StopPress talks to Dean Buchanan, group director entertainment, and Shayne Currie, managing editor, about which personalities we should watch this year, and about what they think will make or break the radio industry.
It’s that time of year again. We look at the winners, the losers and drama of the latest edition of the Radio Survey results.
Industry happenings at Phantom Billstickers, TVNZ, iProspect, Mitsubishi Motors New Zealand, and NZME.
The radio industry has been fizzing in recent months. MediaWorks claimed that it was leading the charge on a new research methodology, NZME then decided to independently finance an industry-wide T1 survey after it was scrapped earlier this year, and then Gill Stewart stepped down from her position as the general manager of The Radio Bureau (TRB). So is there still a place for TRB?
In December, the radio industry came to an accord that the radio survey scheduled for the first half of the year would not occur. However, it now seems that after several weeks of contemplation, NZME has taken matters into its own hands and earlier today announced it will fully fund an independent survey of radio audiences in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. And this move has caught MediaWorks off-guard.
In the digital age, the buying of radio frequencies seems almost archaic. The internet means that any major radio brand can now be accessed across the nation. And yet, in the recent Radio Spectrum auction, NZME broke a record by paying $7.4 million to retain the frequency it currently uses for Newstalk ZB in Christchurch. And while slightly more frugal than its competitor, MediaWorks Radio also pulled out the chequebook to pay $2.5 million for a frequency used for Mai FM in Waikato and $2 million for a frequency that will host George FM in Wellington. StopPress chats to MediaWorks group content director Leon Wratt and NZME Radio managing director Dean Buchanan to find out if it’s still worth paying that much for radio frequencies.
Ogilvy & Mather has claimed July’s Orca Award for placing an advertising message inside a music track. At 55 seconds into ‘I See Red’, Tim Finn interrupts the song urging people to go online and sign ‘The Last 55 petition’ to help save the Maui’s Dolphins. Joe Holden from BIG scored a merit award with the stories of Landrover’s origins told in a “true oldschool storyteller’s” voice.
Over the course of the last few weeks, TVNZ has been riling up support of the Kiwi masses via a serious of humorous TVCs in anticipation of the cross-Tasman battle that will soon see team from New Zealand take on Australia in the latest rendering of The Amazing Race. The campaign has now been shifted into its next stage, which features a cross-Tasman tug of war and a mini Amazing Race featuring local celebs. PLUS: see which records were broken by the premiere of Resurrection.
The creative team behind The Edge TV were in the MediaWorks offices until the wee hours of Friday morning, putting together the final pieces for the Edge TV, a project that was first announced in April. PLUS: the network stoush continues.
TRN has announced the launch of a new Auckland-based radio station and the extension of the ZM radio brand onto TV in the same week that MediaWorks is set to unveil the Edge TV. We chatted to chief content officer Dean Buchanan about these moves. PLUS: Radio Sport relegated to AM and TRN crashes The Edge TV launch party.
At an ad-hoc conference held this morning at Ponsonby Central, TRN announced several significant changes to its offering. The key announcements, delivered via TRN’s chief executive Jane Hastings, chief content officer Dean Buchanan and commercial director Laura Maxwell-Hansen, were presented as part of the overarching ‘Change is Now’ campaign, which will serve to promote all the updates over coming months. In addition to rebranding Classic Hits, TRN has also invested in a multimedia studio and shuffled its staff.
Clemenger businesses on the move in Welly, Bauer looks inside and finds a new advertising director, The Radio Network lures a big radio fish back home, Fairfax hands Lions Festivals baton to Val Morgan, Mark Reekie heads for the islands and Spotify announces new ANZ head of sales.