The redundancies at SCA have begun, with respected MD and programmer Irene Hulme among the first to be shown the door.
Irene was part of a restructure at the Hit and Triple M networks in March this year, moving into the role as Head of Music for the Hit Network and expanding her remit from metro only stations, to the 42 Hit and 4 Hit digital stations.
Stephen Cenatiempo’s nightime program on Triple M has been axed, and Lee Bevington who was appointed to the role as CD at Triple M Fraser Coast in April this year is another casualty.
Stephen was a winner at this years ACRA’s, taking out Best Current Affairs Presenter(Non Metro) and Best Network Program (Provincial).
radioinfo’s Steve Ahern spoke to Stephen about his awards.
I have made a comment elsewhere about the amalgamation of roles and that the 'new' role should take notice of any variation in market demand for various capital cities. This because there is a danger in assuming that all cities with a particular demographic may well have different listening "needs" and habits. One size fits all = one brand does not necessarily mean uniform success as exemplified in the example of the huge variation in ratings on DAB+.
Winning awards and getting recognized by peers and the presumption that management will also congratulate the awardee seem like lip service. Mr Cenatiempo's case is no exception. It happened to ACRA winner Mr Dean Mackin from the BOG network.
While management through the mind and will of the board of directors make their decision to reduce staff due to lower revenue live or die by that decision, will those decisions result in maintaining or increasing revenues?
Generally if the results of the decision to reduce staff make the overall sound of the stations a lesser or poorer listening experience, then the cost reductions may well be self-defeating.
Keeping in mind SCA's $90+ million loss, can the overall sound of their stations be maintained given the staff reductions especially if there is variation between markets for a specific city and demographic?
Time will tell whether these 'austerity' measures will return SCA to profitability which is contingent on whether their programming and overall sound of their particular 'brand' attracts more listeners and thus advertising revenue.
Thank you,
Anthony of upbeat Belfield