Scandals, fun, innovation and changes characterised the radio year in 2012. This is radioinfo’s year in review.
Our google analytics figures tell us there were over 1.1 million page views for our content in the past year. Your most viewed pages were our home page and jobs page, followed by our chronicle of industry movements in Comings and Goings and our Brains Trust page. Readers spent an average of just over two minutes on each page.
In the first half of the year, before launching our new improved site, we had 343,653 page views, and after the new look site was launched, our usage dramatically increased, scoring 719,561 page views in the second six months of the year and increasing readership all round.
You liked being kept up to date on what other media are saying about radio through our Hot off the Net clippings service. Also well viewed was our On This Day page, the Aircheck chart and the special AKG competition.
Most read stories
Some of our most read news stories this year included the amusing story about body tattoo advertising for the Australian Radio School in Adelaide and a funny side to the serous Jimmy Saville story, with a viral blooper being heavily listened to.
MC and Mel’s prank and its fall out, plus Alan Jones’ advertiser boycott were, of course, huge news in the second half of the year.
Also highly read were some sad stories concerning the death of Hawkesbury Radio’s Nicole Fitzsimons and little Leo Murray. John Laws’ conversation with a potential killer was also a highly read story on radioinfo.
NXFM’s Kim and Steve also made the most read stories list, with news of their final show after 11 years on NX FM Newcastle.
Our interview with Media Watch’s Jonathan Holmes and the launch of the new digital station Stardust were also well read
We published 1235 original stories this year, about 50% more than in the previous year and we clipped nearly 2000 stories from other media for our Hot off the Net page
January
The sackvilekyle campaign continued into the new year as the biggest story in January 2012 with the fallout from Kyle’s fat slag slur the previous year continuing to pressure 2Day advertisers. We also covered the Big Day Out and the Hottest 100, Hong Kong’s impending digital switchover and ABC Brisbane’s new home.
Also on the radar was SCA’s expansion of its new music station and 2NZ’s 75th birthday. Alan Jones starred in Annie, and 4KQ gained a power increase. Triple M’s Matty Johns turned down big bucks to stay with radio, and Brisbane’s Grill Team introduced the sport of wife carrying to Brisbane. The Home Brew show on community station Triple H entered its second decade on air, DMG created the role of New Music Marketing and Solutions Director for Jocelyn Abbey, and Kevin Best and John Dickson left Austereo.
Digital radios went into Lexus luxury model cars and CRA expanded its ratings methodology to include trials of online data collection
See all our stories from January 2012 here:
Jan 28-31 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/93
Jan 22-26 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/94
Jan 17-21 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/95
Jan 10-17 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/96
Jan 4-10 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/97
February
People featured in February included sports nut Francis Leach, who joined the Grandstand digital radio channel to present breakfast, Hope FM’s Leigh Hatcher, former DMG programmer Mark Hales, who began a new radio talent website, Peter Cornelius, who left Nielsen Media and Rosso and Claire who teamed up for breakfast on Mix 106.5 and John Brennan retired, again. We also marked the passing of much loved ABC Radio executives Russell Stendell and Ian Wolfe and paid tribute to 2HD’s Warrick Teece, who also passed away in that month.
On 21st February survey 1 results were released. Gina Rinehart made her first foray onto the Fairfax Media share register, which began a year of destabilising activity for the Fairfax board and Fairfax Radio. Macquarie Radio Network was also having its troubles, with February marking some very public discussions over the failing finances of Melbourne Talk Radio experiment 3MTR as it began to wind down its operations. DMG launched Google Hangout, we interviewed Murray Green as he retired from the ABC, marked the 80th birthdays of 2CH and 3AW.
We also extensively covered the Australian Broadcasting Summit, and activities surrounding the inaugural World Radio Day, reviewed the community radio Dial app, and chronicled the opening of Afghanistan’s Nai Media Institute.
See all our stories from February 2012 here:
Feb 1-5 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/92
Feb 5-9 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/91
Feb 9-13 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/90
Feb 13-15 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/89
Feb 15-20 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/88
Feb 21- 22 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/87
Feb 23-27 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/86
Feb 27-29 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/85
March
3MTR closed down on 1st March, with licence owners Pacific Star taking the station back to a 3MP music format. Also significant was the relaxing of the much hated ‘trigger event’ rules for regional radio stations and ACMA’s review of standards that closed a loophole on advertising disclosure. ACMA also found SCA guilty of breaching the decency codes with Kyle Sandilands on air comments.
We covered the Southern Community Media Association’s conference in Ballarat, the Finkelstein inquiry and the Convergence Review, Grant Broadcasters’ country music OB in the Hunter, the first of Nova’s Red Room gigs and Graham Mott’s retirement from Fairfax Radio.
People in the news included Dirk Anthony, who left SBS Radio, Jim Spigelman who became ABC Chairman, David Kidd who was appointed PD at 2GB and Ian Turpie, who passed away from cancer.
GFK ramped up its activities in Australia and we examined the pros and cons of radio people meters. 4RO Rocky held its 80th birthday bash, Rebel Radio and Breeze FM both increased their coverage areas in South Australia and Cruise Adelaide was rebranded to ARN’s Classic Hits image. DMG’s 95.3 and 91.5 began a rebranding transition that would eventually lead to the launch of Smooth FM, and survey 2 results were released on 26 March.
See all our stories from March 2012 here:
Mar 1-4 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/84
Mar 5-7 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/83
Mar 7-12 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/82
Mar 12-15 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/81
Mar 15-21 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/80
Mar 21-24 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/79
Mar 25-28 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/78
April
We covered the results of the Canberra, Wollongong, Newcastle and Gold Coast surveys in April and the passing of Jimmy Little. Radio stations went mad with coverage of the One Direction tour, radio revenue slumped in April, ABC702 exhumed ageing bands from their garages, and digital radios became more affordable and plentiful.
We interviewed Merrick Watts about life, work and his new Triple M drive gig and Sophie McNeill, the new host of triple j’s Hack program. Sami Lukas joined Mix drive, replacing Becks, Steve Price moved to nights on 2GB and Stuart Bocking took over mornings on 2UE.
A receptionist at Nova turned down a date with a One Direction band member, Talksport began its Australian and Asian expansion, and we covered the NAB conference in America.
Gavin O’Reilly resigned from the APN board, signalling a power shift away from the O’Reilly family in the ARN parent company. We broke the story that regional commercial country music network Goanna was for sale and celebrated 40 years on air with 2ST.
See all our stories from April 2012 here:
Apr 1-2 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/77
Apr 2-4 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/76
Apr 5-11 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/75
Apr 11-12 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/74
Apr 13-17 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/73
Apr 18-19 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/72
Apr 19-20 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/71
Apr 21-25 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/70
Apr 25-29 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/69
May
Survey 3 results came out in May, we interviewed Duncan Campbell about changes at the ARN networks, and Joan Warner and Malcolm Long gave us their thoughts on the Convergence Review.
Jason Bouman’s discrimination case against the Australian Traffic Network was launched and Kym Dillon settled his contract dispute with Austereo out of court. Hamish and Andy interviewed the British High Commissioner in preparation for their UK tour and Kiwi Todd and Wally joined Wave FM. radioinfo exclusively covered the launch of Smooth FM, the Radio Asia conference in Jakarta and the International Radio Festival in Iran.
The government axed funding to community radio’s AMRAP new music project, but the sector reached a new rights agreement with APRA and AMCOSS. CRA launched a radioconnects website to promote radio advertising and radio CEO’s slept rough for charity.
See all our stories from May 2012 here:
May 1-2 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/68
May 2-4 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/67
May 5-8 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/66
May 9-11 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/65
May 12-14 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/64
May 15-24 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/63
May 24-30 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/62
June
We brought you an in depth look at how mobile apps can be used for radio in an interview with Jason Malaure, and Austereo’s Adelaide manager was attacked by a disturbed listener.
Mark Scott took the Australian newspaper to task fort misunderstanding the role of the ABC and digital radio sales continued to rise.
Survey 4 was released and in June and July we began to cut over to our new look website.
See stories from June 2012 here:
June 1-7 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/61
June 7-14 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/60
June 15-30 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/59
Survey results stories http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/11111, http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/11112, http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/11115
July
The radio industry prepared to mark the 3rd anniversary of digital radio with joint outside broadcasts in five main cities.
In July, legislation passed through the parliament reinstating the ABC’s staff elected representative, and ARN and DMG moved to align radio with retail with shopping apps. Keith McGowan, who retired from 3AW in 2011 began writing for radioinfo in July and the ABC celebrated its 80th birthday.
SCA’s digital radio comedy station Barry morphed into the Buddha Chill format and Jorian Gardner became infamous with his offensive comments about Julia Gillard. Bieber Fever also hit town this month.
See stories from July 2012 here:
Digital radio OBs http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/11221
ABC legislation http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/11123
Shopping apps http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/11126, www.radioinfo.com.au/news/1112
Keith McGowan http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/11130
ABC 80th http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/11132
Buddah http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/11150
Jorian Gardner http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/11160
Bieber http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/11211
August
August marked the 1 millionth digital radio listener and later that month a series of breakfast OBs marked 3 years of digital radio. Thieves stole FM transmitters in north Queensland and Survey 5 results were released.
We interviewed Kyle Sandilands and launched the Brains Trust this month.
The ad ‘Earphone Bully’ was a great example of the radio advertising craft and won several prizes after being recognised in the Siren Awards. Publishing remains challenging but radio is performing well reported APN in its annual results. Fairfax Media reported a $2.7 loss and Macquarie Radio Network profit was also down.
John Michael Howson let rip with a Nazi rant on 3AW and was suspended and Clive Simpson, Ian Lane and Col Campbell passed away. SCA’s Stardust launched on digital radio and Shane Healy was under fire for programming decisions on 3AW, including axing Derryn Hinch. ARN built closer links to America’s iHeartRadio festival.
See stories from August 2012 here:
Survey 5 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/11272, http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/11273, http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/11274
Aug 1-12 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/59
Aug 12-15 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/58
Aug 15-17 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/57
Aug 17-20 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/56
Aug 21-23 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/55
Aug 23-24 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/54
Aug 24-29 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/53
Aug 29-30 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/52
September
Lachlan Murdoch bought the other half of DMG radio this month and Coast FM Mandurah blasted a school into space history. Survey 6 results were revealed this month and so were the results of Canberra’s second survey for the year.
2XL celebrated its 75th birthday and a Triple M producer acted fast to expunge the offensive chorus of the Angels’ song Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again from the airwaves during a live OB. MCM Media announced its de-listing from the stock exchange, Swinburne axed its commercial radio course and John Miller passed away.
We interviewed the key players behind The Edge in a series of exclusive stories, Paul Weyland wrote exclusively for radioinfo about Sales and we profiled SBS Radio’s Pop Asia.
It was grand final season and radio stations went all out with their coverage. Mix Melbourne gave away a house. CRA announced a new tender for the next few years of surveys, and changes to the way survey one will be conducted in future. We covered the NAB Radio Show and the ASRA Conference and Nick Scott replaced Paul Bartlett at SCA’s Gold Coast operation.
ABC Melbourne employee Jill Meagher went missing and was later found dead.
See stories from September 2012 here:
Sep 1-2 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/51
Sep 2-5 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/50
Sep 5-6 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/49
Sep 6-7 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/48
Sep 7-11 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/47
Sep 11-13 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/46
Sep 13-16 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/45
Sep 17-19 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/44
Sep 19-20 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/44
Sep 20-24 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/42
Sep 24-26 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/41
Sep 26-28 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/40
October
Advertisers boycotted the Alan Jones show after his offensive comments about Julia Gillard’s father, and Triple M tried to entice them to Merrick’s drive show. John Laws parodied himself when commenting on the Jones remarks on ABC TV’s 7.30 Report. Survey 7 was released this month.
The CRA National Radio Conference and ACRAs were held this month, with extensive coverage on radioinfo. We interviewed all the winners at the venue and you can hear their comments in our stories from that month.
Fairfax board woes continued as the company released its annual report. 7HO launched a Jobs campaign in Hobart. We did in depth interviews with Jonesy and Amanda and Graham Mott.
We covered the ABC Local Radio Awards and the New Zealand survey results and the ABU awards in Seoul. Redundancies and program changes at Radio National were also on our agenda, as was Psy’s Gangnam Style. The Jason Bouman case was settled out of court and a naked man jumped from a plane for FM104.7 Canberra.
See stories from October 2012 here:
Oct 1-3 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/39
Oct 3-4 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/38
Oct 4-5 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/37
Oct 5-8 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/36
Oct 8-10 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/35
Oct 10-11 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/34
Oct 11-13 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/33
Oct 14-17 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/32
Oct 17-18 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/31
Oct 18-19 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/30
Oct 19-23 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/29
Oct 23-25 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/28
Oct 25-26 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/27
Oct 26-29 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/26
Oct 29-31 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/25
November
Melbourne Cup day generated coverage from stations, including RSN, Nova and ABC Melbourne. radioinfo brought you coverage of the community sector’s CBAA conference in Melbourne and revealed exclusively that the community sector may switch off digital radio if it cannot secure more government funding.
The third Newcastle and Gold Coast surveys were released this month and 7HO achieved its target of creating $1 million worth of jobs in Hobart.
Mark Colvin talked of a crisis in credibility facing media and Nova Adelaide got a new breakfast team. A court decision confirmed that SCA must sell its Sunshine Coast stations.
Paul Barber and Binny Lum passed away this month. Hobart’s radio king Richard Moore met Prince Charles, and we interviewed KO FM’s David and Tanya.
Football radio rights were finally finalised, almost, and Star FM Central Coast announced a new lineup. Jane Reilly was announced as FiveAA’s new breakfast presenter, joining Keith Conlon. Zinc 100.7 backed a Townsville flash mob, i98 began this year’s truck convoy appeal and we spoke exclusively to Ray Hadley.
Russell Tate said MRN lost over $1 million from the Jones advertiser boycott, and WAN’s CEO told radioinfo that Seven West’s radio business is ‘a nice little earner.’ Jorian Gardner was axed from 2CC after more controversial activities and Derryn Hinch had his last week on air.
See stories from November 2012 here:
Nov 1-2 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/24
Nov 2-4 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/23
Nov 4-7 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/22
Nov 7-8 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/21
Nov 8-10 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/20
Nov 10-13 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/19
Nov 13-15 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/18
Nov 15-17 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/17
Nov 17-20 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/16
Nov 20-21 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/15
Nov 21-23 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/14
Nov 23-26 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/13
Nov 26-29 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/12
Nov 29-30 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/11
December
Alan Jones apologised for his racist comments, Sami Lukis and Yumi Stynes were named as next year’s Mix Sydney breakfast hosts and there were lineup changes at ABC666 Canberra.
On the 5th December MC and Mel played a prank call on the hospital where Kate Middleton was being treated for morning sickness, then all hell broke lose…
Other events in December included Survey 8 results, Steve Swadling and Rhett Walker’s passing, ABC’s Heywire winners and the CBAA appointed a new General manager. Harris Transmitters was acquired by Gores and Nielsen bought Arbitron. We exclusively revealed the 100 most played songs on Aussie radio this year, a study of radio’s influence on politics and new research into how far FM radio signals travel into space.
See stories from November 2012 here:
Dec 1-3 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/10
Dec 3-5 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/9
Dec 5-6 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/8
Dec 6-9 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/7
Dec 9-11 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/6
Dec 11-12 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/5
Dec 12-14 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/4
Dec 14-18 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/3
Dec 18-21 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/2
Dec 21-30 http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/all/1
We hope you have found our coverage both informative and entertaining. We will do it all again for you next year.
Wishing you a restful and happy New Year holiday plus success and prosperity during 2013 from radioinfo.