The deal has been done, the Nine Radio stations have been sold.

So what happens now?

We asked a few experienced radio industry people, whose answers ranged from “business as usual,” through “cut hard to maximise profits” and “they paid too much,” to “spend more money promoting talk radio as a highly successful advertising format.”

Another said talk radio has to counter the mistaken concept that it is a legacy analog-only medium.

“Legacy is what you leave when you die, talk radio is not dead, but it has definitely changed. It is now just as much digital as it is analog, with high numbers of streaming listeners of all ages with personalities who have high engagement on social media.”

A few people were willing to go on the record with their views.  Trevor Long, now a technology commentator and publisher of EFTM.com, previously worked in programming and management at 2GB, so he has experience from the inside. Here’s what he thinks:

Non radio industry observers seem to fob off the Nine Radio Network as inconsequential as a business, but the raw facts are the business is making millions of dollars, and in reality, not a lot needs to change to keep that going, but with a few tweaks it could make more.

Assuming the Laundy’s got in for the simple reason that the business is cash flow positive, but also aligns well with their own clientele as a great shared audience, there’s great synergies.  With that in mind, they could be going somewhat blindly into a brand new industry. 

I’d expect they’ll do what they do in their own hospitality game and get some smart people to go over the books, look at the structure and see what can change to make it an even stronger business, essentially as a much smaller business compared to the ‘bit role’ it played in the previous ownership.

Taking it from the top, you’d look at what managing the business is costing, they are going to need to spend money on Finance and HR management and small teams. They’ll also need a strong legal structure to ensure they have the best defamation advice on tap, then look at how the place is run and who runs it and takes up a  COO and/or CEO role.

Everything under that, I’d call Programming and Sales.

Sales has already – as I understand it – begun the move back in house, so a strong focus on Direct Sales will be the best strategy.  Agencies have always struggled to understand talk radio, and I’m tipping that hasn’t changed.  Get great Direct Reps working big and small businesses in every city and use the power of their station’s reach and their presenters’ connections to invigorate the live-read value proposition.  Then just sell, sell, sell.

Bring in a crack promotions team, lean and slick, but focus on the audience.  Set aside a budget for tentpole promotional activities. A $100,000 giveaway to celebrate 2GB’s 100th Birthday in August would be my priority, or 100 something in 100 days.

In programming, it’s back to basics.  Sydney and Melbourne are performing well – any lineup changes would be based on the need to strengthen audience connection and sales potential more than anything else – but, there’s definitely some potential tweaks you could make if you wanted to make a bit of a splash to re-launch.

For Brisbane and Perth, Live and Local is an amazingly noble concept.  But that’s expensive.  I think we need to admit that networking content is financially smart, and while it shouldn’t be the whole day, you have to find that balance to bring big names back to Brisbane, and load up the strong local talent in the slots that will maintain that audience across the day.   

Perth, tough – given time zones, so I’d look to get that setup to wash it’s face. Make it work, find the best possible talent within the budget, and don’t try to make millions there – it’s a strong enough station to sell the “National” principle to the larger clients.  Perth has lost great presenters over the recent years, among them is a strong viable lineup.  Keep it simple, get that back on track.

It will lose money for a year or two given the cost. of just setting this all up to work outside of Nine.  But in a short space of time, the ‘Laundy Radio Network’ or whatever they choose to call it will be a great business for the family.

What will they call the newsroom?  Could Macquarie National News be back?

On news, it’s already working.  It might need a touch more investment, but that’s not going to be a tough challenge if they’re willing and keen to see those microphone flags front and centre on the TV news every night.

Here’s hoping the family has a great little war room set up to coordinate and plan the launch of their new enterprise!

Trevor Long now produces and hosts several popular podcasts, EFTM,  Two Blokes Talking Tech, Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars, The Best Movies You’ve Never Seen, and the Private Feed. He is the editor of EFTM.com and the resident tech expert for Triple M on radio and Channel 9’s Today Show.

Jason Morrison is another who was happy to go on the record with general comments. Read his thoughts here.

Reporting: Steve Ahern