Kim Mothershaw announced last week that he would join 4BH Breakfast after many years with 4KQ. How has 4KQ fared since he left eight months ago and how will its new breakfast team face the challenge of Mothershaw being on one of their main competitors.
Radioinfo went to Classic Hits 4KQ Program Manager Bob Gallagher, who is now also part of the new breakfast team, to find out:
radioinfo: Last week Kim Mothershaw announced that he was coming back to Brisbane breakfast radio and joining your opposition. What effect do you think this will have on the new breakfast team you have put together?
Gallagher: Not much in the short term, as it takes time to develop a style and position in breakfast. Of course
the real strength is the Classic hits 4KQ format. Kim and Lisa will be starting from a zero base on a station that is currently very different from 4KQ and appeals to a much older demographic.
radioinfo: How have the ratings changed since the new team was introduced nearly a year ago?
Gallagher: We have been lucky to have a very favourable response to the newly packaged show with a 2.6 increase from Survey #8 to #1 and a 1.9 increase from Survey #2 to #3 where we jumped into the #2 breakfast position in the market.
Effectively we have moved from an 8,9 in Survey #7/02 to a 13.2 in Survey #3/03.
radioinfo: Why did you put the current bunch of characters together and how do you replace an anchor of 14 years?
Gallagher: Put the PD in! My goal when I accepted the
challenge to take on the breakfast anchor position was to highlight the
strengths of the other team members.
Laurel has been with the show for 10 years and Handy Gary was effectively the backroom boy. Mostly ‘off air’. So, by
including Gary, adding the PD as anchor and clearly defining the roles within the show, we have developed our own ‘panel’ style of presentation, with Gary and Laurel making a much bigger contribution to the creative and comic elements.
We have also made a much bigger effort to make our other contributors, Sarah with Traffic, Brownie with Coastwatch and the Legend John Knox in News – more inclusive, rather than stand alone spots. Consequently it now sounds like a ‘big’ show, rather than just two people chatting and giving away money.
radioinfo: Will you be doing anything to counter the possible impact of Kim Mothershaw’s first few weeks back at your opposition?
Gallagher: Superserving the baby
boomer audience that loves us and making every single person, listeners and staff who appear on the show a STAR!
radioinfo: Any promotions?
Gallagher: No big cash giveaways. In this market, if you
want to have the big dollar promo’s you better have deep pockets as the
opposition will just make it bigger and bigger. We have achieved these results
with mostly movie passes and Cd giveaways and the help of heaps of regular and
loyal listeners.
It’s not unusual for us to have 6-8 listeners on the air in the
first hour of the show, 5:30 – 6:30am. Fun and entertainment, not $$.
Teamwork. I can not stress enough how important the team effort is.
Everyone deserves the credit for the success and we make a strident effort to leave the negatives and potential bullshit outside the building. We hit the ground running every single day and focus on the oldest philosophy in the book, light, tight and bright.