What South African Radio Can Learn from SAFM Adelaide's Head of Content Matt O' Reilly
Loading player...
On my recent trip to Australia, I was lucky enough to visit one of South Australia’s biggest stations, SAFM, and sit down with their Head of Content, Matthew O’ Reilly.
We had a cool chat about the Australian market, content "policies", South African radio fluidity, listener attention and loyalty, dormant versus active audiences, and some added value banter around live-streaming events to audiences.
As the Programme Manager of the legacy campus station, Tuks FM, back in South Africa, I am reviving our on-air listener presence and rebuilding an edgy, forward-thinking platform for young voices to call home.
Today’s listener wakes up to a Spotify playlist, scrolls TikTok while getting ready for work, listens to a podcast during a commute, watches YouTube during lunch, engages with Instagram throughout the day, and only occasionally interacts with traditional broadcast media.
The challenge facing broadcasters globally is therefore not simply audience acquisition—it is audience retention, audience engagement and audience habit formation.
Australia has emerged as one of the most innovative radio markets in the world in adapting to this new reality. While many mature radio markets have struggled with audience fragmentation, Australian broadcasters have successfully evolved by reimagining the role of radio itself.
The key question is no longer:
“How do we get people to listen to our station?”
Instead, it has become:
“How do we become part of people’s daily lives regardless of platform?”
Listen to SAFM here
https://hit.listnr.com/adelaide/
Tune into Tuks FM on 107.2 FM or stream us www.tuksfm.co.za
#radioresearch #australianradio #southafricaradio #content #newmedia
We had a cool chat about the Australian market, content "policies", South African radio fluidity, listener attention and loyalty, dormant versus active audiences, and some added value banter around live-streaming events to audiences.
As the Programme Manager of the legacy campus station, Tuks FM, back in South Africa, I am reviving our on-air listener presence and rebuilding an edgy, forward-thinking platform for young voices to call home.
Today’s listener wakes up to a Spotify playlist, scrolls TikTok while getting ready for work, listens to a podcast during a commute, watches YouTube during lunch, engages with Instagram throughout the day, and only occasionally interacts with traditional broadcast media.
The challenge facing broadcasters globally is therefore not simply audience acquisition—it is audience retention, audience engagement and audience habit formation.
Australia has emerged as one of the most innovative radio markets in the world in adapting to this new reality. While many mature radio markets have struggled with audience fragmentation, Australian broadcasters have successfully evolved by reimagining the role of radio itself.
The key question is no longer:
“How do we get people to listen to our station?”
Instead, it has become:
“How do we become part of people’s daily lives regardless of platform?”
Listen to SAFM here
https://hit.listnr.com/adelaide/
Tune into Tuks FM on 107.2 FM or stream us www.tuksfm.co.za
#radioresearch #australianradio #southafricaradio #content #newmedia
