Chaux talks Stardust

Staff Writer

Editor of Radio Today, Mark Hales, speaks with Southern Cross Austereo's Digital Radio Content Director, Jaime Chaux (pictured) about their newest digital station, Stardust Radio.

Here is the story we ran at launch here, it includes a rundown of the songs played in the first half hour.

Mark : Congrats on the new digital station. How did the format come about ?

Jaime : A lot of conversations between myself, Grant Tothill and Guy Dobson. This one stuck out as a great chance for us to try something different. We’ve got spectrum to use, why not try something that SCA isn’t traditionally known for ? Any format is possible. It’s been great fun building.

Stardust is built around the Great American Songbook, the songs that are truly timeless. Already the feedback is that this is now the ultimate dinner party radio station.

Mark : Is it true you developed the format just so you can do ‘research’ in Las Vegas ?

Jaime : I wish. The closest I could get to Vegas for ‘research’ was the pokie lounge downstairs here at World Square.

Mark : How will Stardust sit on the priority list for the SCA digital channels, or do you treat Radar / Buddha and Stardust as equals ?

Jaime : They are all like our children.. we love and treat them equally. The main thing is that each brand comes with a purpose to serve a new audience we don't currently cater to on our analogue channels and to step out of our comfort zone each time. Each brand is very different to the other.

Mark : Any plans to add talk breaks or shows of any kind to the channel, or is it designed to be a music / imaging only format ?

Jaime : Now now Mark, this isn’t a strategy meeting. Nice try though.

Mark : You love your bird sounds. Will we ever see other animals featured on their own digital channel ? Cows or ducks maybe ? and are you going to develop an ‘animal talent bank’ ? 😉

Jaime : I’ve heard crazier stuff. Listeners absolutely love the birds. I did have my desk phone number on display on Bird Radio’s scrolling text display for listeners to call for a while after launch, but I had to take it off – my voicemail kept filling up every day. Feedback was bizarrely overwhelmingly positive. Each listener has a very different story on why they love it. Insane.

 

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