With digital radio due to launch in metro markets in January 2009, Austereo chairman, Peter Harvie told delegates at last week’s Radiofest that there was still a lot of work to do to convince advertisers that digital radio is worth the investment.

Mr Harvie told the audience that his meetings with senior media buyers about the enhancements that digital will bring, were not all positive and that there were plenty of comments such as, ”It’s not on our buyers agenda”, “There’s a lot of noise about it, but its just another complication”, and “It’s jut another fragmentation”.

The ever pragmatic Harvie also reminded those present that one of the key reasons that commercial radio has embraced digital is because the government threatened to give the band to other players. “It was a case of use it or lose it. So we’ve got to use it”, said Harvie.

On the positive side, Mr Harvie cited digital’s myriad benefits offering text, pictures and other enhancements that should provide advertisers better opportunities to target audience sections and interact with them. He said that digital had the potential to grow Radio’s advertiser base especially with those categories that spend considerable less than the average 9% of their ad budget on radio. These include cosmetics (1%) and liquor (4%).

However one of those enhancements is a sore point with Harvie and CRA. The present legislation only allows radio to “screen” still pictures and Harvie believes it should be allowed short moving pictures, particularly for news. While Communications Minister, Helen Coonan has suggested that it might be something she would consider, opposition spokesman Stephen Conroy reportedly does not like the idea, arguing TV stations pay more in licence fees than radio stations.

Mr Harvie finished his address by providing an interpretation of a quote by Charles Darwin, saying that the species that avoids extinction is not necessarily the strongest but the one which can best adapt to change.