The industry was blindsided with the news that Grant Blackley, the CEO of Southern Cross Austereo (SCA), was stepping down after eight years to be replaced by chief operating officer (COO) John Kelly from July.
Blackley told AdNews he had been working with the board for quite some time on succession planning, both for himself and others in the leadership team.
“That has been ongoing work for a couple of years and we do that on an annual basis - we do a mapping exercise, looking at people both on an internal and external basis, who can be successors for ourselves, me included,” said Blackley.
“I engaged with the board some time ago and what we wanted to achieve with the announcement was a successful transition. The board have come to the decision to appoint John, who I think is an excellent choice and is a very solid executive who I've worked with for over 20 years.
“Many companies, and many media companies, don't really transition well and we wanted to be different and proud of the fact that we could do a seamless transition. I will spend two months with the organisation through to June 30; most importantly, that gives John the opportunity to actually own the next fiscal year which starts on July 1.”
Blackley said that Kelly is “a very talented executive”; formerly the group CFO of Network 10, the incoming SCA CEO then served for three years as COO at Football Federation Australia before re-joining Blackley at SCA as COO in 2016.
“We've been going through a detailed mentoring program with John, and others in different roles, as all part of our succession planning,” said Blackley.
“There's no question that the benefit of continuity in respect of John being here, knowing the people, knowing all of the assets, but having a very independent opinion about what he will do next, was what we felt to be a good transition for the company."
Blackley said that after 38 years in the media industry – including 18 as a CEO across Network 10, SCA and a talent agency that he and Hugh Marks bought and were joint leaders of – he felt it was the right time to pass the baton across to Kelly.
“Some people have asked if I'm retiring, and I'm not,” said Blackley.
“If I can, I have a desire to fundamentally work overseas after 38 years of working in Australia in this industry, but I have nothing pre-planned to go to - the only thing planned is a three-month holiday in Europe with my wife and my two daughters, which I’m very much looking forward to.”
Looking back at his time at SCA, Blackley said that upon joining, he inherited a company that had $690 million of debt and a very divided culture – he leaves the role having substantially reduced that debt figure to only $100 million and with an “award winning culture” in place.
“We measure our culture through an international company called Human Synergistics and we've won their Australian company award for two years. We have brought together what was four streams of workflow into one company with one vision and effectively one culture, so that is enormously fulfilling,” said Blackley.
“I will say that our digitisation transformation has been an absolute joy to work on; joining this company with what was then 68 radio stations, we now have 100 radio stations.
“We have fully digitised 60 workplaces, so it is fully connected and world-leading in terms of its innovation and connectivity. We can produce and deliver content from any place across 300 studios, which gave us basically the benchmark to then create LiSTNR.”
Blackley said that if there is a legacy that he leaves at SCA, outside of the leadership and cultural values that he’s employed in his time at the helm, it will be that LiSTNR will take the company forward as a “world-class” audio digital audio ecosystem, which is maturing at pace and growing in scale, something Blackley said he’s “extremely proud of.”
“Within that is our 100 radio stations; our 27 music-only stations that didn't exist until two years ago; 500 podcasts, which as a part of we've exclusively onboarded Wondery and Stitcher; our sporting rights across the AFL, the NRL and Cricket Australia; and the 200 original podcasts that we now produce every week,” said Blackley.
“My time as the chair of Commercial Radio and Audio (CRA) - being able to transform that from a policy-driven to a commercially-driven organisation with the support of the board of CRA and deliver the first change in ratings measurement for 44 years - is also quite gratifying in many respects.
“At the end of the day, you do this as a group, and the quality of people at SCA and the experience and the commitment that they have here is second to none. It's the people and their commitment and expertise and passion that frankly drives that outcome.”
As he begins his departure from the top job of one of the biggest audio networks in the country, Blackley said that the industry is in a strong position moving forward.
“Eight years ago, we had a robust radio market, but it was effectively a linear platform. What we now see is a robust audio market, where the radio networks are the principal drivers of on-demand content, the audio market has expanded, our opportunities have expanded, and the health of the overall sector has only improved,” said Blackley.
“A number of the radio providers have leaned in because we have the services and capability to do it. Those who have leaned in and embraced the change to on-demand or streaming content have effectively benefited.
“I think there's been a demonstrable change in the appetite from both advertisers and audiences for audio, so I think it'll only get stronger.”
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