Goodbye Vega, hello Classic Rock
Vega Radio is dead, with DMG relaunching it in the morning as Classic Rock in both Melbourne and Sydney.
It follows a long running ratings struggle for the station, which was aimed at baby boomers.
In the most recent set of ratings, Vega had just 3.4% of the Sydney radio audience and 3.7% in Melbourne.
The new station will include a syndicated daily show from Alice Cooper at 7pm.
The change follows what DMG described as “an extensive strategic review” .
Lachlan Murdoch became 50% owner of DMG late last year.
CEO Cathy O’Connor said, “In building these new stations we knew we needed a simple, focused music concept that would appeal to the 35-54 audience. Classic Rock 95.3FM and Classic Rock 91.5FM provides exactly that.”
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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I liked most of the music on vega 95.3 but I really loved the older stuff. I will wait to hear it tomorrow morning before I commit but it sounds interesting.
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At least you know what it stands for now…..goodbye to vaguer!
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expect a lot more of the same, they haven’t even changed the logo. and the track list won’t be too scary — the standard 40-50 songs repeated all day long, as a bonus it will all fit on a double CD album (or a triple if you include the adverts and cross-promotions).
the statisticians suggest localisation was Vega’s downfall, but it’s main competitor Gold was almost identical, with well over 90% nation-neutral content, but still a raging success — Gold vs Vega: main point of difference?!? certainly not the music, more than likely it boils down to the appeal/lack thereof their DJs / RockJocks / Hosts.
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Hmmm kris not sure where u got your info from. The logo has definitely changed. By defining the music as classic rock I am sure you will see a lot of music added to the playlist. How about you wait until launch at 6 and see for yourself.
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This Will Also Mean For Melbourne Listeners This Will Be A Tribute Station To 1422 3XY
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And Also For Sydney Listeners A Tribute To The Old 2SM During Those Calcium Days Of Rock Music.
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Classic Crock. What a pity…….I used to listen to Vega. Didn’t know Sydney needed another WSFM…..what Sydney does need is a station with BALLS. But that ain’t about to happen commercially.
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This new station will fail too. Pathetic name, a format already running on two other stations in each city and a tiny, repetitive playlist. The only personalities are on breakfast (Melbourne only). No-one has any incentive to listen.
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Can’t go wrong with classic rock. Well, maybe an australian company can and defy the trend. When Im at home on Itunes, that’s all I tune into.
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I think it sounds awesome! tune in 95.3fm………
better than WS and MMM……… they only play about 30% classic rock………
this is 100% classic Rock!!
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I think the music this morning has been awesome. I agree with Mm d – it certainly isn’t like WS or Triple M at all.
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so we still have three stations that appeal to blokes with guitar based music, three stations that appeal to females top 40 high rotation and three talk back stations with varying political agendas and one youth station which has an average age of 32…gee our radio stations are diverse in sydney
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I am loving it! I’m 45 years old, I liked vega for the music (never really took to the old breakfast show with Tony Squires and others) but this is definitely an improvement. Well done, Classic Rock 95.3.
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Love it, love it, love it. I am not missing all those Pink songs at all. I think the name is great too as it sums up exactly what it is.
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Great PR work there vega – super tight. Jason, GMac and Amanda certainly seem like legit, independent commenters to me. And Mm d – well that cat certainly has no agenda.
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There’s so many negative people on here
Get over yourselves it’s a radio station!
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To the ref – Yes, thanks for pointing that out.
Amanda, Jason, GMac Mm d and nds, all appear to share the same IP….
Cheers,
Camille – Mumbrella
Thanks for that Camille. Good to know Big Brother is watching.
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Just checked it out. ‘I was made for loving you’ by Kiss, followed up by a live cut of ‘Shot through the heart’ by Bon Jovi. Not complaining. After all, it;’s just radio, not high art.
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Guys,
Dan Bradley here from DMG. I note the comments about the IP address above. I’m unsure if the comments are from people within our company, however if they are, they are posting anonymously without any instruction or authorisation from DMG.
We have no interest in a ‘stooge’ campaign to talk up the launch of the two new stations, I can assure you there has been no internal direction to post on this site to pump up our tyres.
Dan Bradley
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Ginger Ninja strikes again
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News Open To Boost Ratings:
Melbourne Version:
(3XY 1991 News Theme Plays In Background)
91.5 Classic Rock News
News Reader: Its 11 Degrees At 6:00am Good Morning I’m (NAME HERE)
A Fine Day Becoming Sunny And 24 Degrees The Expected Top
——————————————————————————————————–
Sydney Version:
(3XY 1991 News Theme Plays In Background)
95.3 Classic Rock News
News Reader: Its 19 Degrees At 6:00am Good Morning I’m (NAME HERE)
Mostly Cloudy Today And 24 Degrees The Expected Top
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When Vega launched I had high hopes their playlist would be quite diverse, not usual Top 40 songs from the 70’s and 80’s. Maybe a Triple J for boomers! Over the years I became disillusioned and went searching for more music variety from the Sydney radio dial.
There is so much great music they could have played that would have kept me and many others listening. Not all of it mainstream, but dipping into the side-streams with a few songs each hour would have created a station with variety, surprises and lots of great memories for us boomers to listen to.
Such a shame pure conservative commercialism killed the radio station.
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Vega cannot compete with Triple M!!! i THINK THEY NEED TO COME UP WITH AN ACTUAL STRATEGY thats origional!
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Why are you yelling at us Lana? You need to calm down. And when you have, let us know what you think Triple M’s strategy is.
I like the new logo, and if the music policy is legit, I’m gonna be all over it.
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Welcome to beige radio. The issue I have with commercial radio stations (as well as JJJ and FBI at times) is the repetitious playlist hourly and daily you can almost set your watch by it. regardless of station. I heard the same song four times today, and I wasn’t in the office all day. To all radio management, do yourselves and listeners a favour, go to JB HI-FI and buy a new mix CD.
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Ho, Hum…Tiny playlists, predictable formats, nothing has changed since Rod Muir’s days at 2SM 40 years ago.
Radio, like the advertising industry, is controlled by tired, boring, drug adled male baby boomers who have lost touch with their audience.
It’s easy to see why people are turning to quality community radio in droves.
Warren Atkinson
Northern Brisbane’s Better Mix 99.7FM.
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I will be turning off the radio for good. another same as most others station, we now have a choice between doof doof c*ap stations or bore you to sleep stations
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Yawn. No balls.
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The new format is terrific but could you please change the daily format. We are hearing the same tracks at the same time every day. It is becoming very boring.
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Te same old boring repititions,how often can somebody listen to the Police Jimmy barnes or Led zepplin before they are bored to death by the repititious playlist.
Why be like every other station do something different like a whole day( oe even week )without playing the same artist twice.
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Just as long as we don’t have Eagle Rock and Red, Red Wine on high rotation and hopefully they realise each album has more than one track, I’ll try it.
Hope “classic rock” is that, would be such a novel and popular approach;-)
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