An article in the Australian Financial Review about World Audio’s digital radio ambitions caused some chuckles at Commercial Radio Australia, where CEO Joan Warner apparently noted Andrew Thompson’s “career advice,” which she presumably intends to ignore.
Thompson is reported in the Financial Review as saying Warner should “resign and get someone in the job who can take part in the [digital radio] debate on behalf of the industry.”
The article by Sue Williams headlined Uninvited Guest quotes WorldAudio CEO Andrew Thompson saying: “I’m the
man who’s singlehandedly changed the face of Australian broadcasting.” It says he has had an impact on the industry through his involvement in the digital radio trials and “along the way has united everyone else in the fiercely competitive industry against him.”
When contacted by radioinfo Warner had no response to Thompson’s remarks. “I have no comment on what he said, he is irrelevant.”
But Warner did say she was shocked by the lack of accuracy in the Financial Review’s story, which accused CRA of pulling out of a conference because WorldAudio was a sponsor. The newspaper was told that CRA had pulled out of the conference before it knew about WorldAudio’s sponsorship. The conference is being run by IBC and backed by the Financial Review (as reported on radioinfo last week).
Thompson is quoted in the article saying: “It’s truly a David and Goliath battle when you think about it. The whole of the Australian broadcasting industry is ranged against me…”
ARN CEO Bob Longwell, also quoted in the Financial Review, says WorldAudio’s licences “shouldn’t be included in a digital format [because] it would be very, very unfair,” for the amount of money commercial players had invested.
Michael Anderson, CEO of Austereo says in the article: “At this stage they [WorldAudio] aren’t on the radar of the competitive landscape. But we’ll see if their growth continues.”
While the war of words continues, digital radio creeps closer and closer to the Australian Radio landscape (see other stories).