If you haven’t watched the ABC iview TV program The Assembly, where Autistic journalism students mentored by Leigh Sales interview famous Australians including Amanda Keller, Hamish Blake, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Adam Goodes I can’t recommend it enough. I came out with a much deeper understanding and admiration for all the interview guests and some of the questions asked, like how much money Hamish Blake has in the bank, no other group or show would get an answer to.

A couple of the students, when they found out that Amanda was to be in the hot seat, said how much their parents loved her. For what its worth I think her authenticity, humour and fearlessness in response to questions about her IVF journey and husband Harley‘s Parkinson’s diagnosis may have contributed in small but important ways to WSFM being the top station in Sydney in GfK Radio 360 Survey 7. I just wanted to hug her when I saw her at the ACRAs.

I have teenage boys who both kind of half watched the program over my shoulder as only teenagers can do. I was quite emotional in parts. As they don’t live in Sydney or listen to radio (despite their mother’s job) they didn’t know Amanda and asked questions about her afterwards.

Not long ago I stopped at traffic lights next to a young man in a ute with P plates on it. I was listening to 2CA in Canberra who were playing Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the News. I realised I could hear the song outside my vehicle and turned to see the guy next to me, no more than 20, banging out to the track with the windows down and the volume up. I wound down my window, pumped up my volume and, until the lights turned green, the two of us held our own private 80s party.

I believe that a way for radio to win back young people under 25’s hearts is through classic hits. If we do that, then the trickle down to triple j and the likes will follow. 

Survey 7 has some evidence of that fact, and also why for radio networks GfK capturing the listening of 10-17 year olds is so important for future planning. I have attached the Sydney and Melbourne survey results and cumes below:

Young people under 25 are mostly discovering new, new music through means other than traditional radio. TikTok, Spotify (my son loves the AI DJ), YouTube, going to gigs, movies, other social media and TV shows. There is not anywhere near the possessive ownership of certain radio stations and genres of music like grunge that I experienced growing up.

But, where do they discover new, old music?

My 18 year old son is going though an INXS / Fleetwood Mac / Powderfinger / Crowded House period. His 20 year old first car has a CD player and he’s pinched all my albums. He came home the other day and I could hear Into Temptation from the clothesline. He knows what he likes when he hears it, and note how much is Australian music too. He was not born when any of what he’s listening to was released.

While the Survey 7 results above would suggest that some 10-17 year old listening mimics their parents, the 18-24 group was fascinating. In Sydney and Melbourne WSFM and Gold 104.3 both saw more than 20,000 people in that group flick the switch around to them and stay awhile. And as much as I love Jonesy and Amanda at WSFM, and Christian O’Connell at Gold, it was likely a ‘The Power of Love’ or similar that got a lot of them there in the first place. Triple M in Sydney saw the same, probably with some Screaming Jets.

In Melbourne, and granted this is small cumulative numbers overall but cumulative growth is a sign of audience awareness, in the 10-17 year group one of the bigger improver was real classic hits stations 3MP. The ABC and sport centric SEN in both states also picked up in that demographic.

I remember Robbie Buck saying at ABC Sydney‘s 100th celebrations that he knew it was time to leave triple j when they were no longer playing his music. While 2UE, 3MP, Gold, WSFM and smooth are the home of classic hits, easy listening and the over 40s, there is a space, or a gap in the market even, for an approach acknowledging that for some it may be the first time they’ve ever heard Go Your Own Way or at Triple M, Smells Like Teen Spirit.

Wherever stage in life, a great song remains a great song. If you’re playing them, then you’re also building a radio audience for the future.

Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo.