2CH may go from easy listening to home of sport in Sydney

A new sports-dedicated ­station in Sydney is part of plans for a national sports radio network planned by Craig Hutchison.

Craig Hutchison is considering converting Sydney radio station 2CH to sport from its classic music format.

A new sports-dedicated radio ­station in Sydney is part of the plans for a national sports radio network planned by media entrepreneur Craig Hutchison, who has also accelerated the rollout of a group of racing stations across the country.

Mr Hutchison, the chief executive of ASX-listed Pacific Star Network, the owner of the SEN radio business in Melbourne and other markets, said plans to convert Sydney station 2CH to sport from its classic music format were under active consideration after his company agreed to an $11.2m acquisition in early June.

Pacific Star has survived the sports shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and has now added live AFL matches to its existing NRL broadcasts that ­restarted two weeks ago.

But the shutdown has also come at a cost, with Pacific Star facing a 35 per cent revenue ­reduction in the 2020 financial year, during which it will at best break even, and the company has been forced to take on up to $28.5m debt to survive the sports shutdown and partly fund acquisitions. Pacific Star shares were also suspended from trading on the ASX for six weeks, though Mr Hutchison insists the company was not close to going out of business.

“We have had excellent support from the banks, and they understand and support our strategy,” Mr Hutchison told The Australian. “It was a challenging time but it was never a case of being worried about our future.”

He said the past three months meant SEN, which stands for Sports Entertainment Network, had “turned up the E in our name and had to turn down the S”, to get through without live sport but ratings had held up. Pacific Star had successfully applied for the federal government’s JobKeeper program to keep some staff.

Mr Hutchison said the 2CH acquisition was crucial given it meant Pacific Star now had a presence in the biggest radio market in the country.

“What we will do is spend a little time looking at our options. We are a sports-focused business, and we think sport is a great business to be in. So it is certainly something we will look at as part of our options,” he said when asked about 2CH, which now has about 3.8 per cent audience share.

Mr Hutchison said he had been buoyed by the reaction to Pacific Star’s launch of SENTrack, a dedicated racing network that will ramp up across several new markets with the company locked in talks to acquire licences in Sydney, Melbourne and Darwin to add to six stations already launched and those in Brisbane and the Gold Coast that will start in September.

“We launched it as what we thought might be a pop-up station as we weren’t sure what would happen with racing. But to its great credit, racing has kept going and we’re excited about SENTrack.” Mr Hutchison is a long-time Melbourne media identity who has appeared on a string of mostly AFL-related television shows, including a short but ill-fated stint hosting Nine’s now ­defunct Footy Show.