‘It’s time to move on’: Dean Buchanan to depart NZME

Former Publisher

Dean Buchanan will leave his NZME post on November 29 after three years leading the business.

His departure, announced on Friday, has many in the industry speculating on his next move.

Could the widely-respected executive be bound for the chief content officer role at Southern Cross Austereo? Only time will tell, but as one insider told Radio Today: “The timing of his resignation is quite a coincidence”.

However, applications for the role remain open and SCA chief Grant Blackley confirmed a wide net had been cast, with interviews beginning next week.

In a statement about his departure sent to media, Buchanan said that “it was time to move on”. But his next move, at least for the moment, remains a mystery.

“I came to New Zealand 6 years ago with a mission to relaunch the radio brands and that started with hiring Fletch, Vaughan and Megan to ZM,” he said.

“Since then we have changed up every major show on every brand, attracting many of New Zealand’s highest-profile and favourite personalities.

“With some of our best radio ratings in years in the commercial demos, it’s time to move on.”

Since he joined NZME in 2015, Buchanan has led the strategy, integration and execution of NZME’s entertainment channels across radio, publishing magazines, digital, social and video.

He was also the group program director for the Nova Network, spending over a decade at the company from the wildly successful launch of Nova 96.9 Sydney.

In last year’s Content Kings series on Radio Today, Buchanan was singled out for masterminding the unique audience-driven “sounds different” strategy, after finding a gap in the competitive under 40’s radio market.

He also pitched and established the “no more than two ads in a row” sales strategy that took the disruptor to a market-leading position.

Listen to Dean Buchanan’s interview with Craig Bruce on the Game Changers Radio podcast:

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Cam
18 Oct 2019 - 10:56 pm

I suspect we will be welcoming here to SCA soon as the new CCO word is done deal

Sean
19 Oct 2019 - 4:04 pm

Nice tuxedo.

2 part puzzle
21 Oct 2019 - 1:49 pm

Say hello to the new Chief Content Officer at SCA…

F. Walker
21 Oct 2019 - 5:41 pm

SCA need a completely fresh approach and new thinking to add to their many strengths. Hiring from the same old talent pool is probably not going to deliver that.

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