SCA’s Hit Network announces new national Saturday night show
Southern Cross Austereo’s Hit Network has a new national show, the ‘Saturday Night Party Playlist’, hosted out of Bunbury in Western Australia.
The show will be hosted by Ben Carney and Nathan Bongiovanni and will air every Saturday from 7pm to 12am. The Hit Network says it’s the first time a show broadcast out of regional Australia has ever been heard in over 50 markets.
The Hit Network picked Carney and Bongiovanni after putting a call out to regional announces to pitch and build the show.
The first show, which broadcast last weekend, saw Ben and Nathan take 557 calls across the five-hour show, showing its immediate popularity among Hit Network listeners.
Hit Network head Gemma Fordham said she is proud to showcase the depth of talent the Hit Network has across regional Australia.
“We were so impressed by the brilliant ideas our announcers in the regions had for a national show and Ben and Nathan’s The Saturday Night Party Playlist was the perfect idea for right now.
“The house party is back in a big way after a year of lockdowns and restrictions, and it is a genuine thrill for us to have a truly national show coming out of Bunbury. We are so proud of the depth of talent we have in regional Australia and love working with them to bring what they are excited and driven about to life.”
Carney and Bongiovanni said they’re excited to broadcast into metro cities like Melbourne. “It is such a blast to be given the chance to put your own ideas to air.
“It is not lost on us that two blokes in Bunbury get to have fun every Saturday night with people listening to us on iconic stations like The Fox in Melbourne, B105 in Brisbane, all the way over to Mt Isa, down to Bendigo and back up to Broome.
“We reckon the house party is here to stay and will keep building our community of revellers across the country.”
The announcement comes off the back of Mumbrella’s chat with Grant Blackley last week, when he insisted that localism remains key for SCA despite the network’s decision to axe 19 regional breakfast shows to cut costs in 2020.
“We networked certain shows on the Hit Network and we have seen an improvement in content for these shows, importantly, whilst still maintaining exactly the same amount of locally delivered hours each day with our new commitment to localised workdays in most of these markets,” he said.
The Saturday Night Party Playlist is broadcast across all Hit Network stations and can also be heard on the newly-launched LiSTNR app.
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Zanda Wilson was a reporter and podcast producer at Mumbrella, specialising in radio reporting. He left Mumbrella in September 2021.
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Ben and Nathan
Ben Carney
Gemma Fordham
Hit Network
Nathan Bongiovanni
Saturday Night Party Playlist
SCA
Southern Cross Austereo
