NOVA Entertainment is an Australian entertainment company that operates commercial radio networks (and associated digital brands) in metropolitan and regional areas of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. NOVA Entertainment is owned by

Lachlan Murdoch Lachlan Keith Murdoch (; born 8 September 1971) is a British-Australian businessman and mass media heir. He is the executive chairman of Nova Entertainment, co-chairman of News Corp, executive chairman and CEO of Fox Corporation, and the found ...

's Illyria Pty Ltd which purchased the remaining 50% it did not own from

Daily Mail and General Trust Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) is a British multinational media company, the owner of the ''Daily Mail'' and several other titles. The 4th Viscount Rothermere is the chairman and controlling shareholder of the company. The head office is ...

in September 2012.

History

Nova Entertainment was formed in early 1996 under the name DMG Radio Australia, followed later in the year with the A$46M acquisition of 85% of the Broadcast Media group of regional stations. This was shortly followed by

FIVEaa FIVEaa (pronounced ''Five Double A'') is Adelaide's only commercial talkback radio station. The station has a range of programs including news, sports, current affairs, social issues, football calls, gardening, lifestyle, cars, travel and healt ...

on 26 September 1996. The founding Chairman and CEO were Charlie Cox and Paul Thompson respectively. The company grew rapidly to over 64 radio stations across

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

under the Star FM, Hot FM,

Nova A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramati ...

and Vega (now

Smooth Smooth may refer to: Mathematics * Smooth function, a function that is infinitely differentiable; used in calculus and topology * Smooth manifold, a differentiable manifold for which all the transition maps are smooth functions * Smooth algebrai ...

) brands. In September 2004, DMG Radio Australia sold most of its regional radio stations to

Macquarie Bank Macquarie Group Limited () is an Australian global financial services group. Headquartered and listed in Australia (), Macquarie employs more than 17,000 staff in 33 markets, is the world's largest infrastructure asset manager and Australia's ...

, keeping only Hot 91 Sunshine Coast (later sold in early 2005) and

Star 104.5 Star 104.5 (Australian Communications & Media Authority, ACMA call sign 2GOS) is a commercial radio station broadcasting to the Central Coast (New South Wales), Central Coast region from Gosford, New South Wales, Australia. It is owned by Nov ...

Gosford Gosford is the city and administrative centre of the Central Coast Council local government area in the heart of the Central Coast region, about north of Sydney and about south of Newcastle. The city centre is situated at the northern extre ...

, which they still own and operate. In April 2009, DMG Radio Australia launched two new

digital radio Digital radio is the use of digital technology to transmit or receive across the radio spectrum. Digital transmission by radio waves includes digital broadcasting, and especially digital audio radio services. Types In digital broadcasting syst ...

stations:

NovaNation novanation was a DAB+ and an internet 24/7 dance music radio station, but no longer broadcasts on either medium. It was marketed as Australia's first 'digital' dance station in an effort to differentiate itself from analogue stations such as K ...

, a 24/7 digital dance station and Koffee, a chillout music station. These stations were launched as part of the introduction of DAB+ digital broadcasting in Australia's major state capital cities. On 24 December 2013, NovaNation and Koffee both ceased broadcasting as DAB+ stations. Koffee was rebranded to smooth Chill with a chill easy listening format and NovaNation ceased broadcasting online by mid-2016. On Friday 12 March 2010 Vega rebranded with the name

Classic Rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...

to counteract similar stations

Gold 104.3 Gold 104.3 (call sign: 3KKZ) is a radio station broadcasting in Melbourne, Australia. Gold 104.3 is part of the Pure Gold Network (which itself is a part of the Australian Radio Network) and broadcasts on the 104.3 MHz frequency. History 3K ...

, WSFM,

Triple M Sydney Triple M Sydney (callsign 2MMM) is a radio station broadcasting in Sydney, Australia. Triple M Sydney is part of Southern Cross Austereo's Triple M network and broadcasts on the 104.9 MHz frequency. History The Early Days Triple M commenced ...

and

Triple M Melbourne Triple M Melbourne is a radio station broadcasting in Melbourne, Victoria. Its target demographic is the 18-54 age group. Triple M Melbourne is part of Southern Cross Austereo's Triple M Network and broadcasts on the 105.1 MHz frequency. The st ...

. Nova Entertainment announced the change to Vega's brand as the stations had struggled towards the bottom of the ratings ladder in both Sydney and Melbourne. In building these new stations DMG Radio needed a "simple, focused music concept that would appeal to the 35-54 audience," according to CEO

Cathy O'Connor Cathy O'Connor is an Australian media executive.(8 October 2016Nova Entertainment CEO Cathy O'Connor inducted into Radio Hall of Fame Commercial Radio Australia. Retrieved 15 November 2018. Career Her radio career began in 1985, when she worke ...

. The stations later became 91.5 FM in Melbourne and

95.3 FM The following radio broadcasting, radio stations broadcast on FM broadcasting, FM frequency 95.3 MHz: Argentina * 95.3 Ayacucho in Ayacucho, Buenos Aires * Acción (radio station), Acción * Atlántida (radio station), Atlántida in Buenos ...

in Sydney. On Monday 21 May 2012, after poor ratings, 91.5 FM Melbourne and 95.3 FM Sydney were rebranded again to

smoothfm smoothfm is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by NOVA Entertainment. From original launch in 2012, The format was focused on providing 'more music and less talk' along with an eclectic easy-listening playlist, usually fe ...

with a new smooth, easy listening format to aim for women aged 35+. In December 2013, DMG Radio Australia launched a 24-hour Australian pay television music channel,

available via

Foxtel Foxtel is an Australian pay television company—operating in cable television, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April 2018, superseding an earlier company from 1995. The service was establi ...

satellite and cable services. The pay television music channel extends from the

radio brand. It was shut down on 30 June 2020. In February 2014, DMG Radio Australia rebranded under the name Nova Entertainment to reflect the company's increasingly diversified interests in radio and the media and entertainment industries. The new company name has been developed to encapsulate both the pride and heritage of the company’s original and successful FM launch brand, Nova, with its recent evolution into the broader media and entertainment space.

Current operations

Radio

NOVA Entertainment owns two national radio networks and four independent radio stations with a presence across Australia through terrestrial, digital and online

NOVA

The Nova Network is a commercial radio network with an adult contemporary format. All network stations are owned and operated by NOVA entertainment and each station has its own local Breakfast show with daytime, drive and night shifts networked across all stations.

smoothfm

smoothfm is a commercial radio network originally launched in 2012 as a rebrand of the Classic Rock network. Since February 14 2020 the network's primary format is Hot-Adult Contemporary providing feel good and dance music.

Non-network radio

In addition to its network-based assets, NOVA also operates four independent radio stations.

Other

*novafm.com.au, online news, music & lifestyle portal *smooth.com.au, online news, music & lifestyle portal *fiveaa.com.au, online news portal *star1045.com.au, online news, music & lifestyle portal

Former operations

NovaNation

NovaNation was a 24/7 dance music radio station that broadcast on DAB+ and online. It was marketed as Australia's first 'digital' dance station in an effort to differentiate itself from its analog competitors. Early in 2013, NovaNation was removed in Adelaide and Perth and replaced by a DAB+ syndication of smoothfm. It was removed in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane on the 24th of December 2013 and replaced by Coles Radio. The station was accessible online until mid-2016, when it ceased streaming. The NovaNation brand is still used for weekend content on the NovaFM stations.

Foxtel Smooth

Foxtel Smooth was an 18-hour

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...

music channel (time-shared with

Foxtel Arts Foxtel Arts was a subscription television arts channel available in Australia on the Foxtel platform. History Foxtel Arts replaced the SBS owned arts channel Studio, and became the third iteration of a dedicated arts channel on Foxtel in six ...

) available via

satellite and cable services. It launched on 3 December 2013, dedicated to

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

adult contemporary music Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...

. The channel ceased broadcasting on 30 June 2020.

GOAT

GOAT was a pop culture, news and entertainment website aimed at a millennial audience. It has been dormant since 2018.

References

External links

NOVA EntertainmentNova 969 SydneyNova 100 MelbourneNova 937 PerthNova 919 AdelaideNova 106.9 Brisbanesmoothfm 95.3 Sydneysmoothfm 91.5 MelbourneFIVEaa AdelaideStar 104.5FM Central Coast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nova (Radio Network) Daily Mail and General Trust Nova Entertainment Australian radio networks Contemporary hit radio stations in Australia Mass media companies established in 1996