I both agree and disagree with this. I don’t think Craig’s comments aren’t always based on what will/will not work or what the audience wants. I agree he seems out of touch with a portion of the audience, and especially with Kyle clings to the past (eg. His assessment of how well Kyle would do in Melbourne was largely based on 2013 Kyle, who still may not have won but was far more marketable than 2024 Kyle).
But I also see’s Craig’s comments as an interest insight into what the boardrooms of these companies are thinking. He’s spent plenty of time in boardrooms to know how they work and often justifies the reasons for his thoughts based on the business case, rather than it being the best to grow audience. I think it just highlights how much the industry prefers to stay profitable by reducing costs rather than increasing income.
the biggest problem with radio is that the bigwigs still have a 20th century mindset. i know I’ve said it before, but they twiddle the dial and see the stations there as a competitor. Thats no longer the case. Triple M is completing now with KROCK in LA, Radio X in London and Star FM Berlin, as well as spotify / apple music.
if you’re not meeting my needs, there’s thousands of other stations out there i can listen to oin my Alexa or in my car via carplay i can try that will.
I totally agree. I simply won’t put up with the lackluster and bogan content on Triple M anymore because I simply don’t have to. I can stream a number of overseas stations or Rebel or Breeze FM. Or play my YT music if I need to, although I generally prefer overseas radio to that most of the time.
It’s as you say, if my “local” FM stations don’t meet my needs - which they don’t - I go elsewhere.
I do find it strange though as I thought that having more competition from online would actually make the terrestrial FM stations actually improve their playlists and content, but in fact the opposite is true.
I find it astonishing that quote would actually be the case. Why would a generation that’s grown up with TV, shows and movies on demand be listening to commercial radio with its ads, traffic reports and news updates?
Traffic and news would be the reason why. i know when i get up in the morning i turn on the ABC for traffic so i know how early i need to leave for work and what route to take.
the local stuff is what is keeping people listening. if i’m not getting local traffic or news, theres no difference between listening to a station in brisbane or london or berlin.
Exactly, kids are listening to the radio during the school commute, which develops a habit which they continue when they get their own licence.
As good as on-demand content can be, it will never compete with really well produced LIVE and Local programming.
And programmers always want underestimate the fact that young people do actually want to listen to slightly older cool presenters, the kind of people they aspire to be.
I 100% agree with this. And @Shrubbery (and to be fair the whole industry) convenient left out the context in which that quote was made. Just a few lines below was:
Over time the ratings methodology has changed, which can make numbers of a long period not comparable. The ratings are also skewed towards measuring only people who listen to the radio. If the someone from GFK knocks on the door of someone who doesn’t listen to radio, do you really think they’re going to agree to fill out a diary or wear a monitor to track what they see as an archaic media? What they really need to publish is what their hit rate is for getting people to participate. I would expect that that has declined significantly over the last 20 years.
Even this suggestion that 10-17’s only listen to the radio in the car with parents show where we’re at. 20 years ago every teenager would have a radio in their bedroom and be regularly listening to whatever station they chose - generally whatever the rest of the family wasn’t listening to! Can you honestly say that’s happening now? If I had a teenager I’d be very worried if they were listening to the radio on their own in Sydney or Melbourne where they could easily be hearing whatever Kyle unleashes.
Probably will be Jimmy & Nath again. They seem to be the standard survey break fills for Winter & Summer now (and have been for the last few years)
At least if they do summer breakfast again they can maintain a presence in the Sydney breakfast market by keeping their voices on 2Day until late December. While other shows will be all wrapped up. Of course… still don’t know who’s doing breakfast next year…
My parents were approached to participate in a gfk diary survey years ago. Dad didn’t listen to radio, and mum only listened at breakfast. They raised this at the time as they thought their minimal listening habit would make them ineligible for surveying, but were told that the survey is just as interested in recording the habits of people who don’t listen (or don’t listen a lot) to radio, to give them a idea as to who is, or actually isn’t, listening.
Absolutely, and they need these people to participate to get an accurate result for audience size, however I suspect those people would also be less willing to participate and therefore are underrepresented in the results.
