Australian radio is the most innovative in the world: Ciaran Davis

Ciaran Davis has recently stepped into the top job as CEO of APN, and last week he passed the baton for his old job to Tony Kendall, who will replace him at the helm of the Australian Radio Network.
 
Kendall was previously Director of Sales at Bauer Media, and before that he held a range of senior commercial management roles at News Corp Australia.
 
radioinfo spoke to Ciaran Davis about his new role and about Tony Kendall’s appointment.
 
What will Tony Kendell bring to the role of CEO at ARN?
 
We already have a strong team who understand ARN and radio inside out. Tony will work with the existing team to build new revenue streams, develop partnerships and foster collaboration between other parts of APN. Digital will also be a big focus.
 
By digital do you mean iHeartRadio?
 
That and other things. iHeartRadio is a content marketing platform for us. We’re working with Simon Joyce at Emotive to develop some exciting initiatives.
 
Tony Kendall has a sales background but hasn’t worked much in radio. How will that work?
 
Tony will complement the rest of the team. He hasn’t worked in the radio industry, but he has plenty of media experience.
 
Radio in Australia is the most innovative radio industry in the world. We already have great radio specialists in our company. Tony will lead them to develop business and revenue around content.
 
You mentioned partnerships. Michael Miller has gone back to News Limited and Tony spent 23 years with News Limited. Does that indicate that ARN is likely to form partnerships with News Limited?
 
We’re agnostic. We’ll form partnerships with anybody if they are good for ARN. But they have to be the right partnerships.
 
The network did pretty well under your leadership.
 
We are the number one network in Australia, but it’s not about me. We have the best radio talent and they produce great content. We have about 450 people working for ARN who are passionate about their jobs. They are the key to ARN’s success.
 
We will use that strength as a strong foundation for the further business challenges that we will take on in the digital space.
 
How’s your new job going so far?
 
It’s 3 weeks in and I’m excited by the role. It’s a diversified business with great assts.
 
One of the things I’m going to focus on is to get the divisions working closer together to make sure the business is operating to its best advantage.
 
Will you be focusing on the share price?
 
The share price is for the market to decide. The assets we have in place bring good value to our shareholders and I want that to continue.

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