3AK’s Doug Aiton speaks to radioinfo

While 3AK is last on the ratings ladder in Melbourne at 1.1%, there appears to be a new feeling of optimism at the station after the recent company General Meeting which put Ron Hall in charge.

One of the changes to take place as a result of the management change has been moving Doug Aiton to an earlier timeslot to try and pull in more ratings during the early evening timeslot.

Aiton spoke to radioinfo about his shift change and his view on the current management:

 

radioinfo: “What brought about the change?”

Aiton: I have been doing Nights for two-and-a-half years. I asked for that program because I wanted to have days to myself, because I was writing a book, which is a history of Australia’s Federal elections.

That book was co-authored by Terry Lane and has now been published. It is called “The Digest: a history of Australia’s Federal elections.”

I inherited a ratings figure of less than 1 per cent, and after a year it had grown to 5 per cent. It is still 5 per cent, on a station that rates 1 per cent.

Management decided they should utilise my alleged “audience pulling power” elsewhere. We discussed several options, and I favoured 6pm to 9pm.

 

radioinfo: “Did you want to make the change?”

Aiton: Yes. While I greatly enjoyed building up a program of “companion radio,” eventually I found the midnight finishes tiring.

 

radioinfo: “Do you think this will help the sagging ratings of the station?”

Aiton: That’s the intention. We hope we can take my ratings back three hours and establish a flow through to midnight. I am also confident that other changes we have made through the day will strengthen the station.

 

radioinfo: “How are things now that there is a new management team in charge?”

Aiton: Things are better than they have been since I joined the station in 1999. I had been a supporter of the management team that has now taken control. I was greatly pleased when they gained control.

 

radioinfo: “What did you think of Jeff Chatfield?”

Aiton: Jeff was a businessman first, and never had a passion for radio. I believe you need to have that passion to run a radio station. Our new CEO Ron Hall has a genuine love of radio.

 

radioinfo: “Will you duplicate the format you had in late evenings or develop a new format?”

Aiton: I am more or less transplanting my Night program forward three hours. This will be a great change to what has been happening in the 6pm to 9pm time slot in the past.

Up to now, it has been rather cold leftovers of the day’s current affairs. I am changing the entire notion, but because I have been a journalist and current affairs broadcaster for so long, there will still be an element of current affairs when things are happening. For example, last week we dropped everything when the Amrozi sentence happened while I was on air.

 

radioinfo: “Who will be your regulars?”

Aiton: The same ones, except we’ve lost a couple because of the time difference, most sadly our Japan correspondent Josh Kidd, who was very popular. We are hoping he will stay with the new Night program.

I have also been able to bring back “Mick Gagliardi of Mick’s Flicks” who was very popular on an earlier program I did at 3AK but couldn’t be on the Night program.

Basically the regulars are Ian McMahon (travel), Michael Harvey (Canberra), Terry Morrison (computers), Sandi Rogers (naturopathy), Tony Allsop (gardening), Ben Edwards (wine), Anna Lindars (pets), Basil Zempalis (Perth) Alex First (cinema), Mick Gagliardi (home movies), Peter Young (New York), Silas James (London).

 

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