‘Don’t judge HitFM strategy until Hamish and Andy are on board’ says SCA content boss
Hamish and Andy
The head of content for the troubled HitFM network has urged the market not to judge it until later in the year when star hosts Hamish and Andy rejoin to front its national drive show.
Southern Cross Austereo (ASX: SCA) has fallen to third place nationally for the first time ever behind rivals Australian Radio Network and Nova Entertainment, due largely to a collapse in audience share for its Hit stations across the eastern seaboard markets in the latest survey today.
“There is no point in judging the strategy until it is complete,” said Craig Bruce, head of content for SCA. “There is a very important piece of the puzzle that is not on the air yet. Hamish and Andy are not the cure-all and they are not the saviours, but they will add to what we are doing.”
Not only do SCA have nothing positive to talk about, they make stuff up in their press release. Surely the IAB needs to get involved in the claims they are making in their Sydney HIT press releases
Number 1 on Facebook. Thats laughable
http://www.scaengage.com.au/wp.....pagers.pdf
I’m not sure how even a strong showing by Hamish and Andy will save the hit/Today network — assuming H and A are still a thing among the fickle younger audience by mid-year. Maybe putting them in a networked breakfast show would work. It’d be bold, perhaps foolish, but they don’t have a lot to lose, especially in Sydney.
Claws being snatched at much?
Pinning hopes on Hamish & Blandy’s infantile shtick kinda ignores how well Dan & Maz are rating on drive, let alone that they are actually fresh & often genuinely funny; they aint the problem.
Presume the ‘plan’ is to go backwards, so well played.
So Craig Bruce is saying to clients and agencies don’t buy us now we are crap number 3, but in August 4 months away the Hamish and Andy show will have such a pronounced affect overall we maybe could get on some schedules. Bet you the sales team choked on their coffee when that went public.
Not a good business model to put all your eggs in one basket
craig. After all these years in radio your strategy is ‘wait till August?’ We’ve heard ‘wait till next year’ ‘wait till next survey’ and now ‘wait till August’ by August Hamish and Andy will be joining a network with no strong shows and the wrong position in market against 2 other very strong drive shows with loyal listener bases
If I was Hamish and Andy I would get the lawyers onto their out clauses in their contracts before they join the ship at the bottom of the ocean
It’s a laughable strategy, pinning their hopes on a two-hour national show. And as for the Hit Network’s “new” breakfast shows? The vast majority are established teams or personalities. Brisbane – Stav & Abby have been on air for a few years, but this year they are without Labby. Sydney – Dan & Maz have been a team for quite a few years and have been on 2day’s schedule in late-drive and drive for some three years. Melbourne – Fifi Box comes off the back of national drive and and an established media background, and Dave Thornton has been around radio and TV for years. Perth – Will & Woody have also been a team floating around the SCA traps for years, and the point of moving Heidi over there was to cash in on her Big Brother status. What does all this tell us? The strategy is falling flat. The Hit music is repetitive and almost the same as Nova, the imaging is too try-hard and even the promotions coming out of SCA lately are weak.
What’s the alternative? For Melbourne, Chrissie Swan & Joel Creasey on breakfast. Brisbane – ship across the Sea FM team of Charli Robinson and Ross Wallman. In Sydney – bump Jules Lund back up with Emma Freedman and Dan & Maz can head off to Weekend Breakfast. Music wise – drop the “old school” segment and incorporate more gold into regular rotation.
Wow. Some big statements made in this article.
Craig has presided over the mega slip from AEO days to SCA. They let K and J go and if Village Roadshow were the principal shareholder bet my booty they would have stayed. To see a once dominant network on it’s knees in the key markets is sad. Then again check the annual report on salary packages of executives who made decisions that turned the Titanic into the iceberg.