Caralis saves a few dollars at NEWFM & 2HD as more staff shown the door

12Jan09

I really can’t see newfm being able to take much more of caralis foolishness have a look at the already battered ratings for this once mighty rock station. It makes me sad to see it in such bad shape , the station turns 20 in march let’s hope they go back an have a look at what made this station # 1 for so long an make the changes that this station needs an it’s not the girly stuff ur playing now!! Tip (rock music)

Wow, my prediction last month that St John & Don wouldn’t see out 2009 was nearly wrong. Seems they barely saw out 2008.

I agree with Cess about the girly music being played on what was supposed to be Newcastle’s rock station. Its just a bad mix. Unfortunately St John is PD and he likes girly stuff. He tried to do the same thing last time he had a crack at the play list about 4 yrs ago.

Surely NEWFM will profit in the ratings by playing something DIFFERENT to NX & KO, not the SAME.

How long will it be before Luke Grant’s job is under threat because it’s losing constantly to David and Tanya on KO and Steve and Kim on NX?
I reckon there’ll be a few ex 2HD presenters will be glad they left

I agree with what everyone is saying about NewFM but what about 2HD, it was No1 in newcastle before Caralis took over, it’s now a sinking ship. What a joke the story in today’s Herald (14/01) was, the steady stream of departures from the building has nothing to do with ratings, it’s all to do with Caralis thinking that these guys were getting paid too much, this includes past employees like Ross Allen, Roger Clements, Kathy Coleman, Dean Mackie, Richard King and Kev Kellaway, just to name a few. It’s also interesting to note that 2HD is only live and local for about 3 and a half hours a day with Luke Grant in brekky, the rest is very poorly networked. Can’t wait to see if Mike Rabbitt and Buy Swap and Sell return this weekend. If they do they’ll probably be networked as well. There’s totally no regard for the Newcastle audience it’s all to do with making a buck and totally destroying both 2HD and NewFM. Ashford and St John are undoubtedly nothing but “Yes” men and do whatever Caralis wants and Caralis programming sucks.. Thank god w’ve got KO, NX and 2NUR…

Peta

Perhaps you should make your thoughts known to the Herald as well following today’s story.

[...] Media Hunter’s post earlier this week on the departures of Richard King and Don Mayo from 2HD & NEWFM, The Herald in Newcastle have [...]

Not to mention the loss of Aaron Kearney, Warren Moore, Kristie Atkins, the Continuous Call team who were all popular personalities on 2HD and are now doing well elsewhere.
Here is 2HD’s new weekday afternoon line up:
12pm -1pm: Lunchtime Classics with Meryl Swanson (Supernetwork feed from 2HD)
1pm – 3pm: Afternoon show (Music/ Talkback) with Pete Davis (Supernetwork relay from 2HD)
3pm -5pm: Local Talkback/ Music with Pete Davis (2HD only) (Includes a Top 4 @ 4 )
5pm – 7pm: Talkin’ Sport with Graeme Hughes and others (from 2SM)

Thank goodness for NXFM, KOFM, ABC and internet radio

what a joke 2hd is becoming the news service that is presented by the work experience girls is nothing short of disgraceful the inane weekend talk back is boring and dull why not play some old top 40 music instead of having talk back free for alls 12 hours a day and as for Pete Davis i am afraid he just doesnt cut as a talk show host it would appear they got rid of the wrong afternoon guy. farewell Richard and good luck.

WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU GUY’S DOING YO NEWCASTLE RADIO I’M SO ASHAMED OF HOW EVERYTHING HAS GONE IN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS. IT’S SO’POSS TO IMPROVE WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOIN ON I’VE HAD SO MUCH FEED BACK, WHATS DOIN, NO LISTENER FEEDBACK, CAUSE THEY REALLY DON’T CARE ABOUT NEW FM AND 2HD ANYMORE ….WHERE’S IT GONE???????????????? NO MORE GOOD LISTENING …EXCEPEPT FOR BLIND MELLON

What a shock to read of the HD’s Drive Time host Richard King!

Richard is a presenter with flair, presence and charisma. Each afternoon during the week, I would tune into listen to this balanced, popular and experienced Drive Time Anchor. His callers were openly welcomed and were encouraged to discuss both local and state or topical issues.

His daily guests such as the Amazing Valda, the Vet and the Gardening Ladyas well as the Time Warp info and quizzes, gave the show’s content vartiety and depth to discussions.

It would be interesting to view the poll results for the past yr, for the different shows and their presenters just to see if the decision to axe Richard was comparatively fair and reasonable. HD had to axe some of the peripheral announcers previously eg Rosco , Gary H, both worthy but small bredth content presenters.

However the strategy to axe unilaterally, one of the station’s icons will impact upon content quality / depth and ultimately audience ratings.

Think again HD dogooders!!!!

What a joke to hear 2hd best broadcaster has been sacked. farwell R KING your a legend mate..good luck in your future plans.

2hd your just lost another listener….

Was talking to a business who advertises on NEWFM and has a sponsorship arrangement where they give NEWFM freebies to give away on air. Owner said that NEWFM promotions guy visited them for the first time in 5 years this week…and only after the owner had repeatedly complained about lack of attention.

Maybe Caralis should be sacking staff like that!?

The way the staff have been treated at Newfm/2hd has been nothing short of disgraceful, & the way Caralis runs things he should sack himself.

What you see going on in Newcastle is indicitive of what is happening at every station Caralis owns. He doesn’t understand why he should have to pay out for local content when he already spends, what he sees as heaps, on programming from 2SM. This guy is the original Scrooge McDuck and probably still has ‘old number one’ framed somewhere.
The Network is a shell, no internal training system, no internal communication system, no annual wage increases (the one thing you never – ever mention is your salary), no job descriptions, list of duties or list of salaries and definitely no job security because you can be paid out on a whim.
Guy Ashford actually boasts that he only wears black on the days when someone is going to be sacked!
This bully is the perfect hatchet ‘Yes’ man for Caralis.
Were does the most important part of radio – THE AUDIENCE – sit in all this? Just listen dammit – and gimme all yer money..!

seems the new fm brekky show is worse than eva.the crap that i heard this morning was the last straw for me & my workmates.woteva hapnd to the funny stuff
like takn the piss outta karsin crissley and the rickhi benno and that to give us a larf? screw radio on new fm.i’m gunna get maw sausfaction by watchn max on fox
or online radio stations.too bad if u hate nx or ko and new fm’s so atrocious eh?

History tells us that Luke was shown the door at 2HD and he is now working here in Melbourne for MTR 1377 from 8PM til Middnight

BILL CARALIS
IS’NT IT NOW TIME YOU MEET WITH RUSSELL TATE FROM MACQUARIE RADIO NETWORK TO SELL YOUR WHOLE NETWORK TO MRN SO AS TO ALLOWING MRN TO RELOCATE JOHN LAWS AND HIS COLLEAGUES FROM 2SM TO MELBOURNE & MTR 1377 in MELBOURNE AND 2HD ALONGS WITH THE OTHER REGIONAL RADIO STATIONS THAT ARE POORLY RUN BY YOU CAN BE TAKEN OVER BY 2GB SO AS TO ALLOW ALL 2GB PROGRAMS BE HEARD IN NEW CASTLE, THE REST OF REGIONAL NEW SOUTH WALES BROKEN HILL & SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND THIS WILL HAVE YOU OUT OF EVER OWNING A RADIO NETWORK AGAIN IN AUSTRALIA!