The ABC has added a raft of high-profile names to its radio schedule next year, including the journalist and standup Wendy Harmer, the entertainer Clare Bowditch, the broadcaster Ellen Fanning and the Indigenous academic Larissa Behrendt.
Guardian Australia can also reveal that the ABC’s “ideas network”, Radio National, is restructuring to move away from scheduled daily and weekly programs to a digital-first operation. As traditional linear programming gives way to podcasts and on-demand content, insiders say, the presentation of the programs will become less formal.
In a leaked “proposed restructure” document, the manager of RN, Deborah Leavitt, warns the “current broadcast model is not in line with what we know about emerging audience behaviour” and RN has to change to survive.
“We will protect the linear schedule for audiences who enjoy it that way, but we need to set ourselves up to deliver content where the biggest audiences will be in the future – in the digital space,” Leavitt said.
Staff were told there will be more redundancies before Christmas as five Radio National senior positions, including editors and executive producers, will be abolished.
“RN content has never been more popular and more and more Australians are engaging with it online,” Leavitt told staff on Thursday. “The data we have about Australian audiences shows that the internet, particularly mobile platforms, are becoming the preferred source for news information and ideas – especially for RN’s core audience.
“Relying on and operating as a primarily linear radio service built around appointment listening is simply not a sustainable long-term option if we want to stay an influential force in this digital world we are moving towards.
“The key to the future for us is genre specialisation and excellence – creating content that works well on radio – but equally well through being digital-first. Increasingly we also see opportunities for us as a quality content house for audio production for ABC Radio.”
On its local radio network, the ABC has hired some popular presenters including Harmer, an author who co-hosted 2Day FM’s breakfast show for 11 years and was the publisher of the website the Hoopla. Harmer will replace Linda Mottram on Sydney’s 702 Mornings program.
In Melbourne, the afternoon shift on 774 ABC will be taken over by the singer and actor Bowditch after the departure of Richard Stubbs, who has been a popular presenter for 11 years.
“Clare will be a fresh new voice on Melbourne radio,” said ABC Local’s Melbourne manager, Warwick Tiernan. “She is a gifted artist and storyteller, whose warmth, intelligence and conversational approach will help build connections with contemporary Melbourne, and audiences across Victoria.”
The ABC’s director of radio, Michael Mason, said the broadcaster would broaden its appeal through the new presenter appointments and content “which better reflect the communities and society it’s part of”.
“It continues to be the destination for great ideas, classical and contemporary music and the place where Australians connect with their cities,” he said. “ABC Radio will be the home of 2016’s big conversations and stories.”
The author and academic Behrendt will host Speaking Out, a national Indigenous affairs program on ABC Local.
“With the program extended to one hour, Larissa will have the opportunity to explore Indigenous news, politics and current affairs in much greater depth,” Mason said.
Radio National has beefed up its schedule by adding two new business programs, both hosted by former the Media Report and Life Matters presenter Richard Aedy. His Media Report and Sunday Profile have both been axed, as revealed by Guardian Australia last month.
Fanning, who made her name as the presenter of AM and as a reporter on Nine’s 60 Minutes, returns to the ABC as host of the morning show Life Matters on Radio National.
Another musician, Christine Anu, will share the Evenings program with Dominic Knight before taking over full-time later next year.
