Beware of Ryan Rathbone

Ryan Rathbone is the Content Director of ARN’s MIX 106.5 in Sydney.

If you’re competing against Ryan Rathbone, you need to know that he’s one of the brightest & most creative programmers in the country today.

I first met Ryan in Rockhampton back in 2003 when I was working as a consultant to RG Capital Radio.  Ryan became PD of SEA.FM & 4RO & I was blown away by his creativity. He reminded me of a young Guy Dobson. 

I said to Rod Brice at the time that Ryan will go all the way. Rod didn’t buy it & I clearly understood his perspective.

Here I was as an esp consultant with all care and no responsibility and Rod, as Group PD of RG Capital Radio, with Ryan’s left field thinking creating all kinds of bushfires for Rod. I have a lot of time for Rod Brice. He had an incredible number of radio stations that he was responsible for & he did a great job steering them in the right direction.

Since 2003 I’ve kept an eye on Ryan’s career and even recommended him for some programming roles. He missed out on one of those positions because he failed the psych test. I wonder how many other creative radio executives fail the same test?

Early last year I asked Paul Thompson who the best PDs were at DMG at the time and he nominated Ryan as one of them. Late last year Duncan Campbell was smart enough to hire him away from DMG into his current role and I’m sure Ryan has created some bushfires for him.

All Ryan has to do now is build the ratings at MIX 106.5 and he’ll make all the Network Group Content Directors nervous.

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RSS

brad march (8:44am 01 Mar 2012)

Ryan Looking forward to hearing your work at Mix

Scott Muller (11:24am 01 Mar 2012)

Yes, without exception, Ryan was undoubtedly the most outstanding programmer of all the DMG programmers back then, and will no doubt be the same for ARN.

Tony James (12:05pm 01 Mar 2012)

I was a weekender/floater at Star on the Central Coast, he was a "PD's PD" back then! Knows his stuff and has a really rare quality of being a "leader" not a boss playing politics. Good on you Ryan, you show em mate!

Ryan Rathbone (4:58pm 01 Mar 2012)

As a result of this article I’ve been informed by Duncan that ARN have just invested in more fire extinguishers… Greg I appreciate your support throughout my career thank you. As for the psych test, its true I failed with flying colours... I doubt anyone would really be that surprised?

Mike Byrne (5:04pm 01 Mar 2012)

Ryan... or Nudge as we new him when he was on air... has a rare combination of youthful enthusiasm and a mature head. Nothing wrong with a few bushfires either, they keep all those suits on their toes! Good luck Ryan, i'm looking forward to seeing you acheive great success at Mix.

matt bern (8:10pm 01 Mar 2012)

arhh RYANO (does anyone call him that? - oh ok it's just me)
i had a guess it was him....what a plug. i sometimes listen in - mix is sounding great, now lets see some bloody numbers!!
good luck Ryano Rathbone

Mike Hammond (11:51am 02 Mar 2012)

Well don't know about the rest of you but I can hear it already in the littlt things like creativity of sweepers, cleanup of the clock, sticking to message and obvious sweetening of rotates and image tracks.
In fact I said so to DC only the other day.
Don't worry about anymore fire extinguishers Ryan...this market needs a bit of a burnoff!!
Smithy...I think it also speaks volumes about his smarts that he obviously hasn't provided you with any quotes for your piece - that tells me he's not one to bang on about himself...just gets the job done!!!

BTW Congrats again to the RT team.

Gregg Easton (12:05pm 09 Mar 2012)

I had the pleasure of working closely with Ryan as his APD/MD on a complete format relaunch. Although ultimately the format failed through factors beyond our control, Ryan's creativity and leadership was inspirational. The comparison to another former PD of mine - Guy Dobson is not exaggeration. Go Ryano!

dan bradley (1:06pm 09 Mar 2012)

wow Ryan's tyres are getting a pretty good pumping here, and at the risk of over-inflating them - I agree with Greg's comments entirely. Ryan was a ripper Program Director on the Central Coast, and in Brisbane, and is a great 'get' by Duncan Campbell and ARN.

keith fowler (2:25pm 09 Mar 2012)

fire extinguishers and now tyres.
Ryan could be a "virtual" side business for you in the sale of overstocked metaphors :-)

Seriously looking forward to the coming months.

to quote "if you are not living on the edge you're taking up too much space'

Paul Blunt (11:26pm 16 Mar 2012)

I'd like to think that there was a Breaky crew in Rocky back in those days that helped Ryno look good hahaha. Ryno is a rarity among PD's as he is a genuinely nice guy who makes you want to do well as much for him as yourself. You deserve every credit that your outstanding career delivers.

Jase (4:12pm 11 May 2012)

I knew Ryan from his 1st PD job....I was in Goulburn and he was at Cooma. He was only about 19 and always had a great attitude......doesn't suprise me at all how far he's gone.

Cheryl (3:41pm 15 Jun 2012)

No surprise there. Good on your Ryan. You were certainly a great asset at Nova Brisbane

Meshel Laurie (8:58am 11 Oct 2012)

Was I the only one unnerved by a PD who still skateboarded?