In the next tactical steps to reposition its Today group of stations for 2005, Austereo is trying out a re-branding strategy for the network on its Adelaide station SAFM.
Austereo’s Today stations have been hard hit by the rollout of DMG’s Nova network this year. SAFM lost its dominant market position earlier in 2004 and Brisbane’s B105 was just knocked off its perch in this week’s survey by a combination of Nova’s test broadcasts and a strong showing by ARN/DMG’s 97.3.
The company has traditionally used smaller markets such as Adelaide and Brisbane to test strategic changes and, as foreshadowed here on radioinfo earlier this week, the changes are being implemented in those markets first.
In this latest move, Austereo will move SAFM’s format younger to become “Adelaide’s hits station,” playing pop, urban, dance and rock hits, while Triple M will become “the station for Adelaide’s adults,” targeting a 35+ audience. Both new formats will begin in the New Year.
The Triple M format shift follows a similar repositioning to appeal to an older audience in Brisbane, where Triple M leads the ratings for the first time in 14 years. Triple M in Adelaide was first to adopt that network’s new logo format earlier in the year and, if the same strategy is followed for the Today network, expect last century’s ‘blue planet’ logo’s days to be numbered.
Triple M will retain its breakfast show, The Cage, with local identity, James Brayshaw, and also The Shebang in drive and Mick Molloy’s Tough Love in late mornings. SAFM will keep its regular announcers, Milly and Lehmo, in the morning and will take the new national Judith Lucy Show in drive.
Today stations around the country have already made slight changes to their on-air positioning statements, using phrases like “The Hit Music Channel,” positioning themselves in a similar style as stations like The Edge 96.1 in Sydney and River 949 in Brisbane.
Austereo Chief Executive, Michael Anderson, sees the Adelaide repositioning as “another important step in keeping the network fresh.” He says the network has been working on its listener research to “ensure we continue to provide great radio.”
In moves to strengthen that research position, Anderson this week appointed former Nielsen Media Research staffer, John Musgrove, to the position of National Research Manager. He will work with Austereo’s national programming team alongside David Kidd, who links programming and sales research as Manager of Consumer Insights.
The research changes mean that Austereo’s programmers have access to audience insight research, while advertisers have specially focused reaearch to enable them to “get the most out of advertising on radio and most particularly out of any or all of our 10 stations.”
David Kidd and Michael Anderson told radioinfo, at a very pleasant seaside lunch during the week: “There are many aspects of radio consumption which are either unexplored or need to be subjected to further investigation and, as such, this is an exciting and stimulating move forward for us… the pairing of our skill sets has been planned to ensure our listeners and clients get the very best our Today and MMM networks have to offer.”
Austereo’s Adelaide General Manager, Sam Ciccarello, has spoken to radioinfo about the changes on his turf:
“The traditional perception of where SAFM and Triple M are in the market isn’t where they’re currently positioned. We want to give listeners a much clearer idea of what they’ll hear on both stations and refresh the entertainment for 2005.
“On Triple M, you’ll hear both the Beatles and Blink 182, but with a fresh and different attitude. SAFM will be where you’ll go to hear only the very latest pop, urban, dance and rock hits.
“We’re being proactive and trying to give them the music and entertainment they’ve asked for.”
radioinfo: Is this a back-to-the-future approach that means your changes last year failed?
Ciccarello: No. We feel confident and positive about the repositioning we are taking. There is a new dynamic in this town now.
Triple M, which was previously an adult rock 35 + station, went under-30s in November last year. With recent changes in the market, we have found from the listeners that there is a gap in the adult music format 35+. Triple M has a predisposition for that territory so it was logical to take that position again.
This is not going back to the same format. It is going to territory which we know, but doing it differently – giving them something they have been crying out for.
The new format will be spontaneous, fun and entertaining with a wide range of music. It won’t be just about ’70s and ’80s. It will have contemporary music and won’t just focus on one particular genre or be skewed to one gender. It will have attitude and will suit what the listeners are telling us they want.”
radioinfo: On SAFM, what is on the playlist this week and what will be on the playlist in January next year?
Ciccarello: This week you can hear Bon Jovi, Destiny’s Child and Guy Sebastian. In January, you will still hear some Destiny’s Child and Guy Sebastian, but you will also hear Delta and Justin Timberlake, for instance, with no hard edges. We are not reinventing, we are repositioning with the under 40s target in mind.
This year, SAFM has been pitched at 25-49s, it will move slightly female skewed and younger.
radioinfo: Were you surprised Nova did not score higher in its debut rating this week?
Ciccarello: They came within our range of expectations.
radioinfo: Has the dance music sound of community station, Fresh FM, affected what you will do with SAFM?
Ciccarello: SAFM will have some dance, plus pop and urban. We can’t appeal to and win over every genre so we will give our listeners a format that has balance.
Triple J and Fresh are very competitive and giving to their listeners what they want, but in a very narrow focused format. We cater for a broader range of tastes, for the listener who wants greater variety including hits in many styles, so we are different from them.