Craig Hutchison discussed the new 1116 SEN lineup, Survey 1 results, audience growth and the vision for the station with host of ‘Time On’, Sam McClure. 

Following yesterday’s survey results, Hutchison said he was ‘overall pretty pleased, it’s about what we expected. Clearly it’s not where we want to be and we’re in the middle of rewiring some elements of the station.’

Hutchison noted a small increase in audience numbers, citing the station’s huge lineup changes and a disrupted start to Gerard Whateley’s key Monday to Thursday program as factors in the sport networks moderate start to 2018. 

‘We changed every program. If you include the fact that Garry [Lyon] and Tim [Watson] as a combination were only really on since October in breakfast, then Gerard Whateley began post the start of this survey, and that’s been disrupted by things like the Superbowl and being in South Africa for the Test, we’re really pleased to have grown 7000 listeners from Survey 8 last year, to go from 249,000 to 256,00. 

‘Hopefully that shows people are giving us a go, and audiences will grow.’

Hutchison’s vision for SEN is a ‘broader church’, and one that encompasses more live sport, more breaking stories, and more ‘contemporary conversations with the audience’. 

Where SEN has typically drawn bigger audiences during the winter AFL months, Hutchison seeks to capture a larger summer share. 

‘Historically, and this will change, the summer time has been a quieter time in the SEN business, and our aim is to fix that.’

Hutchison believes it’s also a matter of listeners growing accustomed to the new on-air teams and personalities, but is confident that this year’s AFL commentary lineup will be a success. 

‘It’ll be the biggest and best call in the country. It’ll hit hundreds of stations, and we can’t wait to get into it.’

Watch the discussion below.