New Southern Cross CEO Grant Blackley says ‘improvements needed’ in some areas
Incoming CEO of Southern Cross Austereo Grant Blackley and chairman Peter Bush have signalled that its troubled Sydney radio station 2Day Hit 104.1FM is their “number one challenge”.
The comments were made in an interview with Mumbrella following yesterday’s announcement of the appointment of the former CEO of Network Ten as the replacement to former CEO Rhys Holleran.
“Our number one challenge is to recover in one station in Sydney,” said Bush, referring to 2Day. “We dominate in Melbourne and everybody seems to forget the broader performance of the business – regional radio is very strong and it is very early days for (Hit Network) to build share and loyalty.”
Southern Cross Austereo has seen a turbulent 18 months in which profits tumbled last year after its previously top-rated radio station 2Day crashed to the bottom of the ratings following the loss of Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson to rivals KiisFM.
Bush said he believed that the initial signs for Kyle and Jackie O’s replacements Dan Debuf and Maz Compton (Dan and Maz) were positive, despite the duo falling below three per cent audience share last survey.
“Dan and Maz are still early days but the signs up there are really, really good,” said Bush. “We just have to be patient. Everyone outside the business seems to think we are in trouble but we just have that one challenge (2Day).
“If you look at the Southern Cross business across the board the business is still in a very strong position.”
The announcement of Blackley as the new head of the business yesterday morning prompted a slight fall in Southern Cross Austereo’s share price (ASX: SXL) from $1.09 to $1.05, although it has slowly been rising on Friday morning to $1.07 at midday.
New CEO Blackley supported his chair saying the overall portfolio of radio and television assets is what drew him to reenter the media following a tumultuous exit from Ten back in 2011.
“The principal reason I was attracted to Southern Cross is you have a wonderful history, strong existing portfolio of brands, a great group of people and you put all that together you have some positive challenges but you have a solid base to work from,” said Blackley.
“There is improvement needed in a few areas but any company I have ever worked with always has its strengths and weaknesses.”
Asked about comments from competitors that the HitFM strategy is struggling nationally, with mixed results in various markets, Bush said: “I think we are satisfied that the business is in good shape.
“I’m a believer that you can always do better. Part of the reason we were looking for someone like Grant is that someone with his experience in the media can bring an awful lot to the table to help us with continuous improvement.”
SCA has been clear that it believes the HitFM strategy needs time to bed in, with executives previously saying they were “at the bottom of the cycle” and asking the radio market to wait to judge it until drive stars Hamish and Andy return in July.
However, Blackley conceded there was some work to be done. “I think we can improve the assets as they stand,” he said.
“Those that are already successful and then there are those that need a little bit of work.”
Asked about the whether SCA was hopeful of changes to the cross media rules that might allow a much speculated takeover of SCA by Nine Entertainment Co Bush played down any imminent change in the legislation.
“I’m one of the few people in the media industry who thinks this is something that isn’t on the government’s agenda anytime soon,” said Bush.
“These guys are trying to push through a budget with a very very difficult Senate and I can’t see either the Minister or Prime Minister wanting to take this on.
“Whilst all of the regional groups have a clear and cohesive view on what we think should happen but certainly amongst the free-to-air owners there is no consensus. We have to be masters of our own destiny in any case and put ourselves in the best position regardless of the media laws.”
Asked what success would look like for Blackley in a few years the new CEO commented: “Success in a year or two’s time? People will look back and see a journey.
“One that has taken Southern Cross to a far stronger, more cohesive set of brands and an earning profile that is a sustainable level of earnings that shows growth in the short term and also into the future.
“That is where I would like to see the company in a few years.”
Nic Christensen
Ok I like you Grant and respect the work you did at Channel 10 in the early days but don’t listen to the SCA management who tell you that things are going to be alright and you just have to focus on 2dayFM. Thats what they’ve been saying for 18 months now. Please take a different approach in market and acknowledge that the business and stations are in really bad shape. Its not just 2dayfm.
All the Hit stations are at the bottom or second to bottom in their markets
There’s not a single successful breakfast show on Hit
The Hit rebranding is an unmitigated failure, standing for nothing and hemorrhaging audience even with teens and 18-24yo’s which are the demo.
H&A coming back have little influence over the overall 10+ share as drive contributes very little to overall station share
Revenue is off the cliff
outside of Melb, all Triple M stations are irrelevant
staff are jumping ship by the truckloads
And even with all this, you want us to think everything is looking good with just a little bit of focus on 2dayfm.
Be honest, transparent, acknowledge the huge issues and maybe the industry will support this once great business to get back on its feet again
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2Day currently number 8 in the BrandData engagement rankings, posting very low engagement compared to some surprising stations. Radio generally posts extraordinarily high engagement rates compared to most of the other 169 categories on the system.
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Shane certainly sounds like a man whos “been there done that.” Certainly 2Day has “Hilly” terrain in front of it but id be backing the management team there to get it right.
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Never heard of the brand data engagement rankings. Are they relevant?
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Shane you’re at it again… I think you need to let it go ….
Exciting times for the team at Southern Cross Austereo.
New board, new chair, new CEO and a great leadership group that will turn it around…
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Shane – you sound like an expert maybe you should ask Grant for a job!!!. Don’t you reckon before accepting the top job he would know of the challenges ahead of him – basically 2 R’s = Ratings equals Revenue. The Grant Blackley that I have known since he was at George Patts will get in, ascertain what needs to be done and the leaky bucket and fix it. He will identify the right people to be on the team or not and get on with it. Just a view of someone who knows GB well and also spent a considerable time at AEO when it was pretty dominant but some tell tale signs started to emerge.
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