Michelle Guthrie is back in media and aiming to disrupt the radio industry
Michelle Guthrie has grand plans to disrupt the radio industry as she embarks on her first major role in the media since her abrupt departure from the ABC five years ago.
Michelle Guthrie has grand plans to disrupt the radio industry as she embarks on her first major role in the media since her abrupt departure from the ABC five years ago.
The national broadcaster’s former managing director is the incoming chairwoman of the new talkback station Disrupt Radio. Despite being only three weeks old, it was years in the making.
“The name says it all, it’s about trying to do something differently,” Ms Guthrie told The Australian.
“Launching a DAB (digital audio broadcast) station – rather than a podcast, for example – is very different … having a focus around entrepreneurs and small business people and a focus on women and diverse voices is really different.”
The independently owned and operated outfit focuses on business and entrepreneurship and made plenty of headlines in its debut week, helped along by enlisting rock legend Sir Bob Geldof as its temporary breakfast host in its opening days.
Guthrie has been working behind the scenes to help create the station “from the ground up” with founder and chief executive Benjamin Roberts.
The station’s headquarters is in Melbourne’s Southbank and there is plenty of ex-ABC talent among its staff of about 20, including former Melbourne radio host Libbi Gorr and former executives Steve Kyte and Tom Wright.
Other key radio hosts include broadcaster and businessman Jules Lund and former AFLW player Moana Hope.
The station is available in the Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane markets on DAB+ and online.
Guthrie is quick to counter any critics who believe it will be short-lived. “This is not a six-month business, we are aiming to continue to grow and build on our audience and connect with a new type of radio listener,” she said.
Mr Roberts, who has spent 15 years working in radio, said Disrupt raised capital up until December last year and then had just six months to build the station.
“We had everything done that was strategic – the planning and content and presenters, we knew what we wanted to roll out – but we had to build the infrastructure,” Mr Roberts said.
He’s been overwhelmed with the response in its first few weeks.
“There’s been a lot of people who have called up and written in and their response has been the rediscovering of their love of radio for the first time in a long time.
“We’ve heard comments including that once people start listening and they can’t put it down.”
Mr Roberts said the varying programs across the station “have been designed differently and appeal to different audiences and sub groups of the community including women in business, entrepreneurship, innovation, tech and finance”.
“We are running less ads and the sound of the channel is different, there’s a lot of great things working in our favour,” he said.
Ms Guthrie said the pair had worked “really hard over the last couple of years to de-risk the business as much as we can and to really attract fantastic radio talent”.
Her return to media has been a while coming; she made national headlines when sacked as ABC managing director by then chairman Justin Milne in 2018. He criticised her leadership style and political relationships.
Ms Guthrie moved on, to numerous board roles including as chairwoman of games developer Mighty Kingdom. While she is firmly focused on Disrupt, she speaks fondly of her time at the public broadcaster and is a regular consumer of its content.
“I’m very proud of what I achieved at the ABC,” she said. “I still love to watch iconic programs like Back Roads and Gardening Australia, and I still love The Party Room podcast.”
The move towards digital transformation that managing director Mr Anderson talks about was something Ms Guthrie says she made a start on during her tenure.
“The audience challenges have been there for quite some time and it was very apparent when I was there (at the ABC) that change was needed and transformation was required,” she said.
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