Roy Bennett, the newly appointed head of GMG (Guardian Media Group) Radio North West, now has three stations to manage - Century, Smooth and next year’s debutante Rock Talk.
 Roy Bennett Bennett, 43, has been with GMG Radio since 2000. In January 2003 he was appointed MD of what was Jazz FM, then Smooth FM and as of March this year, Smooth Radio. On 4 April, Century and Rock Talk were added to his management portfolio.
He started his career as an ad rep selling display advertising on the nationals in London and ended up in a senior role at the Daily Mirror.
However broadcast media intrigued him and he jumped ship to join Live TV, memorable for Bennett but not necessarily career progression in hindsight. It did, however, open new career opportunities and he joined the team that launched Galaxy Radio in 1991.
In 2000 he joined GMG and relocated to Cardiff as sales director on its Real Radio launch. The following year he was made MD of the station.
Acquisition of Jazz FM In 2002, GMG bought Jazz FM and he relocated again, this time to Manchester.
Things were dire at Jazz FM. “The station was essentially a satellite operation” he says. “It was basically run out of London and networking London programming to the provinces.
“There were just two full time presenters and three or four other staff – including freelancers.”
Audience figures weren’t good. The station’s reach was just over 2m listening hours a week.
“We needed to restructure the entire operation” said Bennett “We invested, we recruited.”
He turned the station into a profit centre in its own right, rather than just a ‘branch office’. Administration, sales and most importantly content became the responsibility of Jazz FM in Manchester. Over 30 staff were recruited.
Something still missing
But something was still missing.
“We’d staffed it up and re-energised it” he says “but progress was slow, it wasn’t happening. So we went out to research and the message that came back was quite unequivocal - the name itself was a barrier. A big barrier. So we rebranded the station as Smooth FM in March 2004 and audience figures went through the roof.”
By 2006 the figure had climbed to approaching 7m listening hours a week.
In March this year, as part of a UK wide branding initiative, the station became Smooth Radio. The creative work for the six figure ad campaign was handled by Clear and the media was bought by Brilliant. TV figured prominently in the media spend.
“We’ve historically been targeting the 35+ market but we’re now moving that slightly upwards to 40+” says Bennett.
Up, up and mid to down He sees Smooth as an upmarket station with a ‘more mixed audience’. Century, in contrast, with circa 5.5m listening hours a week, targets a down to mid market audience and a younger one of 25+.
Rock FM, he says “will appeal to an upmarket 40+ primarily male audience.”
He is at pains to point out that Rock will not be on the same scale as its two stable mates with their North West reach - Rock will be purely city-wide Manchester.
Rock is expected to launch in 2008 but Bennett won’t be tied down on specific timing.
The new station will be based at Laser House on Salford Quays. Century is based there and Smooth, which is currently just a few hundred metres away at Exchange Quay, will also be relocating to Laser House following refurbishment work which is presently underway.
Over 100 staff will be based at Laser House when the three stations are in situ. £8m sales Sales of Smooth and Century are currently “around £8m.” Profit margins in the industry are typically between 25 to 30% but Bennett won’t be drawn on his stations’ profitability beyond stating they are “very profitable.”
Mindful of market accusations relating to GMG’s supposed ‘local media monopoly’ in Manchester, Bennett says for him it’s not an issue at all. “We don’t really mix with the others and we certainly don’t have a co-ordinated strategy.
“Occasionally a client will come to us seeking a more innovative or comprehensive way to target the conurbation and then it’s logical, and arguably natural, for sales managers here – or indeed at the papers - to put forward simplified and attractive solutions to what appear to be challenging briefs.
“Having said that, although it’s a great idea in theory and I accept there is movement towards it, the reality is we’ve all got our own profit centres to run and in the majority of situations, we’re actually competing with the MEN and increasingly Channel M.”
The challenge now as Bennett sees it, is a cut above such regional sniping.
In his sights is the UK’s currently biggest radio station, Real Radio Scotland, co-incidentally another GMG franchise. “What we want to deliver here in the North West, is our vision of making Century North West the biggest radio station in the UK and Smooth the most profitable.”
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