One of the Great Marketing Bluffs
He was CEO of the group that created one of the great marketing bluffs Australian media had ever seen.
It caused the market leader to change its name.
The year, 1990.
Founding CEO of both the Austereo and DMG Radio Australia (Nova), Paul Thompson is coming to B105's 25th Birthday Reunion on Feb 28.
Paul was Austereo's CEO when B105 was launched in 1990. Greg Smith was Austereo's Group Program Director and Brad March the stations Program Director.
The first General Manager of B105 was Ed Breslin followed by current GM Richard Barker.
The station converted from AM station 4BK and was one of Australia's most successful ratings stories, recording ratings of over 32%.
Paul Thompson told Radio Today "The B105 story began almost a decade after the seven original FM stations were well established and dominating cities across Australia.
AM music stations were struggling and we…the original Austereo…decided to address the absence of a Brisbane outlet in our portfolio by buying AM 4BK and seeking to convert the license to FM.
It was an expensive gamble as 4BK didn't come cheap and the new FM license was to be allocated through a 'blind' auction, a far less certain process than the later open auctions used for the licenses which became Nova.
In the face of fierce competition we won the tender..just..and prepared to launch against the towering market leader FM104.
The B105 launch saw one of the great marketing bluffs Australian media had ever seen.
Austereo leaked to the market that we were to brand the new enterprise as Triple B. This was designed to encourage FM104 to seek to pre-empt our use of the 'Triple' name and walk away from its near iconic brand and the advantages of an incumbent market leader.
This they duly did and FM104 became Triple M.
Austereo then launched under the brand it had always intended to use…B105.
And it went straight to No 1, dominating the Brisbane radio world for years thereafter.
Happy 25th B105!"
The original lineup of B105 included Jamie Dunn & Agro, Ian Skippen and Donna Lynch.
Other former B105 staffers include Duncan Campbell, Craig Bruce, Brian Ford, Kyle Sandilands, Sean Pickwell, Robyn Bailey, Rex Morris, Kylie Blutcher, Jamie Angel, Mikey Maher, Matty White, Dean Kesby, David Rymer, Andy G, Monique Dews and a host of others.
To be part of it, search B105 Twenty Five Year Reunion at Facebook or click here or you can simply book yourself here.