‘It does carry some baggage’: ARN boss reveals motivation behind big WSFM rebrand
WSFM has rebranded after 46 years as one of Sydney's most recognisable and reliable media brands. ARN's chief content officer Duncan Campbell explains why they decided to ditch the heritage.
“I announced to the staff it’s officially WSFM day today,” ARN’s chief content officer, Duncan Campbell told Mumbrella in mid-November, a few hours after the station found out it had topped the Sydney ratings.
In claiming the crown, the 46-year-old station managed to sail past not only smooth, its major rival in the ‘classic’ FM radio format, but AM talkback kings 2GB.
Remarkably, it was the Sydney stalwart’s first ever outright ratings victory – 2WS tied with 2UE for one ratings survey back in 1984, but had never claimed a clear victory. It was a well-deserved win for a radio station that had been entrenched in the community for close to half a century.
Less than two weeks later, Campbell was telling the same staffers the station would be rebranding. WSFM would now be Gold 101.7, in line with Gold 104.3 in Melbourne.
The timing was odd: on one hand it seems like madness to remove such a well-known brand from a market stepped in tradition and habit, especially in the same fortnight it was dubbed the most-listened-to station in Sydney. On the other hand: what better time to make an announcement than when on top?
As Campbell told Mumbrella last week, he isn’t worried about losing the WSFM brand.
“The WSFM brand, while it’s a heritage brand, it does carry with it some baggage,” Campbell explains. “It was a Western Sydney station. The station does suffer from low top-of-mind awareness, which we know through our ‘unaided recall’ research we do.”
Campbell said the audiences were also getting older. “The core audience for the station, and for Jonesy and Amanda in particular, was getting around 50-55, and we’re very much 25-54,” he explains, of ARN’s target market.
To this end, the WSFM playlist has shuffled closer to the modern day over recent months, with the demographic target moving five years’ younger, helping cement it firmly in that broad and lucrative 25-45 range.
“We’ve improved the music on the station, which is getting a very positive reaction,” Campbell notes. Despite the playlist pushing past the turn of the century, the rest will remain the same.
“Jonesy and Amanda will be there, as will the daytime personalities of Phil O’Neil and Steve Fitton.”
And were there 11th hour doubts once WSFM topped the charts, so to speak?
“It was planned to happen regardless of what the ratings were,” Campbell confirms. “We needed to do that. We need to do it because of the low top-of-mind awareness the station has at the moment.
“The rebrand will give the station a new lease of life, a new sense of energy, and will really bring it top of mind. Not so much with the P1s or the fans of the station, because they’re there already. But for those secondary listeners, it will just give it more of an easy to remember, or recognise, identity.
“It’s Gold 101.7. I’m very positive about the rebrand.”
Keep up to date with the latest in media and marketing
Got a tip?
Nathan Jolly is the Features Editor at Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
Linkedin
The rebrand will make it easier to network shows between Sydney and Melbourne. ARN need all the $$$$$$$ they can get their hands on with the Kyle and Jackie O contract about to come into force.
Thank goodness Duncan is not in charge of Coca Cola, Google, Netflix, Bunnings, Samsung, Cadbury, Toyota, Chemist Warehouse or Bendigo Bank as he would be using his “unaided recall research” to be removing these leading brands from the market.
User ID not verified.
What’s in a name? In my teens I listened to a popular radio station that only came on when the sun went down and it was plagued with static and faded in and out. It was named after its country – Luxembourg. It was the content not the name that brought in the listeners. Like TV watermarks – does anybody care outside of marketing?
User ID not verified.
Have your say