After the disasterous survey one result for 2DAY FM, Max Moore-Wilton’s comments in this week’s Financial Review may indicate an uncertain future for Southern Cross Media’s board members and senior executives.
Board Chairman Moore-Wilton didn’t say the positions within senior management were being reviewed after the poor rating performance, but he also didn’t guarantee that any members had tenure past the end of 2014, saying: “Nobody has any guarantees, it’s business as usual.”
In regard to the the poor performance of 2DAY he said: “We were surprised by the extent of the declines and that obviously is a matter we are giving serious consideration to. This is something we need to look at in a very businesslike and professional way and talk to advertisers and stakeholders.
Naturally there’s been contact between board members but there has been no board meeting. There will be a meeting later in the month. Our management is working on the issue and we will discuss it more formally at the board meeting later in the month.”
It's not rocket science - ARN just employed the very well worn management operandi, "If you can't beat 'em - BUY 'em!"
SCA needs to be more creative in their management than ARN - and that's not hard.
But it does require hard yards - find the next big talent. Nurture it. Take the time to develop it. Build a sense of community around it. Make Sydney care about it. Make it listener-centric, rather than stockholder centric. Rebuild morale.
SCA has an opportunity now, with perhaps the largest impediment removed (the straitjacket of K&J) to actually give Sydney 17 to 30 year audience demographic, a reason to come back to radio. At the moment they don't care. But unless that demo starts to care, radio has no future. This is an opportunity for SCA - not a death, unless SCA make it a death through shortsighted management and decision-making determined only by the accountant's ledger. Week-to-week and month-to-month sales figures are important, but not as important as looking to the horizon and creating the landscape of radio's future - today. (pun intended). :-)
When media ownership legislation is changed, this current situation will be irrelevant. Turnover in ownership of all publicly listed media companies is likely and new management is always a part of that process.