DMG Radio has named its latest network after the brightest star in the constellation Lyra and the new offering will be aimed at the over-40s, featuring a mix of music and talk backed by a heavyweight line-up of presenters.
And after paying $158m for its new Sydney and Melbourne licences, DMG is hoping its winning strategy of flying in the face of traditional radio practice will extend to the wealthy, heavy radio listening baby boomer audience.
At 11am, Monday next week, the switch will be flicked and Vega 95.3 FM in Sydney will go to air, with former ABC breakfast presenter, Angela Catterns set to be the first to step behind the mike.
DMG chief executive, Paul Thompson, said it will follow in the footsteps of Nova in terms of innovation.
“We try very hard to challenge the existing mindset of radio… we’ll do it in a way that breaks the rules because that’s what we do,” Thompson said.
But unlike Nova, he said Vega will not be following the ‘never more than two ads in a row’ mantra, with research into the older demographic revealing that baby boomers have a “higher tolerance for commerciality” and don’t mind listening to four ads at a time.
DMG general manager, Fiona Cameron, said there are already about half a dozen advertisers confirmed for the Sydney station, including the Seven Network, Hyundai and major retailers.
“Our ad rates are very competitive and we can provide great complementary selling for under 40s with Nova and over 40s with Vega…so conceivably you can put your total buying spend on DMG,” Cameron said.
Seven corporate development director, Simon Francis, said as a major advertiser on radio, its plans with Vega “complements our current radio agreements with all networks”, but he doesn’t foresee Seven reducing its spend on other radio stations.
“[Its] target demographic closely aligns with ours, adults 25-54, and we’ll be promoting a number of our programmes on Vega. We have a long and successful relationship with DMG and the Novas and we’re pleased to extend that long-term relationship to Vega,” Francis said.
Media agency Initiative’s Victorian general manger, Ben Willee, said with the imminent launch of Vega in Melbourne and test broadcasts to begin on August 1, it will be watching developments very closely.
“From the top-line stuff DMG has said to me it appears on the surface to be a very different [programming] offer, but whether or not that is actually the case is yet to be proven…the real question is, is there really room for another radio station in Sydney and Melbourne and I suspect you could say yes and the reason for that is radio has about 7-8% share of advertising revenue so there remains potential for growth,” Willee said.
