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Interesting comment from Wayne. This habit of focus groups and canvassing the listener for programming ideas is good but it’s a bit like asking my 5 year old what they want for tea. Often they will say ice-cream. (It tastes good but not good for them) Real compelling radio comes from experienced operators who look at a spot or event for its longevity and broad appeal.
A breakfast jock I have a lot of respect for once said the industry was full of programmers who were “playing not to lose instead of playing to win” This overcaution stifles potential talent and churns out a host of music presenters who read the cards instead of jocks who are given enough rope to hang themselves. Australian radio is going to need more “creative” as the digital era gets here.
When the internet was started many thought isp’s were the way of making fortunes but it soon became obvious “content was king”. With the multitude of delivery mediums coming at us now and in the future we need to farm more talent.
Programmers should be facilitators with a hand on the tiller just to keep the “ship” on course (not the horse, jockey, strapper and trainer) (God are there enough metaphors here?} One of the exciting things on the horizon is the coming boom in talk radio for the bush. Most markets have a couple of music stations and no real talk venues. As we get more signals and the battle hots up more money might be put into programming talk instead of a play list of 300 tracks.
That’s my 10 cents worth
It has been a while since i last posted on this forum, so i thought with many interesting topics on the menu i will put in 10c worth.
It would be pretty good if Virgin Radio started up in Australia, possibly taking up an AM frequency, and in the future setting up a network of metropolitan stations with a classic rock format that is performing well in England. Maybe Sir Richard Branson buying failing stations such as 2SM and 3AK would be a starter for a network - much cheaper than bidding for the next round of FM licences in Sydney/Melb/Bris.
Great to see Nova 969 the number 1 FM station in Sydney also, it is proof that their philosophy on radio has paid dividend and this is having a massive effect on 2day FM and Triple M by the changes which are developing. It looks like Austereo has been defeated in that market which is great to see, as i think many listener's are tired of ho-hum radio.
In terms of digital radio, i think it would be good for incumbent Radio Companies only to have licences, so as not to abuse the spectrum and allow big Television/Newspaper companies who are not passionate about radio to waste space on the dial. I like the idea of all existing operators being able to switch to digital in each market as it will give them more resources through advertising revenue to invest in better programming and talent through their original setup, as well as in digital. However a new national commercial network (similar to Imparja perhaps) being available on digital, would inject life into the fledgling digital radio industry.