The Australian Radio Network (ARN)'s senior management team has undergone a major restructure, with its four state-based general managers departing and a new marketing director appointed.
A spokesperson for ARN said the changes are "not about cost-cutting" but will involve increased investment in programming, marketing and production. The spokesperson also flagged that there would be more new staff hires.
On the prospect of more staff leaving ARN, the spokesperson said: "Whether or not other staff decide to leave it’s really too early to tell. The message from senior management has been is that we are going to compete again for Number 1 ratings slots, middle of the road is no longer acceptable, it’s not going to be easy, but we are on the verge of a very exciting period for Australian radio."
The four GM's who are departing from ARN are Anthony Fitzgerald in Sydney, Steve Rowe in Melbourne, Peter Verhoeven in Brisbane and George Fiacchi in Adelaide
Chief executive Ciaran Davis, who has been in the role for the past six months, has implemented the changes which see Jodie Koning, a former marketer at Diageo, move into the newly-created role of ARN national marketing director.
Koning was an innovation manager at Diageo and brand manager on Smirnoff, and has also spent time as senior brand and strategy manager at McDonald's.
A new national leadership team has been set up with Content run by Duncan Campbell, Revenue by Paul Parker, Finance by Cormac O'Shea, Technology and IT by Graeme O'connor and Operations, Payroll and HR run by Geraint Davies.
ARN is moving from a state-based management operation to a nationally-guided, function-based management approach that aims to improve business performance.
Davis said: "This change is not about cost cutting or widespread job cuts – it is the most substantial shake-up of ARN in a number of years that will involve significant re-investment across a number of core areas. The restructure will give everyone at ARN more autonomy and more accountability across the business that will in turn make ARN more relevant to our audiences, our markets and our clients. We are on the verge of a very exciting era in Australian radio and I want ARN to capture its potential by changing the way we think and the way we do business across our various markets."
ARN's commercial radio operations across Australia include Mix 106.5, WSFM 101.7, The Edge 96.1, Mix 101.1, Gold 104.3, 93.7FM, 4Q 693 and Mix 102.3.
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