Austereo

Caslon

This profile deals with the Austereo radio group.

It covers -

introduction
history
holdings

     introduction

Austereo - controlled by Village Roadshow - problematically claims to be the "largest radio broadcaster outside America" and is a dominant commercial network in Australia.

Its corporate site is here.

     history

Austereo originated with the company that secured the first commercial FM licence in Adelaide in 1980 and purchased the struggling FOX FM in Melbourne in 1986 and 4BK in Brisbane in 1987 (converted to B105 FM).

Village Roadshow sold its Triple M network to Austereo in 1994, for a 53.5% stake which was initially sold down to around 40% but later increased to 55.7%.

Austereo expanded its Australian operations (currently stations in all mainland Australian capital cities and Newcastle under the TodayFM and MMM networks) and established a presence in the UK, Malaysia and Greece (eg Athens station Village 88).

Austereo listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2001.

     holdings

In the UK it has 6% of the non-metropolitan network UKRD, with 14 stations, and provides management services to that network.

In Australia it has a programming alliance with RG Capital Radio Limited, which has 32 stations in regional Australia. The company was founded by television game show entrepreneur Reg Grundy, whose tv production arm was acquired by Pearson Television in 1995.

Austereo stages music concerts through its A-Live Worldwide arm. Related businesses include Simon Richards Group (direct marketing
and databases), mcm entertainment (radio production and syndication) and Eye Shop (mall signage joint venture with TEN's EYE).

Australian stations include

2Day FM - Sydney
2MMM - Sydney
Fox FM - Melbourne
3MMM - Melbourne
B105 - Brisbane
4MMM - Brisbane
SAFM - Adelaide
5MMM - Adelaide
MIX 94.5 - Perth
All New 92.9 - Perth
NXFM - Newcastle
KOFM - Newcastle
FM104.7 - Canberra (in partnership with Clear)
Mix 1063 - Canberra (in partnership with Clear)
Klik FM - Greece (75%)

It provides management services to the UKRD group and Malaysian broadcasters.

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