“What’s occurring around the world is showing that local broadcasting is starting to emerge strongly again… when there’s not much else left in local media the last survivor actually does well.”
18 years ago, Resonate Broadcasting bought 4GC and Hot FM in Charters Towers.
The company, led by Rex Morris, Guy and Sally Dobson at the time, then went on to acquire 3GG Warragul/Gippsland, 4LG/West FM Longreach, 4SB Kingaroy, 4ZR Roma, 4VL/4CCC Charleville, 4HI Emerald and 4LM Mt Isa. They also bought, the Hot Country off band narrowcast licences and stations in Hawaii.
Resonate Radio’s Queensland stations, that have been on the market officially since last year, have now been sold to Jason Morrison and his wife smooth fm afternoon news presenter Heidi Tiltins.
A former 2GB presenter and Channel 7 News Editor, Jason Morrison was previously part of the Australian Digital Holdings group that bought SCA‘s regional television stations. He is no longer with that group and currently works for News Limited’s Daily Telegraph. Morrison also previously worked as a media advisor for Gina Reinhart, who has mining interests in regional Queensland, but she is not associated with Morrison’s acquisition.
The new owners will leave the day to day running to 4SB manager and group operations manager Geoff Speed. Morrison says he has no ambitions to return to on air work to do a talk show on his new network. 4SB recently had a big increase in the area’s regional survey and performs well in local advertising.
The deal has been in progress for some time and was completed a couple of weeks ago. Morrison told radioinfo:
“The more I started to work through the numbers on regional radio, the more I thought that [the company] showed a lot of promise, particularly in markets that have been left without much other local media. These stations are genuinely local. Locally run, locally managed and they service their community in a way that is not really done anymore.
“All the numbers behind the scenes looked good so we worked very hard with Sally Dobson to come up with a sale plan. I was very impressed with the staff, they have run it as a local operation for many years. The directors didn’t necessarily live in the area, but the management do. They’re fantastic lovely people.
“The markets love the role their radio station plays, they get very proud of the results that they’re achieving… good results for audiences and clients. So it made sense.“
Morrison believes in local media and local advertising.
“What’s occurring around the world is showing that local broadcasting is starting to emerge strongly again, particularly the United States. People are realising that when there’s not much else left in local media, the last survivor actually does well. The Resonate stations all have local breakfast shows and a Queensland specific show every day.
“Local radio is the last survivor in these markets. They serve huge footprints in a way that is traditional and local… I’d like to think with my experiences, I can help them do it even better. They still honour what people want locally, local news, local happenings, local sport results emergency information. These are big growing towns, and every one of those towns have got mining going on, agriculture going on in them. They’ve got electricity and coal generation, they are strong towns.
“Anyone who thinks regional radio is dead is choosing to look past the realities of how well a lot of these markets are doing. Clients will support a media outlet that supports them. If you want to remote control a station from a long distance away, you’re probably not going to get the same support that you should get. Resonate has proven that, they’re pretty profitable stations, all of them. While scale has some advantage, there’s no doubt that one of the things that it has not delivered on is service to the audience and stickiness for advertisers.”
Morrison’s passion for localism and regional radio goes back to his early training at AFTRS many years ago, when he was sent on work experience to 4LM. He and Heidi are excited about the future of their new company, which is one of a handfull of small Australian independently owned radio companies.
Resonate sold 3GG to the Capital Radio Network in 2015. The company is expected to retain its stations in Hawaii.