After 90 years on the AM band, the digital age has finally caught up with the venerable station.
The Sports Entertainment Network (SEN) reportedly paid around $11 million in 2020 for 2CH1170, double what the late Glenn Wheatley’s consortium had paid in 2017.
In a statement at the time (June 5 2020) from SEN chief executive Craig Hutchison said, it will be “business as usual on 2CH for the foreseeable future”.
Six months later 2CH was relegated to DAB+ only while SEN took over the 1170 frequency..
In an email, early this morning, to staff and media, , SEN’s National Radio Director, Sam Thompson, wrote:
Sports Entertainment Network can confirm that 2CH’s final day on air will be Friday, 10th June.
When SEN purchased the 1170 AM frequency in 2020, it was an honour to continue the 2CH legacy for an additional 18 months with the station moving to a digital only platform on DAB+ and the SEN app. However, as demonstrated by SEN’s recent purchase of 4KQ in Brisbane, which will soon become 693 SENQ from July 1, Sport Entertainment Network’s core business and focus is sport.
SEN would like to thank and acknowledge the passionate 2CH audience for listening, to everyone at SEN who has contributed to the station over the last 18 months, and to all former hosts and team on and off the air who were part of 2CH’s 90 year journey. SEN would also like to recognise Tim Webster for his dedication and commitment to the station.
2CH will continue to entertain the audience with music from the 60s, 70s and 80s before saying goodbye at 6pm on Friday.
Veteran Breakfast host, Tim Webster, told radioinfo how much he enjoyed doing the show for the loyal listeners who made the switch from the AM band to DAB+. “There was really an outpouring of something akin to grief this morning and I’m sure there will be tomorrow. They loved that station…like losing a family member.
“Very humbling.”
It is all moot now on how 2CH as a music station on the AM band "could have" or "should have" survived.
The commercial reality was that 2CH was running at a loss, and the sale to the "SEN" was a commercial decision.
How SEN survives today and in the future despite its low ratings is another topic.
Despite 2CH as a DAB+ ceasing transmission, does 2CH still survive as a callsign on the AM band?
As at 07-06-2022, https://www.acma.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-06/BroadcastTransmitterExcel.zip, 2CH's AM transmitters still retain the callsign 2CH broadcasting from the "Sky Sports Radio" transmitter hall at Sydney Olympic Park.
2CH as a music station is gone, but 2CH's callsign under the "SEN" brand remains.
Thank you,
Anthony, of business is business, Belfield in the land of the Wangal and Darug Peoples of the Eora Nation
I suppose 2CH was the last remaining example of the format I remember from my young years in the 1980s as Easy Listening. It's always a little sad to see a part of the industry's heritage disappear but I'm not in disagreement that it was time for the format to be retired. As a young 10 year old kid, I despised the Easy Listening stations my parents listened to. Too good, too much in the position of taking the moral high ground over the other stations in the market, claiming the songs of the time that have become the bread and butter of music radio 40 years later were a bad influence and generally repeating songs ad nauseum that were just awful. There was a time when bands like Iron Maiden were being accused as being satanic and that playing their songs backwards revealed satanic messages. The Easy Listening crowd were a bit like that actually, just not as extreme.
I suppose the Easy Listening format of the 80s from which 2CH was derived was radio's equivalent of the Parent's Television Council of America's dream. Wholesome. Appropriate family listening. The term that has since been popularised to describe it though is "passive aggressive".
This is sad news. I worked at 2CH from 1986 to 1992. They were certainly good times.