Buckle up: Stephenson’s ARN is going to be a wild ride
Former Mediaweek editor and publisher James Manning is coming on board as a Mumbrella columnist and contributor. In his debut, Manning takes a look at what ARN’s past week says about the future of the company.
Has he got some surprises for you: Michael Stephenson at the ARN upfront (Mumbrella)
When he arrived at ARN as chief executive at the start of 2010, Ciaran Davis started to shake up their radio brands which certainly seemed in need of some TLC.
Working alongside his head of content Duncan Campbell, Davis talked a big game and usually delivered.
Their most spectacular deal was poaching Kyle and Jackie O from SCA in 2014. When the duo arrived at Kiis 106.5, their newly branded Sydney home, they brought the audience with them.
Davis and Campbell also successfully lured British broadcaster Christian O’Connell to Australia where he soon dominated FM radio in his new market of Melbourne.
But Davis over-reached with his plan to secure the Triple M network and merge the digital operations of iHeart and Listnr.
As part of that ambitious strategy he started overpaying the soon-to-networked breakfast hosts O’Connell, Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson. While the latter duo attracted all the headlines about a supposed $200m 10-year deal, O’Connell also got a smaller bump. That deal might be examined more next year when the ratings start to come in for the markets where his breakfast will be networked. The only one of those that really matters will be Sydney, of course.
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Incoming ARN chief executive Michael Stephenson was perhaps expected to bring some stability to the broadcaster after what had been a pretty wild ride over the past couple of years.
But after 14 press releases lit up inboxes as the ARN Upfront event unfolded last week, Stephenson revealed shareholders and advertisers should continue to buckle up for what could be a bumpy ride.
While Davis stayed in the shadows at the Upfront event, Campbell, now working as an ARN consultant, was out of the country.
In his Unmade podcast with Stephenson last week, Tim Burrowes quizzed the former Nine sales chief about how many of the changes had his fingerprints on them. It was a question Stephenson cleverly deflected, but Burrowes left listeners feeling it was most of them.
The new ARN chief was also carefully quizzed on The Game Changers podcast where former programmers Craig Bruce and Irene Hulme grilled Stephenson and his content chief Lauren Joyce about some of the surprising decisions and the implications for ratings next year.
Neither podcast would have been the endorsement Stephenson must have been hoping for.
Let’s look at some of the 14 announcements.
The most anticipated news was an update on the networking plans for Kiis and Gold. As Mumbrella detailed last week that means two Gold stations in Adelaide. Christian O’Connell should be a safe bet for networked breakfast, but we used to think that about Kyle and Jackie O too! One thing I have learned over 25 years of analysing radio ratings is that it is dangerous to make a prediction.
That prevents me from forecasting with too much confidence that Craig Lowe won’t work in Brisbane breakfast. Or Smallzy will be a hit working two shifts, or Ben & Liam will find an audience at what was until now Mix 102.3.
James Manning, former publisher and editor of Mediaweek, is joining Mumbrella as a contributor
The admirable decision to launch a Women’s Sports Audio Network might not quickly move the dial a lot when it comes to ratings, but it’s a brave move that should attract some corporate support and long-term listener retention.
iHeart Live is a play to leverage what Nova gets from its Red Room brand. ARN has tried this before. It came close to securing Miley Cyrus to headline the iHeart Radio Australia Fest in 2014 but the plug was pulled on that and further events.
There was plenty of emphasis around on-demand audio at the upfront, with an Are Media partnership, plus the signing of Meshel Laurie’s successful Australian True Crime series, a new Love Island Australia series and the arrival of former Triple M producer and publicist Jana Hocking who is now a successful global relationships columnist. Hocking started broadcasting on Kiis stations on Sunday nights in September and the show makes a strong podcast.
It wouldn’t have been an upfront without new data partnerships and Stephenson revealed several new signings plus the launch of the Ruby Australia content studio.
If the programming changes being introduced by Stephenson and Joyce do increase ratings and revenue they will be hailed as geniuses. If not, well, the ARN board has in the past proven to be patient so the new team should have some time to implement their vision.
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