{"id":3831,"date":"2022-05-26T13:08:53","date_gmt":"2022-05-26T03:08:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bprworld.com\/?p=3831"},"modified":"2022-05-26T14:32:11","modified_gmt":"2022-05-26T04:32:11","slug":"a-decade-down-and-still-going-strong-smoothfm-turns-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bprworld.com\/de\/news\/a-decade-down-and-still-going-strong-smoothfm-turns-10\/","title":{"rendered":"A Decade Down and Still Going Strong: smoothfm Turns 10!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ten years ago last week, Michael Bubl\u00e9<\/strong> burst forth on our TV screens \u2013 front and centre of the advertising campaign to launch what would become one of the most successful media brands in the Australian radio landscape.<\/p>\n

Last Saturday, saw smoothfm <\/strong>enter its second decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn one hand, it feels like the blink of an eye. Then when you think about it, it feels like a different life,\u201d says Nova Entertainment\u2019s Chief Programming and Music Content Officer Paul Jackson<\/strong>, who\u2019d not been in Australia<\/strong> long when the smoothfm brand was launched.<\/p>\n

Vega<\/strong> had rebranded to Classic Rock<\/strong>. The Nova<\/strong> product was evolving. Early discussions identified a gap in the market, and that \u2018easy listening\u2019 was the way to go.<\/p>\n

As the first Australian radio station to be programmed based on a mood rather than an era or genre, Jackson tells Radio Today<\/strong> the \u2018feel good music\u2019 format switch was a leap of faith:<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout six or seven months out from launch, we had done a lot of work on what would the name be? What would it look like?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople kept saying to us at the start \u2018It won\u2019t work.\u2019 I think one of the things I was conscious of right from the beginning was \u2018what is the tone and the feel, and the image that we present to the audience?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Marketing, positioning and imaging played an integral part in cementing the more music, less talk brand:<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the very first things we did was seek out Michael Bubl\u00e9, who at the time was huge and having regular hits.\u201d<\/p>\n

The resulting TV ad campaign hit the mark:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to come in with an extra bit of gravitas, something to turn people\u2019s heads.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Jackson says in that first year, awareness of the brand also developed in other ways:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt became one of those things where everyone who knew about it, loved it. It was like a badge of honour, telling other people \u2018I know about this station, it\u2019s really great.\u2019 So it was like a secret thing to begin with, like its own little club. For all the marketing we did, and everything we did on air \u2013 I would say a lot of the traction we got at that point was word of mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were very, very conscious of playing music that nobody else in the marketplace was playing, or even had played. So there was a real freshness and difference about it. And we weren\u2019t targeting any of the rival radio stations in the marketplace. We were kind of targeting people who just wanted something different.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of it was people who said \u2018There\u2019s no radio station for me on the FM dial. Bear in mind, this was before Spotify<\/strong> launched. We were in a different era. There was no podcasting and there was no Spotify.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were mindful of not charging out of the blocks and going \u2018We\u2019re going to have a number one breakfast show!\u2019\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He says over time, people formed a habit:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were probably five years in before we started hitting very big breakfast show numbers, in Sydney<\/strong> and in Melbourne<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the first announcer on air when it launched, smoothfm 91.5<\/strong>\u2019s Mike Perso<\/strong> in Melbourne is an integral part of the station\u2019s history. He tells Radio Today \u201cI remember we started out at our usual time and, at 7 o\u2019clock, ba-boing! We switched over and suddenly there was me introducing Michael Bubl\u00e9, which was kinda cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

His nine-year on-air partnership with Jennifer Hansen<\/strong> has produced many highlights, including going number one in breakfast:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was fantastic. It\u2019s not something we ever really expected to do. I think what that proved to us is that it is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the announcers on smoothfm have been with the station for almost the entire time it has been on air, including Bogart Torelli,<\/strong> Ty Frost<\/strong>, Byron Webb<\/strong>, Simon Diaz<\/strong>, Cameron Daddo<\/strong>, David Campbell<\/strong> and Mel Doyle<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Richard Wilkins<\/strong> has been a part of 95.3<\/strong> smoothfm <\/strong>in Sydney since its launch. He tells Radio Today:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went from literally a standing start \u2013 with kind of no-one listening \u2013 and we\u2019ve risen through the ranks over the last ten years to be, at various times, number one in both markets on FM, and number one on the weekends. It\u2019s been a glorious ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilkins is passionate about the brand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love it. I love being on the ground floor of it. And even though I\u2019ve been on TV for donkey\u2019s years, it\u2019s a completely different skill set. I really wanted to learn to use my voice to connect with someone sitting in a car or someone sitting at home or going for a jog around the block.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been so exciting. I\u2019m really proud of the success of the station.\u201d<\/p>\n

The station notes that over the past decade, its cumulative audience has grown by 227% and that streaming and DAB<\/strong> numbers are very strong.<\/p>\n

So how does Jackson see the next ten years?<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s more consumption of audio than there\u2019s ever been. But at the same time there\u2019s more fragmentation than there\u2019s ever been. So, the future probably is \u2013 if you have a very strong brand like Smooth \u2013 you have a real opportunity to bring your audience on a broader journey with you. Because the Smooth listeners \u2013 yeah, they love core Smooth feel-good stations, but they also love a variety of podcasts \u2013 crime, lifestyle, news \u2013 and there are other music formats that we know they like as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s sensible for us to explore moving into those areas, so ultimately in life, you have a Smooth offering for every time of day it is, and whatever mood you\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n

BPR is delighted to be part of the Smooth FM journey. It started for us in 2011 with the initial format finder study and subsequent ratings performance modelling, then it was over to Paul Jackson and his team and the launch in May 2012.\u00a0Both Smooth 953 and Smooth 915 achieved their respective strategic goals well ahead of schedule and have gone on to claim the No 1 FM market position on many occasions.\u00a0 There are few examples to be found where a new radio station has not only performed exactly as modelled, but continued to exceed expectations so consistently. Smooth\u2019s success is a credit to Paul\u2019s team.\u00a0BPR looks forward to the next 10 years with Smooth.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

First published by RadioToday<\/em>. Read original here<\/a><\/p>\n

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