Your questions answered

Last week we published a story about Southern Cross Austereo bringing legendary production guru, Dave Foxx, to their ACRA's session (see it here).

Many of the comments we received were wanting to know about the recent changes to production at their Gold Coast Media Centre.

So we got in touch with SCA's National Head of Production, Brendan Tacey, to find out more and answer your comments directly…

Anonymous (11:27am 19 Jul 2012)

BT : I obviously can’t speak for Dave personally, but he has been round the industry long enough to no doubt have been through his fair share of restructures and I’m sure he would have very good comment on how he has positioned himself and his teams to navigate through them.

Audio guys voicing imaging… what’s new about that? We have been doing it for years now. The worlds top image guys do it… and I don’t mean to keep referring back to Mr Foxx, but he has been teaching it to people all over the world for over 10 years and the importance it plays in the make up of a producers skill sets.

4 to 5 imaging guys making 150 stations. Hmmmmm… without thinking about it too hard… I’ve just counted 13 of us that make significant contributions to all of our stations from the largest of metro to the smallest of regional… and that’s not including the guys and gals that work solely on their own duopolies. As for the attendance list to date, I have 30 confirms… and that’s with a number of replies still to come.. so yeah.. there will be more that 4 of us getting something out of this incredible day.

Anonymous (11:30am 19 Jul 2012)

BT : U bet there will be producers who get something out of this. We have so many talented producers in our team who have a great love for their craft.. a true passion… and it’s that passion that drives them to be the next Blacko, Sidey or Konsky. I mean we all have to start somewhere. Maybe Anonymous has forgotten that. Have a chat to our leading guys and ask them where they started and what they went thru to get where they are today. (they’d be only too happy to tell you)

I know that everyone from our key producers to our newest recruits and future guys who don’t even work with us yet will benefit from this day. What they will learn in that room will form part of the foundation of their imaging career.

So all the regional producers are being made redundant and replaced with audio visual people? I still talk to the same guys every other day in our key regional stations that I have been talking to every other day for over a year now… they haven’t gone anywhere.

The official word from SCA CEO Rhys Holleran on the 2 redundancies was…

“The recent restructure of our Gold Coast production team was undertaken in order to ensure we have the necessary skills within the business to meet future production needs across radio, digital and television.”

When asked what the re-structured roles will be, Dennis Guthrie, SCA's Head of Vision and Audio Gold Coast, says…

"All the producers in the developing team will be multimedia producers and will be requested to audio sweeten sound and sync sound to vision. They will also be multiskilled in all facets of radio production from commercials to imaging."

BT adds…

"Take away the fact that we are now as much a TV company as we are Radio, Radio itself is becoming a visual medium more and more. The engagement we are getting with our visual content indicates how much it will play a part in the future of radio.

While the crossover doesn’t suit every audio production role, there is no doubt room for that crossover to happen. And why not.

There are so many audio guys I know who have a secret passion or interest in visual. So any role that combines the 2 would be a perfect fit for those guys who have a love for both. Get them in there and let 'em shine.

We have audio producers now who have taken an element of Social Media on board as part of their role. The whole game is evolving and my personal opinion of change is that it's far better to embrace it than fight it.

I believe the situation is evolving at a very fast pace. The ideal of radio 10 years ago is nothing like it is today.

While the skill sets remain, they may be required to be implemented in a different way. Pick up the phone and have a chat to any of our CD’s and they will tell you how much their gigs have changed in a short space of time. The things they deal with today would never have been dreamed of only a few years ago.

I think it’s important to have an open mind about the future of our game… and if you are willing to adapt and enjoy it for what it is, then there is a bright future ahead."