On the back of fantastic radio listener numbers being released in the latest McNair survey, Adelaide’s Fresh 92.7 has announced a new board following their recent AGM.
Featuring several Life Members of the broadcaster, that this year celebrates 21 years on air, the new board line up looks set to help drive the station forward, as it continues to grow.
The changes are a result of expired terms of former directors and were announced to members last week.
Kat Leese who has been an active member of Fresh since 2002 was one of the inaugural Life members has been appointed Chair as well as Jay Antoney who takes up the role of Secretary.
Leese is more than optimistic about moving forward: “I am extremely excited about our future. We have a new board along with a dedicated team of passionate radio professionals who are ready to face whatever challenges the future holds. The board have appointed a new sub-committee for the Life members, together we will overcome any hurdles and will remain strong in our market position”
The station has had a period of excellent growth but as General Manager Dave Shearer explained, things are tough in the Community Radio as advertising dollars become harder to find. “The last year has seen an increase of 13% in sales revenue in a declining market. We have also seen audience grow by 18% and we have managed to reduce our costs by nearly 20%. The station still faces challenges as the sponsorship limits us to only 5 minutes per hour and our income from grants hand donations has fallen significantly. We are delighted to have engaged the support of the life membership who have been outstanding and have been able to ease some of the workload of our small but extremely hard-working core team. Alongside our new board, life members have been working tirelessly on helping us to make sure that Fresh 92.7 has a long-term future as we face the challenges ahead.”
Other board members include legendary radio consultant Phil Dowse along with radio sales veteran Darren Pike. Glam Adelaide’s CEO Kelly Noble also continues to sit on the board, offering up her media and digital expertise.
Fresh was started in Adelaide in 1998 with just $50 from founding member Chris Velliaris who is an extremely successful Chartered Accountant and is also one of the original Life Members.
Shearer added “I’ve been very lucky to persuade Chris and other founders to return to Fresh, and their passion and knowledge has been instrumental in steering us through some difficult months. We are all grateful for their support as without them the road ahead would be far more challenging.”
The latest McNair survey shows fresh has 170,000 weekly listeners who spend nearly 12 hours per week listening to the locally made output.
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