MRN drops ’Magic’ music format for lite talk

Image: Catriona Rowntree

The Macquarie Radio Network is replacing Melbourne’s well-established Magic Oldies format with a new lite-talk station starting Monday February 27.

Talking Lifestyle will run on Magic Oldies current frequency 1278AM in Melbourne and will be available to audiences across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

The on-air lineup will include Ed Phillips, Catriona Rowntree, Nick Bennett, Dee Dee Dunleavy and Sabina Read. The format will chiefly target the 45+ demographic.

Based on Melbourne’s history of talkback radio, the prospects for getting Talking Lifestyle off the ground look fairly grim. Melbourne Talk Radio attempted to penetrate the market with high profile presenters and a large budget, before going under not long after its launch.

The expensive nature of talk radio will prove to be a risky move for the Macquarie Radio Network, opting to pursue the new venture over a cost-effective and already settled format.

The cessation of Magic Oldies after 10 years of operation will create room for other local music radio formats to close in on drifting audiences. 3MP, which already has a large crossover audience with Magic, stands to benefit the most from its demise.

Adversely, Macquarie’s own 3AW listener base will come under threat from Talking Lifestyle. It already has numerous lifestyle-themed radio shows including Philip Brady at night and Denis Walter in the afternoons.

According to the last radio survey of 2016, the Sydney format for Talking Lifestyle, which has been running on 2UE since late last year, experienced a 1.2 point drop and had 3.5% of the Sydney market, mainly pulling listeners in the 65+ demographic.

The news coincides with the recent announcement that ABC has cut the majority of its Radio National music schedule in 2017, culminating in yesterday’s community protest in Ultimo, Sydney.