Best of the Week: Succession disasters and collateral damage

[View web version]( BEST OF THE WEEK [Cooperate]( And another thing... Welcome to Best of the Week, written in rainy Neutral Bay, while the cats cower in front of the radiator because they’re scared of the loud birds outside. They haven’t had the memo about their place in the food chain. This week’s writing soundtrack: The Streets, [Live at Ancienne Belgique](. (Thirteen days until Mike Skinner hits The Enmore. I cannot wait…) This week: 2GB’s messy succession plan: Was there no other way? (Probably not.) Turn the page Every now and then, the gods of search engine optimisation turn briefly towards Mumbrella and smile. It generally occurs when we write about an industry topic that doesn’t get widespread media coverage elsewhere, but also happens to be of interest to a small but passionate group of consumers. Most memorably for us, back in 2011 we wrote a short story about the launch of the “Share A Coke” campaign, which saw first names put on bottles and cans. Coke’s agencies nailed the product and promotion, but they didn’t optimise for the web. So our short article become the place where thousands of people who Googled “Share a Coke” ended up, and hundreds used the comment thread to beg for their name to be included. We’d know whenever the campaign had been rolled out in a fresh market around the world, as we’d get a fresh wave of overseas traffic. As a result, it’s one of our most viewed articles of all time. The same occurs whenever a radio station axes a presenter. They may not be bringing in a big enough share to stay on air, but almost always they have a group of angry, passionate listeners. As predictably as the influx of post-Christmas holidaymakers to a coastal town, we’re now able to see it coming. This week saw [Paul Hogan and Lisa Fernandez dropped as the breakfast hosts of]( [Australian Radio Network’s 96FM in Perth]( while they were on their mid-year ratings break. And more messily, [Chris Smith departed from Sydney’s 2GB](, collateral damage from the successful fight to keep Alan Jones on the station. In both cases, the comments are still coming in. And in the case of 2GB, it’s gone mainstream too. This week has seen Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph present the issues at 2GB, which is owned by Macquarie Media, as dire. I don’t think that’s actually true. But I’ll come back to that. Geezers need excitement One of the best books I’ve read about television is The Late Shift by Bill Carter. It tells the story of the US television industry’s most disastrous succession handling of all time - the 1992 handover of NBC’s The Tonight Show, when Johnny Carson retired after 30 years at the desk. Unlike the Australian industry, the late night TV landscape in the US has been a big part of the dynamic. It’s where advertisers find a younger audience who don’t want to go to bed. Two stars were chasing the role on The Tonight Show - regular guest host Jay Leno and David Letterman, who was already presenting Late Night, which followed The Tonight Show. The shenanigans were incredible, with Leno reportedly even hiding in a cupboard to listen to what his potential new bosses were looking for. NBC wanted to have its cake and eat it. It tried to keep Letterman in his late slot, and gave Leno the role instead. Disastrously for NBC, as a result of the disappointment of not getting the role he thought he’d been promised, Letterman defected to CBS, and started The Late Show. Nearly 30 years on, The Late Show, now hosted by Stephen Colbert, still drags down the ratings of Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show. And you’d think that NBC would have learned from its 1992 The Tonight Show host disaster. But it messed it up the next time too. In 2009, the network gave The Tonight Show to comedian Conan O’Brien who’d been waiting in the wings in the late slot. Wanting to keep Leno off other networks, NBC gave Leno a new early evening slot, where his ratings tanked. NBC lost its nerve. Seven months later, Leno was back as host of The Tonight Show, while the ousted O’Brien went on to create yet another rival show on cable network TBS. Not, of course, that Australian television is much better at getting the big moves right. Nine’s “boning” of Jessica Rowe from The Today Show in 2007 to be succeeded by Lisa Wilkinson went legal, and was a PR disaster. And in 2017 Wilkinson walked out on Nine to follow the money (and cushier hours) at Ten. The situation was compounded by last year’s axing of Karl Stefanovic as Today host which has seen the show fall even further behind Seven’s Sunrise. The viewers left when the stars did. It makes Seven’s Sunrise transition from Mel Doyle to Samantha Armytage in 2013 look even more miraculously smooth. To this day it’s unclear whether Doyle was tapped on the shoulder or had indeed asked for more family friendly hours. Lock down your aerials The same goes for radio too. In Sydney, 2UE’s death spiral began in 2002 when breakfast host Alan Jones defected to John Singleton’s 2GB. 2UE never fully recovered. In the 14 years that followed, 2UE would go from being the highest rating station in the city to among its lowest, before the radio brand was axed altogether in 2016, becoming Talking Lifestyle and now Macquarie Sports Radio. Jones, meanwhile, remains at number one. And history repeats itself. In 2013, Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson walked out on their number one FM breakfast show with Sydney’s 2DayFM for a big money offer from Australian Radio Network. They spearheaded ARN’s relaunch of Mix FM as Kiis. Ratings plunged at 2Day FM, and never fully recovered. While Jones still dominates AM, The Kyle & Jackie O Show is number one in FM. The audiences follow the talent. Which makes keeping the talent the name of the game. I spent a chunk of yesterday talking to people in the industry in management roles - not just in broadcasting, but in ad agencies too - about how to keep creative talent. There was so much to talk about on the topic, I’m going to wait until another time when I can do it justice. It deserves a separate piece. And at some point it will make a great conference topic too. But one word kept coming up with everyone I spoke to, that talent wants to see from their management: Respect. Will the top talent walk out for a big enough offer anyway? In some cases, yes. But other talent stays because they feel respected. But for bosses, retaining the market-defining talent becomes a binary issue. 2Day FM without Kyle & Jackie O is a shadow of what it was. And 2UE without Alan Jones is dead. Which takes me back to 2GB boss Adam Lang, CEO of parent company Macquarie Media. Lang’s got experience of dealing with tricky talent. He was part of the management team at 2Day FM until early in 2012. Kyle & Jackie O left about a year after he did. I gather that he and Sandilands were not friends, but they understood each other and the station thrived. Similarly, while nobody claims that Lang is close to Jones, the deal to keep him got done. However, some of the fallout has been messy. It’s been widely reported that morning presenter Ray Hadley was the succession plan if Jones walked. It’s also been reported that he’s willing to wait a couple more years. That’s wise of Hadley - better to inherit an audience with Jones’ blessing. Similarly, the next-generation talent of drivetime host Ben Fordham seemed to have been lined up for a bigger role post-Jones. And reportedly, Lang is looking to tap into wider Macquarie Media talent including potentially networking in Melbourne market leader 3AW’s Steve Price. That potentially also offers a saving after the costly contract negotiations of planning for life either with or without Jones. And this is where the wheel fell off this week. The musical chairs would have involved 2GB afternoon presenter Chris Smith moving to evenings. Smith blew up, and the issue went public. While a relatively minor move in the scheme of things, it would have been a drastic lifestyle change for him personally. Discussing it before he was due on air looks like poor people management. Not that I agree with The Tele’s characterisation of Lang as a “smiling assassin”, by the way. Last night another ex 2UE and 2GB broadcaster Michael Smith (the two Smiths in this story is confusing…) published on his blog what he says is an internal staff memo from Lang. It says: “The article is a farcical construction of false claims, inaccuracies and unverified assertions that slander me and this company in such a way that I cannot let it pass without comment. Legal action is also under way.” The Tele does not have a great recent track record when it comes to coverage of its media rivals. February’s apology to Georgie Gardiner over its coverage of Today’s ratings issue was an embarrassing climbdown. I suspect we may see another one to Lang shortly. The financial facts tend to support Lang. Since the Macquarie Radio Network and Fairfax Radio Network merger five years ago, the Macquarie Media share price has risen by about half, and is trading close to an historic high, with a market capitalisation of just over $300m. That’s important to majority shareholder Nine and minority shareholders including Singleton. The few million to keep Jones would have looked like small change if he’d walked and the share price had tanked. The advertisers go where the ratings are. And thanks to the (expensive) retention of Jones, 2GB remains number one in Sydney while 3AW remains on top of the Melbourne market. Compared to some succession disasters, 2GB seems to have done okay. Cult classic not best seller While we’re on the subject of radio, I did [this week’s Mumbrellacast interview with Gold 104.3 breakfast host Christian O’Connell](. I really enjoyed it. A year after his big, risky move from the UK, it seems to be working. To have already overtaken Eddie McGuire’s Triple M Hot Breakfast is extraordinary. The next set of ratings drop this coming Tuesday. It will be fascinating to see if there’s more momentum to come on his current 7.7% share. Do give the Mumbrellacast a listen. As ever, I welcome hearing from you at tim@mumbrella.com.au I’m heading up the coast to the Woy Woy Little Theatre later today for the [Flash Festival]( - eight plays running for anything from five to 15 minutes. It includes the first play from Mumbrella alumni Brooke Hemphill. And my coming week holds a couple of intense days of working on content submissions for the Mumbrella360 Asia conference in Singapore in November. Our newsdesk this weekend is in the hands of Brittney Rigby - brittney@mumbrella.com.au. Have a great weekend. Toodlepip... Tim Burrowes Content Director - Mumbrella [Cooperate]( Mumbrella | 46-48 Balfour Street Chippendale NSW 2008 Australia This email was sent to {EMAIL}. If you would rather not receive Mumbrella's Best of the Week email you can [unsubscribe]( or [manage subscriptions](. [Facebook]( [LinkedIn]( [Twitter](