Radiodays: Managing talent by Craig Bruce

A packed room greeted Southern Cross Austereo’s Head of Content, Craig Bruce, as he outlined the company’s vision for how they identify and manage talent.

Craig framed the debate by talking about his children and how their media consumption is so different to what we all grew up with and how even in a radio household it’s difficult for them to engage. The only thing that cuts through, and the thing that Craig felt radio had to concentrate on, was talented people.

For new shows at SCA, the content team do three things:

Select the cast
Build the Eco System
Grow the brand

He saw the end point as creating fans – not just listeners, stating that “the top 5% of our fans generate over 30% of share”.

He saw the key role of a Content Director (or Programme Director) is to identify that talent – “and as a talent scout you need to be at a permanent state of alert”.

After finding the talent – building the ecosystem is the next most important thing. It’s “the teamwork required from all parts of the business to keep the band together.” SCA use a variety of techniques – from an annual content conference, to a closed group on Facebook to share ideas and best practice between 400 creative staff.

Craig then talked about brand being “a promise, an expectation of an experience”. To deliver this they concentrate on filters for each show to keep the content true to what they want it to deliver.

Read more from the Radiodays Europe blog at RadiodaysEurope.com