Steve Ahern started the session on Tussle for Talent, is a difficult topic – how do you get and create talent. Amanda Lee said she started in radio because she loved radio, there is a real problem with getting talent to stay especially with some many other offers. Duncan said there has always been a problem for them especially at market rates, he also said that he loves the business and the people who do will stay. He said it’s their job to look after people and keep them. Abe said there is the ‘Great Indian Churn’ in the pandemic many people were laid off but are now coming back. He said that there has been a cultural change like ‘Ghosting’ and ‘Quiet Quitting’, one of the fundamental differences is that in the past it was family, now it’s about team they want to keep the two separate. 12-14 hours is a thing of the past. Amanda said she felt like family was a big part of pandemic, her team is there to support each other, they are building something really special. There is a lot of diversity and the culture is about family ‘The Family Feel at Fox’. People today want to be valid, heard and given attention, Duncan said walking the floor is important. All the Content Directors are encouraged to build relationships with new starters, it’s not just a job for them. Steve asked the audience what their roles were, 60% of people said they had issues with talent. Is the solution bigger pay and 100% in the room said no. Duncan said a lot of talent comes from Podcasting, it’s difficult to find videographers and show producers, there has been a big loss to other sections of the media. In the same question Amanda said she also sees podcasts feeding talent, off air talent is a real struggle for example content directors especially in local stations especially women. She felt they need to coach and develop people for these roles. People management is hard and content is very difficult and also leadership is really important, Amanda said she had this training and support. Abe noted that in India, the biggest churn is in sales and solutions, there is also radio to TV to digital as they see this as an upgrade. Radio and digital is the new normal for Abe. Production fraternity Is freelance in India, it’s possible to put people into project teams. Duncan said they have a pipeline from metro to regional and vice versa as they train and move up. They are introducing Training Bootcamps next year with mentors from Metro to Regional markets. They need to train and re-train their people. In India there is a huge explosion of talent in regional markets due to the culture and language with thanks to TikToks there are many regional content and talent growth. Amanda said going back to regional really helped as she was learning to be a Content director and she made the mistakes in a small market and learnt so much. Duncan talked about an initiative which they undertook where they approached influencers and brought them into radio. He said it was very good, authentic and raw, many people wanted a radio show. Radio is still important to talent. Radio gets a bigger growth in regional markets so brands and talent want to stay in regional areas. Sales is about understanding the product and technology and these are the people who Abe needs more of. The challenges is time and opportunities, young people are in a hurry said Amanda, they want work life balance. Duncan said that the challenge is flexibility, they need to be able to control their brand.
Photo by Jonathan Farber on Unsplash
