As Southern Cross Austereo launched another new breakfast show – Em, Grant and Ed – on its one-time flagship station 2Day FM this week, there seems to have been a noticeable change to the music being played.
SCA chief creative officer Guy Dobson told Mediaweek: “We have been listening to the audience and what they want to hear more of and we are just implementing that.”
He emphasised that some of the station staples remain: “We are still playing the hits and still playing the old-school.
SCA chief creative officer Guy Dobson
“We take stock at the end of every year and work out what we need to do for the next year.”
When asked about any change to the target demo, Dobson said: “We are still largely targeting who we targeted last year, although we may be going slightly older.”
When asked if 2Day FM was moving into an older market currently serviced musically by WSFM and smoothfm, Dobson replied: “We are not playing the Bee Gees‘ ‘Massachusetts’ and we are not playing America‘s ‘Sister Golden Hair’. When you start hearing those songs on 2Day you can say we are moving into that territory.”
2Day FM did play the Bee Gees this morning though – they were heard via the sample in N-Trance‘s reworking of “Stayin’ Alive”.
When pressed about how much the music was changing, Dobson stressed there hadn’t been too much a change of direction. He then added Michael Bublé to the lists of artists you won’t hear on 2Day. “We are nowhere near playing any of that sort of music.”
He added: “We are just doing what is right for the 2Day brand. There has been a gradual progression over the summer [with regard to our music position].”