SAFM’s new identity unveiled
Adelaide’s first commercial FM station, SAFM, will be reborn as Hit 107 – a women-oriented station with a revamped breakfast team and a focus on the latest “hit” songs.
After years of flagging ratings, owner Southern Cross Austereo decided only a matter of weeks ago to rebadge the station in order to mount a fresh challenge against competing youth-oriented music station Nova.
SAFM will be replaced by Hit 107 at 8am on Monday, with new breakfast team – young Adelaide comedian Amos Gill and Dani Pola, a former Big Brother ‘intruder’ who has most recently been working on the network’s Gosford station.
Southern Cross Austereo’s head of content Craig Bruce, who started his career in Adelaide at SAFM, said today that the company had had a “red hot go” at turning around SAFM’s ratings, without success.
With the decision to move on the SAFM breakfast team of Michael Beveridge and Hayley Pearson late last month, the company felt it was a “moment in time” that should be grasped.
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In a matter of weeks, the company developed a new logo and positioning for the station which will be aimed at women under the age of 40.
Southern Cross Austereo’s head of marketing and communications Nikki Clarkson said that, in marketing terms, the “bullseye” demographic for Hit 107 was a 27-year-old woman who is tech-savvy, fashion-obsessed and socially oriented. Music will be songs that are “hot right now.”
The station’s female skew will complement the network’s other Adelaide station, Triple M, which is heavily targeted at male listener.
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The old SAFM was also female-skewed with a focus on “hit” songs, so it remains to be seen whether the new branding and style will successfully reposition the station for listeners.
SAFM, which was a ratings powerhouse for much of its history, has been struggling in the ratings in recent years.
In the last survey it rated a distant fifth behind Mix102, 891ABC, Nova and FIVEaa – a far cry from the 1980s and 1990s when it appeared unstoppable as Adelaide’s number one station.
SAFM has been positioned as a youth pop station, but today’s announcement suggests that the format is set to change.
The station began broadcasting in 1980, with the call sign 5SSA-FM.
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