The final hour of SCA’s now-defunct Classic Rock Digital station

Southern Cross Austereo  blasted The Doors 12-minute 1967 classic The Endon last Friday night – a fitting finale to put their much-loved Classic Rock Digital station to bed, for good.

Last month SCA announced that they would be switching off the station – upsetting a legion of vocal, loyal listeners – with chief creative officer Guy Dobson telling Media Week that the station was “a victim of its own success”.

“We found that Classic Rock Digital was eating into the cume audience for Triple M. We will be adding more of that classic rock content to the Triple M music format. Listeners will start to hear more of that gold content across the day,” Dobson told Media Week.

Dobson also said that DAB+ is hard to monetise: “It comes down to getting the content right, being able to measure it accurately so we can take it to market.”

But SCA doesn’t want Classic Rock Digital fans to abort its network entirely, promising diehard fans that Triple M “is about to launch Classic Rock Summer” – an apparent effort to placate its devoted listeners and swing them back to the FM mother-station.

Before you start scanning the radio to relocate the three M’s, let’s rewind to 11pm on Friday.

Classic Rock Digital’s final hour was a beauty; an almost-perfectly curated playlist of rock and roll hits, many of which defined the station’s catalogue, including AC/DC, Bowie, and The Angels.

In case you missed the last 60-minutes, here were the 13 songs that prove classic rock has no home on digital radio, for now at least;

Elton John: “Funeral For A Friend”
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: “Don’t Come Around Here No More”
Pink Floyd: “Wish You Were Here”
Rainbow: “Since You Been Gone”
AC/DC: “Baby Please Don’t Go” (Live)
AC/DC: “Ride On”
Fleetwood Mac: “Go Your Own Way”
David Bowie: “Ashes To Ashes”
Jimi Hendrix: “The Wind Cries Mary”
The Angels: “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again”
Neil Young: “My My, Hey Hey”
Queen: “Who Wants To Live Forever”
Led Zeppelin: “Thank You”
The Doors: “The End”

A final note to anyone reminiscent enough to flick their DAB+ radio to Classic Rock Digital – don’t, you will only be disappointed.

The station was looping a message that invites listeners to head over to, you guessed it, Triple M.

Jake Challenor