As a kid growing up in Lake Macquarie radio listening options were pretty limited. The old 2NX was on the AM dial playing Top 40. Fortunately the FM band started to come alive with scratchy sounds from Sydney when 2MMM launched.

I managed to rig up a rather large aerial and pick up the Sydney signals loud and clear. It was a revelation. Great music, higher quality sound and fantastic announcers. 2MMM became my station of choice in the 80’s. I woke to Uncle Doug Mulray, listened to Stuart Cranney, Jonno and Danno and Rob Duckworth every day. Golden years.

Now, word is out that one of those favourite announcers of my youth is about to do a stint at NEWFM. Rob Duckworth is said to be filling in for Blanchey while he takes holidays, and that he may stay longer. This is great news for NEWFM, bringing an immensely experienced and professional talent to Sandgate.

Duckworth was axed from TripleM in December after the station posted its worst-ever ratings.

The big question now, if it does actually happen, will be what effect Duckworth has on the ratings. He is not a household name in this market, despite a long history in Sydney. He will be in a daytime shift, probably Drive, so it won’t give the station the Breakfast kick they need. And it doesn’t mean the format and music will change (unless he will have a say in programming too). We are already well into Survey one so we can’t realistically expect this to make a big impact.

All the same, it could be good news for NEWFM, especially if Rob Duckworth decides to stay. Time will tell.