“We’ve had a few bumps.” ARN’s Dave Cameron on Christian, KIIS Breakfast & The Long Weekend

ARN's Dave Cameron. Image supplied.

Dave Cameron says he doesn’t have a crystal ball big enough to answer some of questions he no doubt knew would be coming his way after the latest radio ratings.

In his post-GfK Survey 4 interview with Radioinfo’s Steve Ahern, Cameron – ARN’s Metro Content boss -says there were ‘a few bumps’ in this book, though nothing earth shattering.

The recently-networked Christian O’Connell Breakfast Show saw a slight share dip in Sydney and an even bigger one in Melbourne, O’Connell’s original stomping ground.

Is Cameron worried about the Melbourne result?

“Not really, no,” he says. “Over 12 months or so, you do find that Christian bounces around a little bit but also bounces back into traditionally where the show sits – sort of an 11+ share.”

Cameron says O’Connell is already strongly connected to the Melbourne community.

“So there is no issue in that regard.”

And he says radio is a long game.

“I’ve seen enough amazing surveys from Christian to know that it’ll be fine.”

As for Sydney, Cameron points out that O’Connell has replaced a Breakfast show that ran for more than 20 years in that market.

It’s going to take time. And patience.

Quizzed about Jonesy & Amanda‘s share drops in both Melbourne and Sydney Drive, Cameron says “Yeah. But they were all up last survey, right?”

“Six weeks ago, we were sitting here, high-fiving and talking about how amazing it is.”

“So therein lies the irony of talking about survey results every six weeks when the audience are just not moving that radically.”

KIIS Sydney Breakfast and its rotating cast of guest co-hosts continues to trend down in the months since the Kyle & Jackie O Show disappeared.

Just how low can it go?

“Well, I’m not sure I can answer that,” says Cameron. “But what I would say is that when I had a look at the cume of that timeslot in Sydney, it’s still sitting at more than 500,000 listeners in the Breakfast timeslot for KIIS. That’s pretty strong.”

“Now, they may not be spending as much time with us at the moment. That’s natural. The show’s been changed and they’re not necessarily getting out of that timeslot what they’ve previously been delivered.”

“But to be still sitting at a 500,000+ cume in the timeslot I think suggests a really good opportunity for us for a launchpad for whatever happens next.”

Short-term, Cameron says the strategy is to try to hang onto as much of the the K & J audience as they can by retaining familiar elements of the show.

“And then the long-term strategy is working through what we do next.”

With Kris Fade no longer part of the equation, that in itself is one helluva question. One for which there is no ready-made answer.

“No-one has shows waiting in the wings that are kind of ready to go, that slip in and catch fire straight away,” says Cameron. “We have to build that.”

And building takes time.

“The right combinations, the right chemistry, the right strategy and getting timing right as well.”

Cameron says Amy Gerard will return as guest co-host on KIIS Sydney Breakfast next week for an unspecified period of time.

“She’s done an awesome job. She’s a real natural.”

As for the Karl Stefanovic debacle which has left Eddie McGuire flying solo on Fridays – it would appear the death knell has sounded for ARN’s The Long Weekend.

“Yeah, we’re working our way through that,” says Cameron matter-of-factly.

“There’ll probably be some announcements sooner rather than later in regards to any kind of change we might make.”

Cameron says naturally, The Long Weekend is no longer the same show ARN started out with four weeks ago.

“If we all had crystal balls, then maybe some of these decisions may be different. But unfortunately these things happen from time to time.”

Cameron is pleased, though, that ARN does take chances – broadening into other platforms in order to distribute content.

“It needs to keep doing that.”

“The biggest risk, I think, is standing still. I think it’s good that there is an ambition to do things differently with this company.”

Perhaps The Long Weekend hasn’t panned out the way ARN would have liked, but Cameron is quick to point out that the show constitutes less than 2% of the network’s broadcasting hours across a week.

“So it would be fair to say the amount of commentary around it probably is a little bit out of whack.”

Whatever the case, it won’t be long before we find out whether The Long Weekend will indeed be sailing off into the sunset.