And that battlefield is under 40

For dmg and its programmer in chief, Paul Jackson, it’s been smooth sailing for three straight surveys in the latter part of 2012. It seemed everything was going up everywhere including Fitzy & Wippa on Nova 969. It was inevitable then that at some point things might ease back a little.

But don’t tell Paul Jackson that.

Paul Jackson: I very quickly get past any set of numbers, good bad or indifferent, on what the top line says until I get inside those numbers and see what they say.

radioinfo: Let’s start with the smooth brand – off just 0.2 in both Sydney and Melbourne. Hardly worth mentioning, but I guess you would have preferred  a plus 0.2 instead.

Paul Jackson: Look at the shares in the daytime in Sydney for smooth. And then, when you get inside those numbers, smooth is the number one station in Sydney, bar none, with 25+ females right across the workday, 9-4. That is a station on fire!

In the highly competitive breakfast time, we have more to do – hands up to that. But nine months in, to be one number one station with women in Sydney and in Melbourne on any work day and some of the weekend demos are fantastic. And when you try and translate some of that ten plus, right through from cradle to grave, you can have one or two demos that don’t go so well.

I think that smooth’s numbers are great overall. And certainly the story gets better once we get inside the numbers, if I look at the bigger picture of where we are going, it is exactly where we wanted to be.

radioinfo: Lets look at Nova 96.9. It eased back by 0.9 overall, but Breakfast and Drive held up while it was the daytime music shifts and especially nights that dragged the station down. How can you tell us about that.

Paul Jackson: Nova in Sydney is the number one station for under 40’s. When you carve it up different ways – when you break out Smallzy, 7-10, we are slightly ahead. So it paints a slightly different picture. I think the whole station has performed, I hesitate to use the word, “SOLID,” but that is where we are with it.

We are performing well up to 35, but beyond that we have to have a look at what happened. I am not dissatisfied with it. The 18-39 performance has been fantastic. That is the area we are measured in. All trends in key demos are good.

Historically you could argue that  Nova never gets off to a flyer in Sydney, but certainly there is plenty of work to be done going forward.

radioinfo: In Melbourne, it was almost exactly the opposite. Again, Breakfast stayed exactly the same, but the daytime shifts, including Drive, which helped the station to very healthy increase to a very respectable 8.4 overall.

Paul Jackson: Nova in Melbourne is number one 18 -54 year olds. That’s fantastic. It’s cume is 930,000 – that is the best in five years. That team is on fire- they have done a brilliant job. There is a few different dynamics at play in Sydney, but when we look at Melbourne or any of the other three territories, then our story is exceptionally good.

radioinfo: Nova in Brisbane, which was knocking on the door of top spot, held by 97.3, has slipped to 2.3 behind, but it’s still in second spot – which is not bad.

Paul Jackson: We are still ahead of our main competitor (B105). The music stations have all gone back a little bit in relative terms. But I think that is just a one off from all the flooding that happened and I think that people were just into the talk stations.

But in relative terms where we stand the station is fantastic. Some of the stuff the guys are doing is hilarious. So we have no worries about our performance there and the consistency of the that. And of course we win every key demo there, under 40 and so on. So that is rock solid.

radioinfo: Now we get to the last two contestants, and of course you’d wish both those children to do well, but Nova Adelaide shed a full point and is in fourth spot.

Paul Jackson: Don’t forget FIVEaa is one of our stations, doing well, and it’s ahead of the ABC. As for Nova, in Adelaide, we are number one under 40 and we are ahead of SAFM again. We have bedded in a new breakfast show that is ahead of our main competitors as well. And in all demos under 40 we win. We are very happy with that, so I have no complaints there at all.

radioinfo: In Perth, 93.7’s up, holding down the number three spot …

Paul Jackson: Well it is the same thing. We can only win the battles where we are actually playing on the field, which is dominating the under 40’s and beating our nearest competitor which happens to be the 92 .9. station. And we have done that.

We have achieved all the goals in all the targets and the Breakfast show is powering on, and the station has done a fantastic job. Mr Gary Roberts is a legend in Perth and knows how to ‘own the town.’ The product is very compelling, so the numbers follow through. And Nathan’s been there in the breakfast show for seven years performing at that level, and that’s what it is about.

radioinfo: Unlike many of the other stations, you haven’t made any major programming changes for a while. Your on air line-up has been quite stable.

And by and large, that’s reflected in the numbers.

radioinfo: Where do you think improvements need to be made? There must be a spot somewhere which needs a tweak…

Paul Jackson: I am a hard task master I look at every single radio station – that is my job. No two days are the same. Just when you think you have got a cracking radio, if you ever think you have, you are kidding yourself.

It is always about looking forward. What is the next thing you are going to do, the next big idea. We are not complacent.

Honestly if we don’t put in the same effort tomorrow that we put in yesterday, then the audience will walk.  We have built up great loyalty and we must maintain that .

How long have you got? I could go on all day and talk about it.  Every station could do better and anyone who says otherwise is clearly lying. That is why we love it and that is what we do it for.