Struggling Australian radio network chases TV talent following Kyle & Jackie O flame-out
Will Kyle & Jackie O get their two hundred million-dollar contracts paid out? Will they find new roles on radio? Will the two ever talk to one another again?
I’m not at all invested in the answers to any of these questions. But they have been dominating Australian media in recent weeks. I was never a listener to the show, because I’m a grown-up.
What is more interesting to me is where this leaves ARN, the media company that owns Kyle & Jackie O’s former radio station KIIS. It needs a new radio show to fill the large schedule hole left by the departure of the former duo, but there’s something curious about the sort of names the business is chasing.
SMH columnist John Buckley reports that ARN chief Michael Stephenson, a former TV sales boss at TV broadcaster Nine, is chasing TV talent for ARN. Former Sunrise co-host Samantha Armytage is on his list, as is current Today host and shameless right-wing podcaster Karl Stefanovic. Buckley reports that former Nine star Eddie McGuire has also been sounded out.
What’s the play here? Is it that Stephenson lacks imagination and is just chasing the big name talent from his former backyard at Nine? Or does he have broader ambitions.
Chasing big name talent like this has a strong echo of the ill-fated Vega radio stations (2005-2010) which reformatted to ‘Classic Rock’ and then, more successfully, in 2012 it become the far-more successful smoothfm.
Smoothfm these days broadcasts big names like Melissa Doyle, Richard Wilkins, and David Campbell. All best known for weekday breakfast and mornings television shows. The likes of Armytage and Stefanovic make sense for weekday radio, but this has the smell of greater video podcast aspirations than just radio shifts.
Certainly neither Armytage or Stafanovic feel like KIIS talent. So, either KIIS is set for a rebranding, these hires would be for smoothfm, or it’s purely a video podcast play.
I’ve written about this in the newsletter before, but I do think there’s a tremendous opportunity for radio networks to lean further into live video streaming. or in the very least package up video versions of their audio shows for YouTube distribution. Why pay all of this money to talent who are otherwise confined to just local broadcasts when there’s global distribution potential by way of YouTube?
There’s a great opportunity right now for ARN to innovate Australian radio by bringing online video into the distribution strategy. Whether it is bold enough to swing for the fences with it is another question.
Rising from the World Screen ashes
Yesterday in ABW I reported on the closure of long-running TV industry news site World Screen. Former World Screen longtime writer Mansha Daswani got in contact overnight to point me towards her new venture ScreenMDM. It’s a web publication that should fill the World Screen void with its focus on content distribution and monetization.
In addition to the ScreenMDM website, Daswani has also launched a ScreenMDM podcast and Substack. Daswani has been up and running with ScreenMDM for a number of months now. There’s no paywall on the site, so please do what you can to support her venture. At least sign up to the newsletter…
News Desk
Dennis Quaid will star in a new NASCAR series Thunder Road for AMC. Read: Variety
Jonny Richards, Disney+’s Director of Scripted Originals in EMEA and the guy responsible for commissioning shows like Rivals and A Thousand Blows, has been poached by the BBC. Read: Deadline
Australia’s ABC and NITV have co-commissioned a fifth season of Little J & Big Cuz. Read: C21
Peppa Pig: Surprise Party is a 19,000 square foot interactive Peppa Pig experience that has opened in the UK. I’ve never been happier to live on the other side of the world. Read: Variety
Andrew Webster looks at how Nintendo is weathering a major downturn in the gaming industry. Read: The Verge
Following industrial action on Wednesday, Australia’s ABC has proposed a new pay offer to staff. Read: ABC
The BBC will go ahead with the video podcast companion show to Race Across The World despite firing the just-announced host Scott Mills, a BBC Radio 2 presenter the Beeb just fired following the revelation that police had investigated him for historic sexual offences against a teenage boy in the late 1990s. Read: Deadline
Trailer Park
Kevin boasts a voice cast that is absolute… wait for it… catnip for me. It debuts on Prime Video April 20.
After the unexpected break-up of his human “owners,” Kevin breaks up with them and moves into a local pet rescue in Astoria, Queens where a chaotic band of misfit animals will help him to figure out what he really wants out of life.
The series stars Jason Schwartzman (Isle of Dogs, The French Dispatch) as KEVIN, a housecat who decides to try life without people, and Aubrey Plaza as DANA (The White Lotus, Emily the Criminal), one half of the human couple he leaves behind. Additional series regulars include Whoopi Goldberg (The Lion King, Sister Act) as CUPCAKE, John Waters (Hairspray, Liar Mouth) as ARMANDO, and Aparna Nancherla (The Great North, Bob’s Burgers) as JUDY - Kevin’s new cat roommates at a local pet rescue run by human SETH, played by Gil Ozeri (Big Mouth, Monsters) and his dog BRANDI, played by Amy Sedaris (BoJack Horseman, At Home with Amy Sedaris).
Someone Has To Know debuts on Netflix April 15.
When a teen goes missing, a detective and his team launch a tireless investigation to solve the mystery in this drama series inspired by true events.
That’s the newsletter for the today.
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