With the huge number of awards to get through on ACRA’s night, traditionally few if any get to make a speech. So radioinfo lassoed some of the winners as they came off stage or out of the loo. Today we “hear” from the Best Talk Personality, Best Promotions Directors from Metro and Non-Metro markets and the Best Program Directors from both Country and Metro markets.
Best Program Director, Country, Damien “Will” Willoughby, from 93.5 Star FM, Dubbo, says that the award “Justifies 14 hour workdays and 11 months without a break. I’m just new to this position since November last year. It’s a lot of work keeping it local. But its good to document and translate all that effort that you do and the perspective that you have so that others can recognise all that you do for the audience and the clients that makes it all worthwhile.”
2Day FM’s Jamie Angel, who picked up the award for Best Program Director in a M etro market, was genuinely humble when he said, “Look, I’ve had great tutorage from Austereo over the years and there’s been a bunch of people who’ve taken me under their wing. But at the end of the day as the program director, really everyone else does the hard work and all I have to do is guide them in the right direction – ‘cause it’s everyone else that’s got all the talent.”
To answer the question: What are the greatest challenges for a PD today?, Jamie answered, “Staying on top of new trends like multi-media and digital radio. And finding talent and developing talent, because there’s not a lot out there compared to the old days.”
What advice does he give for young announcers trying to get a break? “The frustrating thing when people send an aircheck (when I ‘bother’ to reply, which is terrible) but when you reply and walk people through it and give advice, its probably only about one in five of them that will send you another aircheck. It’s almost like, well I had a go at 2Day FM or Fox or wherever, taken some advice and I didn’t like the advice, and I’m not prepared to give it another go.
“You’ve got to stick with it. Very few people are a natural to start with. It takes time. And too many people send one tape and give it away without stepping up and having another go at it,” Jamie Angel said.
3AW’s Neil Mitchell who took home the ACRA for Best Talk Personality, told radioinfo,
These awards get more precious the older you get. Every year that I win one of these means an enormous amount because we put a lot of work in and it’s very very satisfying to be rewarded for it. I’m quite serious about this: it doesn’t matter how many you’ve got, it just gets better.
“People ask me, because I’ve worked in both newspapers and radio, what’s better? It’s radio. You look at the energy in that room (at the ACRAs) – there’s a lot of whackers too – you look at the energy and its terrific. Enjoy it, embrace it and look at the new talent coming up like Hamish and Andy,” Neil Mitchell said.
Despite having the title, Head of Integration at 2GB and 2CH, Kate Edwards, won the ACRA for Best Promotions Director. “Promotions and marketing are the same beast. And at the heart of it all is creativity and understanding what your market wants,” says Kate.
What makes a good promotions manager? “A lot of patience. You’ve got to find a balance between the needs of programming and sales. I like to call myself Switzerland – always neutral,” said Kate.
198’s Promotions Director, Tania Kimmins won the same award for Non-metro and agreed with Kate that “patience” is the key requirement for the job. “It’s a lot of hard work sitting between the programming team and the sales team to make sure that both departments achieve their goals.”
What kind of ideas does a good Promotions Director look for? “I know its an old saying but it’s still very true: No idea is a bad idea. You throw them all out there, you bring them back and you start peeling them back and don’t be afraid to have a go. Creativity is the key,” said Tania.
We’ll have more “acceptance speeches” over the next few days.