Dave Cameron, SCA’s chief content officer, has said the idea of the network replacing any of its strong FM breakfast shows – particularly when they’re on long-term arrangements – “is just categorically untrue and fundamentally bonkers”.
Speaking to Mediaweek after the news that Kyle and Jackie O’s Melbourne expansion plan was hatched after SCA offered the duo a national breakfast show, Cameron suggested it was Sandilands and Henderson who attempted to broker competitor deals: “It’s not uncommon for any competitive talent to proactively approach other parties and try to leverage a better deal from their incumbent employer – that’s just what happens.
“There was a set of financial conditions that they put forward to many parties, including us. I have no idea of the conversations they had with their existing employer, but I can fundamentally say that our Melbourne breakfast talent – and talent across the country – are on long-term agreements, and they have been for a while.”
‘Completely underestimated’: The Fox as ‘strongest and best-programmed station in Australia’
“Fifi is absolutely at the top of her game as a broadcaster, Fev has really risen to be a brutally honest performer who is loved by Melbourne, and then you’ve got Nick who’s the razor-sharp comedian. The combination is unbeatable,” Cameron says, describing The Fox’s Melbourne breakfast team of Fifi, Fev and Nick. Yesterday, the show launched a multi-million dollar campaign fighting to keep and attract listeners on the same day Kyle and Jackie O began broadcasting in Melbourne.
Fifi, Fev and Nick
In the most recent radio ratings survey, the trio landed back in the #1 FM breakfast spot, jumping ahead of ARN’s GOLD FM. Their 11.2% breakfast share is the best in a decade or more.
“This is a show that is completely underestimated in terms of the strength of what it can do, and it’s doing some of its best work and achieving its best results,” Cameron said.
Being underestimated isn’t a bad thing, with Cameron saying it’s actually the show’s “biggest superpower,” because it lets the show “keep surprising our audience time and time again.”
“There’s a certain power in continuing to be underestimated – it’s not a show that comes with all of the hyperbole of other shows.
“The Fox is, in my mind, the strongest and best-programmed station in Australia.”
As Kyle and Jackie O ramp up their national expansion plans, confirming to Mediaweek that Melbourne will be just the first cab off the rank, Cameron was asked if Fifi, Fev and Nick would be heard on airwaves outside of Melbourne at some point.
“That’s a hard one to answer,” he began.
“Our really clear competitive advantage right now is making sure that we engage at a at a community level. When you take away that opportunity, I think to some degree, you start to homogenise your content. What I would rather focus on at the moment is making sure that we deliver the most entertaining content for the audience in Melbourne, as it relates to them.”
The locality of the show, reflected both through its content and initiatives such as Brekky in the Burbs, is a core part of the appeal.
“We don’t use BS phrases like live and local, we live it and we deliver it. We don’t just say it, we get involved deep down in our communities. The scoreboard speaks for itself.”
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Top image: Dave Cameron