European Persuasion: How US Radio Can Go Beyond FM

I love writing for Radio Ink about the radio industry. As I often think of important and insightful topics to put forward for you, I reflect on the importance of getting outside of our typical thinking to enable us to leap to better creative levels. Pushing the boundaries for unique thinking that will separate you from the pack is a key to winning.

“Differentiate or Die” is a mantra of my friend and Australia-based Radio Consultant extraordinaire Phil Dowse – one of the great European media minds. I spoke with Phil to find out what’s going on with many of his clients in Europe. I hope you find the conversation as inspiring and insightful as I did.

Buzz Knight: So what’s the state of radio and in the markets that you are working in across Europe?

Phil Dowse: Well, the markets I work in the most—England, Europe, Asia, South Africa, and Australia—are kind of the main ones. And I think how radio is doing really depends on how you define the word “radio.” In many countries, audio has replaced “radio” and now includes all things digital. So, we’re talking DAB+, streaming, podcasting, and pop-up stations in addition to traditional FM and AM.

All of this really makes up an audio sphere, and if you think of it this way, I’d say radio—or rather, the audio business—is in pretty good shape. We’re talking about digital, sub-brands, podcasting, and pop-ups. From that perspective, these new platforms can make up a good slice of NTR, and NTR income is becoming a really important part of the business.

Certainly, in Australia, NTR makes up about 9% of the business, but in other markets, it can be as high as 25%. So, NTR is having a big impact.

From my perspective, and in the groups I work with—like Bauer, NRJ, and ARN—it’s all about growing the ecosystem, and that’s really vital for the survival of radio groups.

If you look at the UK, Global, Bauer, Kagiso Media, DPG Media, and NRJ are all doing a great job with that. They’re creating an ecosystem of touchpoints that drive loyalty—pushing listeners back to the parent brand while strengthening that brand with sub-brands.

The development of sub-brands is becoming incredibly important—not just in Australia, but globally. Look at country brands, reality pop-ups, wellness, and even calm-based sub-brands. Imagine a sub-brand focused entirely on calming the mind and body, featuring background noises selected by fans—that’s something that’s about to exist.

One of the projects I’m working on right now is a local music station that only plays new songs—new international, national, local, and unsigned artists. No artist with more than three hits gets played. Every song is under 25 weeks old, specifically promoting new acts and new opportunities, and funded by local government.

This is an entry point for under-25s, which is an area where radio—or audio—can’t currently compete. Finding opportunities like this through sub-brands is how you really grow the ecosystem.

And, Buzz, just yesterday in the UK, Bauer announced additional sub-brands for their Greatest Hits Radio and Hits Radio brands. This is happening all the time.

And I should mention—because you’ll be very aware of this—that Absolute Radio in the UK was a pioneer in this kind of sub-brand thinking. I remember sitting in a boardroom brainstorming sub-brands for Absolute Radio, and this was driven by an old mate of yours, Clive Dickens.

Buzz Knight: Sure. Clive is amazing

Phil Dowse: And that’s actually where the whole decades or eras strategy was born, leading to a series of brands that follow listeners through life.

So, to answer your question—radio, or audio, is in good shape, but it needs to be thought of as an ecosystem. It has to grow its brands, grow its opportunities, and create new ways for younger audiences to sample it.

Buzz Knight: That’s fantastic, Phil. The sub-brand concept, so just to be clear, that content lives digitally somehow in the ecosystem of a particular larger brand, right?

Phil Dowse: Yeah. What they’re trying to do is think, okay, we’ve got a brand—this is our main brand—what other things can we do to complement it? What other DAB, DAB+, or digital brands can we create that supplement it or even take an edge away from competitors?

In some markets I work in, it’s like, okay, what can we do? It might be an ’80s or ’90s sub-brand, or it might be a station that develops a format designed to take the edge off a competitor’s activities.

So it’s those kinds of areas, but the growth of sub-brands is phenomenal. That and podcasting are the two key areas for growth at the moment.

Buzz Knight: So, talk in a little more detail—because I know what you just described plays into their digital and multi-platform plans—but are there other aspects of digital that you feel are worth pointing out in terms of revenue growth across Europe?

Phil Dowse: Well, I think pop-ups are really interesting. Pop-up radio stations can be generated quickly and are often an NTR solution for clients. There’s evidence in the UK where a client wants a station to develop something a little different, and the station works out how it can be executed.

It might be a pop-up station promoting a seasonal event, or a pop-up station tied to a movie release—like the Bridget Jones pop-up station that recently launched in the UK to promote the latest film.

That’s about doing a presentation to a client, coming up with an idea, and offering something unique. The movie company sponsors these kinds of initiatives, so it’s a great opportunity to draw new listeners to the brand.

Buzz Knight: One of the things I’ve always been inspired by in your thinking is how you work with your clients, as you just described, to problem-solve in a way that ultimately yields a particular element of great programming and then revenue. Can you talk a little bit about the internal process when you work with clients to create that environment of problem-solving for client satisfaction and product satisfaction?

Phil Dowse: Well, I think that these days, winning radio or winning audio can only really be created through innovation, standout tactics, and compelling content that works across platforms. You’ve got to think that way.

And whether you’re talking about breakfast shows or just run-of-station, what we think about is, what can we do that stands out? What can we do that creates talkability? What can we do that creates noise? I think standing out, surprising, and disrupting is really important these days. And when you come up with something really good, don’t hide it—really amplify that content.

As I travel, I hear some really good things, and the stations do a good job but often make them sound small rather than making them sound big. And I think that’s one of the key points. And that applies whether you’re talking programming, Buzz, or whether you’re talking with respect to agencies and client goals. Stand out, get people talking, force trial, and get famous.

Buzz Knight: Podcasting is near and dear to my heart. I would love to hear how podcasting is fitting into the strategic plans for some of your brands across Europe.

Phil Dowse: Well, it’s kind of interesting. Radio groups either really embrace podcasting or kind of ignore it. And I was in a major market last week with the number one breakfast show, and I was amazed that they’ve never done a podcast. And I actually asked the question, why? And they don’t think that it’s terribly important, which I thought was kind of interesting.

But I think that podcasts have to be on the radar of some stations, and in plenty of markets, what we are hearing the most is still just the catch-up products, and stations are just really doing that and not much more. But I think that’s really the tip of the iceberg, and that’s the one podcast format that, in my experience, doesn’t actually work. It doesn’t actually get traction.

The ones that I would rather talk about and focus on are things like outtake podcasts for breakfast shows—a look behind the curtain.

We actually reveal what really goes on in the planning of a show, a station, or an event. Planning meeting podcasts. And one of the things that we do a lot of in Australia is mini or snackable podcasts—three- or four-minute podcasts that you can download for a specific purpose. They either drive traffic to a feature the next day or they give you an advantage, whether it’s a competitive advantage to win a competition, for instance.

So I think those are the kind of interesting ones. And we actually call them contest podcasts, where you may get ten clues for the benchmark that’s played at ten past seven the following day. Or even the show-after-the-show podcast—sitting in the studio for fifteen minutes after the breakfast show is finished and just having a chat about what went right, what went wrong, and just shooting the breeze.

And I would suggest that that can be more fun rather than actually just listening to a repeat of that day’s breakfast show.

But there’s one thing that I think is really interesting—podcast radio shows are actually quite interesting. For instance, there are a couple of stations that I work with that are about to launch Wednesday night podcast programs. So it’s a radio show about podcasts, where the podcast elements are almost selected and programmed like you would program an hour of music. And I think that’s a great entry into the platform.

So I think that is a really cool idea and incredibly sponsorable too, by the way.

So for me, podcasts are really important, and what I like about them is that you can find talent on the podcasts, and I think that is an area that we’ve kind of missed. One radio group that I work with has a strategy called “Podcast to Broadcast.” So it’s scouring all the podcasts, finding the talent, and somehow bringing that onto the main brands, which I think is a really cool strategy.

Buzz Knight: You and I are strong believers in the power of what personalities have to do with these brands, and unfortunately many times, certainly in this country, that’s one of the first places that get cut when cuts need to be made. So from your perspective, how important are the personalities in making these brands special?

Phil Dowse: Well, it’s all about great talent and great content, and if you don’t have the talent, I’m afraid at the end of the day, you’re not going to win. Furthermore, you’re probably not going to survive. So if you think about great talent and where that comes from, the old adage, “If you win breakfast, you win the day,” is still incredibly true.

And I think if music is your only point of difference, that’s great—it entices people to the station—but it’s great talent that actually keeps them there. Every station that I work with, and at any given time, I can touch up to a hundred breakfast shows across a week, and every one of them is talking about what they can do to drive great content and do things a little bit differently. And it’s about coming up with the reason those shows exist.

What do they get famous for, and what do they do better than anybody else? And I think that there are actually five or six breakfast shows in the world that are incredibly unique and do it better than anybody else. And they’re all amazingly different, but it comes back to great talent and putting the shows together in a way that makes them a must-listen or a forced listen.

And I think that if you’ve got that, you’re going to do well. But there are a lot of shows around the world that I think are nice breakfast shows—they’re fine, they do okay—but no one’s really going to miss them if they finish. So I think it’s about coming up with something unique. It’s almost, it really is that “I have to listen to that show because if I don’t, I’m going to miss out.” And that’s still the feeling I get with the top six or seven great breakfast shows around the world.

Buzz Knight: So in closing, can you name some particularly successful brands that might be companies you work with?

Phil Dowse: Yeah, well, I think if I can focus a little bit on breakfast shows, since they really drive the big brands…

In France, there’s a show called Manu dans le 6/10, which is the national show on NRJ with Manu in the Morning. And that is an unbelievable show where he’s the ringmaster with a fantastic support cast, not dissimilar to Seinfeld. And the reason that show works is because of his personality, and they run probably the two key benchmarks out of any station worldwide. That station is phenomenally successful. It’s been on the air for 12 or 13 years.

So that’s certainly one.

I think one of my favorite shows is The Dave Berry Show on Absolute Radio in the UK. And the thing about Dave is he’s real, relatable, an amazing storyteller, and it’s such an addictive show. And I think that’s why that show works. It’s so different—once you lock into it, you have to listen. You are part of the club.

And just a couple more stories… There’s a show in the Netherlands called Mattie & Marieke on Q Music, and this show single-handedly changed how breakfast radio is delivered in the Netherlands.

Up until this point, all the breakfast shows were just functional. They just did the same thing. They were very conservative, almost scared of having an opinion. And this show came on and is a show that’s really full of relatable storytelling and rich content. It went from number nine in the ratings to number one in a really short period of time because it became incredibly addictive and did what nobody else did.

There are shows around the world that work because of great talent, unique skills, vulnerability, and storytelling.

But I think just in closing, it’s probably worth mentioning The Kyle and Jackie O Show in Australia, which is probably one of the biggest shows in the world because no one actually does it bigger.

And they have a philosophy: expect the unexpected. Whatever you do, expect a standing ovation. And I think having that sort of mentality is a really good way to start. They do stuff that no one else would have the guts to do, and that’s why it stands out. But it’s the willingness to put it out there, put it on the air, and show that kind of vulnerability.

But the thing that I do—and you know this, Buzz—is we work really hard at delivering content that works fast.

And we like to think that things other radio groups take 12 months to two years to implement in terms of changing the culture, we can do quickly—by making things stand out, creating noise, amplifying things, and really disrupting the market fast.

So that people have to sample and just can’t avoid the product that we’re putting out.

You can reach Phil Dowse at [email protected].