Abstract:

The changes to the Australian Broadcasting Services Act in the mid- 1990’s have meant radio owners are either considering the purchase of new radio stations that were once their competitors or taking advantage of Section 39 licenses to start a new FM station in their market. This paper investigates the results of research Quadrant Radio Strategies has conducted in Australia that examines market segmentation and the attraction of various formats to differing age groups. The methodology involved a series of focus groups and telephone interviews in three regional and two capital city markets in Australia. The analysis provides a series of new market competition rules that have developed as a result of the study and offer four key format “holes” identified from the music life group segmentation.