FYI | May 12 2006
By Greg Peel
As far as Australian listed stocks go, the latest radio market survey (#3 for the year) shows the big loser is APN News & Media (APN), owner of the Australian Radio Network. ARN’s share fell 1.4% to 14.3% on the 3-city measure, as the Mix and Classic stations slumped further from their collective 17% market share of 2005.
Austereo (AEO) enjoyed modest gains following major rebranding initiatives which seem to be paying off for the likes of 2DAY and 2MMM.
After morning announcer upheaval, national broadcaster ABC 702 has clawed back some of the losses suffered from the departures of Angela Catterns and Sally Loane. One thing is sure however, and that is very few ABC listeners followed Angela to the boomer-specific hybrid known as Vega. This was clearly owner DMG’s hope.
While DMG’s Nova has picked up from a bit of a slump of late, Deutsche Bank bluntly suggests that a "major repositioning" of Vega is inevitable.
DMG failed to see what everybody else knew – that ABC listeners are ABC listeners. No amount of poaching, headline names or limited advertising was ever going to change that. As 702 is effectively the incumbent boomer station, it is Vega’s main target. Add to that those commercial listeners who are tired of the same limited song lists of the solid-block-of-rock mostly retro look-alikes.
Vega’s attempt to mix a wide variety of musical offerings with a bit of current affairs just hasn’t gelled. One industry insider admitted to me that, unfortunately, Angela Catterns has made a big mistake.