Nick Karkazis is the Programme Director and Head of Imaging at SPIN 1038 in Ireland. He doesn’t use the word “youth” too often because his audience wouldn’t really like that word, but he has worked incredibly hard attracting the “youth” audience to his station.
Nick has created several specialist shows. One of his most successful tricks has been to use podcasters to drive engagement and audience reach. SPIN 1038 has put successful Irish podcasts on the radio, and supported them with an on air radio personalities too. Has it worked? Yes, the audiences have come over and the station’s brand has grown massively.
Another strategy has been for SPIN 1038 to be visible at events and parties where the audience is going to be. Why do they do this? It’s not always about driving listening straight away, it’s more about being associated with cool events and being front of mind amongst younger demographics. The audience growth comes later…
Petter Hallen, a Host at Swedish Radio and Amel Suljevic, the Channel Producer at Swedish Radio P3, spoke second.
They have been working hard to attract people who have not historically listened to the radio. Two things they have been trying to do: Give birth to new stars and give audiences lots of hip hop music (because younger audiences in Sweden love hip hop). One strategy, which has worked really well, has been to bring new hip hop talent to the station. Put hip hop stars on the radio…
And live music has been important too. P3 is inviting more and more rappers into the studio to perform, trying new artists and new formats regularly. The team prides themselves on being the first station to interview artists too. If they get there first, then the audience respects that.
