Smoothfm celebrates 12 years since its launch today, marking the milestone by bringing listeners more of the music they have come to know and love from the station.
“It’s incredible, but what’s more incredible is that most of the team that were here when we started are still here today,” head of Smooth Network programming, Peter Clay, told Mediaweek.
“Anyone who knows radio knows that to do that sort of tenure, there must be something right. It’s a good feeling, and we all feel as positive as we did about the brand back then as we do today.”
The staff retention rates are no accident, and have been woven into the fabric of smoothfm since its inception.
“Usually a stint in radio is about three and a half, four years, or thereabout. When Paul Jackson was putting smooth together, he said to me, ‘We want people that come here and stay here for 10 years plus’ – so we would use that line when we were speaking to people in the early days,” Clay said.
“It paid off, and we got to remind people of those words when we passed the 10 year mark. Now we’re at 12.”
Peter Clay
When asked how the product today compares to the original vision for smoothfm, Clay said that what you can hear on air is “what we set out to achieve.”
“Marty Sheargold used to use this line all the time, saying ‘It is what it says on the tin’. That’s exactly what smooth is – it’s all about the listeners, it’s all about the music.”
There have been a couple of changes along the way, with one being the station’s strapline.
“We’ve gone from Your Easy Place To Relax to Feel Good. The difference is that it was a bit slower at the start, whereas now it’s more uplifting.”
The biggest thing that has changed, according to Clay, is the awareness of the brand.
“Nobody had a clue what smooth was or where to find it. We started in Sydney with 275,000 listeners in the first survey, and recently we’ve been the most listened to station with over 1.3 million. It’s a great progression.
“You can see the progression over the years – the cume jumps up 100,000 and sustains it, and then another 100,000 in the next year. It’s been a great journey to watch that happen, and to watch people become aware of this brand and stick with us.”
The numbers show that audiences are resonating with smoothfm’s content, with Clay putting this down to both attention to detail and consistency in the product.
smoothfm originals still on air: Richard Wilkins, Mel Doyle, David Campbell and Cameron Daddo
“Simon Diaz, Byron Webb, and Ty Frost have a segue-off, where when one song fades into another, they try and get it to end on the same note that the next song starts on. It’s that attention to detail, people know what they’re getting and come back day after day.
“Sometimes you make a rod for your own back when you strive for this perfection – but then when something does stuff up and a computer glitch comes through, it sticks out. We really try and keep an eye on the product and try to make it sound as good as it can.”
Smoothfm continues to grow, now broadcasting in all the major metro markets. It’s onwards and upwards for the station, with Clay adding: “It’s a great brand, it’s a great bunch of people, and I couldn’t be happier to work alongside them. May there be many more years to come.”
See also: Nova’s Brendan Taylor on Jase & Lauren’s debut and smoothfm’s competitiveness
–
Top image: Peter Clay