Southern Cross Austereo has a great reputation as one of the most innovative radio companies in the world and Sam Cavanagh, National Executive Producer with SCA, has become a regular face at Radiodays Europe. This year Sam presented a talk caled The Future of Radio.
“What successful radio stations are doing now, they have been doing since the start of radio. Creating and offering great content to the audience”, says Cavanagh after presenting a short history of radio.
“Why is radio surviving the digital revolution? Because it’s unique, it’s broadcast 24/7, we can do it cheaply and quickly, we can integrate advertisers seamlessly, we own the content, its nimble and adaptable, and its been mobile since 1936.”
Working with shows like 2DayFM’s Dan and Maz, Cavanagh says it’s important to get content onto as many platforms as possible. The recent Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras where Dan was “glitter bombed” was a great example where content was on-air, the video was online, and that platforms like Twitter and Snapchat were used to tease the content.
“Radio is in a great position to partner with digital businesses, because we make great content”, continues Cavanagh. “Radio is in the content business”. But one of the things that radio is not great at is re-using it’s own audio. “Most of the content we publish, very little of it is audio content”.
That is why companies like Omny Studio are now becoming more relevant. Omny offers the instant ability to capture live audio, edit it, and post it on multiple platforms. “Radio has always been about using the technology available to connect people with the music and content they love”, says Cavanagh.
Connected listening is also an area where SCA have expanded. Their “Map App” technology allows them to track user demographic and location data, and overlay advertiser locations. Another innovation from SCA is having digital stats boards in each station, so they can monitor digital activity and allow programmers and content specialists the ability to see which content is engaging with the audience, instantly.
Cavanagh finishes with a summary on the Future of Radio which is about “investing in your own disruption, multi channel broadcasting, promoting and seeding content, and connected listening”.