There is frustration in radioland, much tearing of hair and beating of breasts. Nothing they do seems to make much difference to generally dismal ratings and they showed a national decline in revenue at the end of this financial year.
With the newly released ratings, a princess and prince of the airways were pushed to the axeman’s block. Much loved Myf Warhurst and Peter Helliar were not loved enough. Their one percent drop to 3.2 in their Triple M breakfast slot sealed their fate.
One of the few stations to do better was sports station SEN, so Triple M’s Austereo management is said to be turning towards a sportier lineup with Eddie McGuire and Shane Crawford waiting in the pits.
Myf and Pete’s boss explained that while they were very good they weren’t “different enough” to pull the listeners. Which can be said for most of the other commercial radio stations.
Top of the pile is 3AW with its loyal listeners still growing, this time by 4.3 percent in the breakfast slot. Most of the other stations would give their right arms for just that growth figure, while the actual rating of 21.6 will forever stay in their dreams.
It’s interesting that 774 is next in line with 15.7. Now, they’re different. And if you added all the ABC stations together they come out on top with some 26 percent.
So why isn’t commercial radio delivering? Can it be that we’ve all heard enough Barry Manilow and Madonna and would rather listen to some politician rattling on?
And what does that do to your advertising budget? Because for sure the cost of your advertising doesn’t follow the ratings down.
Of course it’s not only the stations that deliver boring repetitive old tat. So do you, the advertiser. It’s no mischance that in this year’s Cannes Festival Australian radio did not win so much as a single bronze lion. We got nix, nil.
The reason is that Australian radio commercials are terrible. Horrible. Boring. And so that is what the stations sound like too.
I despair when I listen to commercial radio. The problem starts with you the client. You don’t take radio seriously. You’re not willing to pay for better written, better recorded commercials. You settle for a boring description of your products and insist on the phone number at the end.
As in all fields of life, you get what you pay for and without taking risks you never achieve success.
All right maybe you’re not the actual client. Your boss is or the marketing manager. But you know exactly the kind of ads I’m describing here. By now they are such audio wallpaper that maybe you don’t even notice them any more.
As the TV commercials keep reminding you, we have just entered an era of digital radio. I’m not really sure how different that is from stereo FM but we are promised a new and better listening experience.
Listening to what? Twenty year old pop songs and hysterical spruikers?
The industry is concerned that the public is showing a lack of interest in upgrading their radios to all the new digital sets now on offer. If you’ve been reading the blogs, most of the comments say “why bother?” Especially when the cheapest sets seem to be priced over $150.
Instead of taking off, this duck could end up as dead as stereo AM. But don’t blame the listeners. Until the stations — and the advertisers — lift their game, radio will continue to wallow in the marshes.
ads may also be affected by on air “talent” who continuosly plug there personal sponsors/mates and treat it like a joke(cha-ching). Devalues the advertisers who pay and make them less likely to pay again. Why would a car maker advertise on a station whose talent have deals with other companies.(aw-volvo)?
My belief is that MMM has the problem that the audience knows what it is, JJJ six months later. If a song is a hit(flogged to death) on MMM it is because it was successful on JJJ six months earlier. Now the talent are the same.Where did Myf and Peter start?
MMM got away with this in the nineties as the rusted on at work wouldn’t change, but as the younger crew members got older and control of the radio……
Thankfully we have community radio which serves the interested radio listener.
Perhaps we could have some on air talent that isnt related to existing staff, doesn’t go to uni with any current employees or know any current employees. Imagine a radio station where it was your talent and not name recognition or friends connections that dictates what goes on air.
Completely agree with you, especially concerning AW. One of the few programs that I really enjoy is Tony Delroy’s Nightlife on ABC from 10.00pm till 2.00am M-F. Yes, it’s late, but worth trying to stay awake for.
I couldn’t agree more. Earlier this year I did an internship at a commercial radio station. On day one I wrote copy that the boss and the sales team thought was really creative and high quality, only to have it rejected by the clients in favour of bland, product listing and phone number pap. So what did I write on day two?
What does digital radio do that podcasting doesn’t?
With podcasts I can already choose what programs I want to hear (from around the world) without having to endure interruptions every 3-5 minutes due to crappy ads and stoopid song selections.
An adman complaining that radio doesn’t give him enuff pelf ( apologies to Guy).
I don’t understand why anyone would listen to commercial radio (or watch its younger sibling) but, for those whose lips move when thinking, it may serve some purpose, like rhythmic rocking or thumb sucking.