to DAB+ digital radio, for an average of 8 hours 16 minutes a week. That’s not too shabby when you consider that the comparable figure for internet radio was 4.2% for just 5 hours 31 minutes a week.

71% of those who bought a DAB radio did so for the digital sound quality

The undoubted benefits are the clarity of the sound and the extra channels. Surprisingly 71% of those who bought a DAB radio did so for the digital sound quality, according to research commissioned by Commercial Radio Australia late last year. Many of those, I suspect, are AM listeners. I’d suggest for most people the improvement over FM would not be worth the investment. The new channels were less important. Only 20% of DAB+ listeners listened to them at all and there’s no word on how long they listened for. I’d say they had novelty appeal at best, after all they are nothing more than automated juke boxes. Not being a cricket fan I did catch some of the voice-tracked music alternatives offered by the ABC over summer where announcers could be heard, albeit not entirely live. I’d have said that if you really wanted to listen to music all day devoid of personalities you don’t need to buy a digital radio, you just listen to Vega, but hang on, I forgot, they disbanded because no one was listening. Maybe that tells us something about how people still want to hear people on the radio.

The good news is that with such a high initial take-up of digital radio, perhaps there’s scope for more entertaining options down the track. The bad news is that government regulations restrict the providers of those services to incumbent operators for some time to come. This isn’t an industry that likes too much competition.

it works a treat, except in the underground car park at Westfield Hornsby

There’s one development that will certainly have a marked impact – in-car listening. There are no DAB+ car radios available right now and even in Europe, where digital radio has been around for many years, new cars are generally sold without them. There is an expensive gadget available here that sticks on your windscreen and rebroadcasts the digital signal into your FM radio, but that kinda defeats the purpose. Although if you are an Alan Jones fan you will be able to hear his holiness and his AM shock jock stalwarts in crystal clear FM stereo.

There’s another choice if you want digital radio on the go. I spent $85 on the cheapest DAB+ radio I could find, plugged it into the auxiliary socket on my car stereo and it works a treat, except in the underground car park at Westfield Hornsby. And there’s a simple fix for that. Don’t go shopping in Hornsby. A win all round, I’d say.

Published on CNET: Digital radio proves sceptics wrong

Over the years that I spent trying to entertain people on community radio there was one consistent element amongst the sprinkling of listeners I had. Practically all of them were born overseas.

Those that were Aussie born had a close connection, usually through a parent, back to some other land, whether it was Britain, America, the Middle East or Asia. Of course Brits come pre-packaged with a sense of hunour that can be hilarious to other people with closely matching DNA but which is indistinguishable to many other nationalities, including many Australians. Often Americans, Arabs, even Canadians, will “get it” before a true-blue, dyed in the wool Aussie. Even the Welsh might understand what’s going on.

The common cry from listeners to my show was that there wasn’t much to listen to on Australian radio. The implication was, they were so desperate for something half decent that they were even prepared to listen to me.

It’s all second generation radio broadcasting to one half of the population

I know how they feel. Australian radio is broadcasting to second generation Australians. There won’t be too many Brixton-born first generation Aussies waking up to Macca playing bird songs on ABC radio on a Sunday morning. Few, except the educationally challenged, could grow up in a multicultural country like Britain or America and entertain the narrow-minded ramblings of Alan Jones. It’s all second generation radio broadcasting to one half of the population.

At the other extreme there’s SBS Radio, broadcasting programmes in 68 languages for people who have moved here but still live in their old country. Now, I’m guilty as charged here because I listen to a foreign language too. There’s a particular way they speak on the UK’s Radio 2 that is unique, and I often catch it online because like it or not, there’s part of me that, even after 20 years, is still British. You know, the bit that complains EVERY time someone overtakes on the inside; the bit that is always prepared to queue; the bit that learned to love Terry Wogan and believe that maybe, he’s bigger than God; the bit that turns beetroot on the first beach visit of the summer.

So we’re left with a big gap. People of mixed nationalities, born overseas or with a family member born overseas, who love Australia but have a broader outlook on the world. You know, the ones who are amused every Australia Day when the media once again asks what it means to be an Aussie; the ones who are annoyed every time the ABC News leads with a minor local political story when there are broader international issues that are barely touched; the ones who, on Anzac Day, are respectful of the Diggers but relate more to on this issue to the country for whom their grandfather died in the second world war.

One day maybe we will find an intelligent radio station that reflects the views and attitudes of those people who enjoy life in Australia because they have seen more of the world. Those who think the Australian media is a little closeted and living in a bygone era. The narrow view of the sector is the biggest downside of life here – ask anyone born overseas and I’m sure they’d agree. Imagine a station that’s 50:50 talk and music, with an American at breakfast, a pom in the mornings, an Arab in the afternoon (there’s the show title already) and a Thai Drive. You could include some Kiwis, but given that most existing radio programmers hail from the other side of the big dutch they can probably keep on doing what they’re doing.

if it's such a compelling proposition, why hasn't it happened sooner?

That, of course, will never happen. By the time ACMA releases frequencies we will all be listening to IP radios, hand picking channels from anywhere in the world. That’s not so good for building a shifting Australian culture. It’s in everyone’s interest that we consume media that originates here. My point is though, that it should reflect the changing mix of the nation, not trying to hang on to old attitudes.

So there’s an opportunity isn’t there, which perhaps has to start on the Internet, for people living here, loving here, but born over there? Its target audience doesn’t have to be so overt. Descendents of the First Fleet could listen to. It’s all to do with the attitude. In fact, my real point is that people born overseas are influencing Australian culture all the time because culture is a liquid entity. It’s just that change is not happening through the media. Media is lagging behind rather than being an influencing force. The internet has the opportunity to turn that around.

So what do you think? Those living in a family with at least one person born overseas are about to become the majority of the population. Doesn’t that make such a project a worthwhile venture?