Congratulations to River 949 in Ipswich QLD who were awarded ARN Market of the Year in 2024. This is the second time in a row.
The station was #1 all dayparts and all people with 48.6% of the local audience tuning each week. They were also iHeart Radio’s #1 streamed station. River had the highest local revenue in the regional network and were ARN’s only station to achieve 56 budgets in a row. They had record promotions, 67 outside broadcasts, and offered listeners the chance to win a million dollars for Christmas. At the ACRAs they had seven finalists and were nominated for the Ipswich Chamber of Commerce’s Business of the Year Award.
In their local community they’ve filled hundreds of hundreds of petrol tanks with their Friday Fuel Frenzy. Tony’s Kitchen in Toowoomba and River raised an amazing $175,000 for families struggling with cost-of-living challenges and the long running breakfast team, Marnie and Campo (see below) gave cancer survivor Mackenzie a lifetime of memories including a Gold Coast Theme Park adventure.
Most recently, the team went above and beyond to keep listeners up to date with news and the information they needed to stay safe during Cyclone Alfred.
General manager David Wiltshire said:
“Following an incredible 2023, we did it again! Last year was River’s most successful year since opening in 1990.
River has one of the best cultures in Australian radio – demonstrating constructive behaviors’, respecting one another and working as a team to keep the station #1.
Congratulations team, you make me very proud.”
The ARN Awards are ARN’s annual internal celebrations. They recognise excellence across ARN in categories including Business Impact, Market Performance, Team Performance, Community Connection, Leadership and Culture.
This year saw a record 200 nominations with the judging panel, ARN’s Executive Team and Senior Leaders, selecting 25 winners across the ten Award categories.
The Awards were announced in a ‘virtual party’ which everyone at ARN could join. Trophies and prizes are now on their way to the winning people and teams.