Youthful veteran in tune for radio job

By Karyn Scherer

His youthfulness might raise a few eyebrows, but Radio Pacific's new managing director is a man who knows the ropes

It was once, and probably still is, known in some quarters as Radio Whinge. Love it or hate it - and few people feel indifferently about it - Radio Pacific should be commended for one thing at least: still being around.

While the blame for introducing talk radio to this country must go to Gordon Dryden, the station has been most closely associated over the past 20 years with former Hauraki pirate Derek Lowe.

For 14 of those years, Lowe has been the rock to which Pacific's loyal listeners and even more loyal shareholders have clung.

But after four decades in the radio industry, Lowe is finally easing himself out. While he is staying on as Pacific's executive chairman "for the time being," a new managing director, Steven Joyce, has now taken over.

Joyce's age alone probably has many Pacific listeners wondering just what the board was thinking. He is just 35.

It is doubtful whether he identifies with the type of people who think John Banks is the only sane person alive. Nevertheless, he is already a radio veteran. And the shoes he is stepping into are not only several sizes bigger than those of his predecessor, they are also radically different in style.

Just two years ago, the Radio Pacific Group consisted of a single talkback network, broadcast on 26 frequencies. It now owns or leases 80 frequencies, two-thirds of which pump out round-the-clock music, from the Supremes to the Spice Girls. Its brands include Solid Gold, The Rock and The Edge, as well as community stations in most North Island cities.

An indication of the way the company is going is the move this week to take Pacific off its FM frequency in Auckland, and replace it with The Rock.

The music formats are Joyce's babies, and he is the proud father of most of them.

Like most in the industry, he became fascinated with the raw charm of radio at an early age. As a youngster growing up in New Plymouth, he regularly tuned in to 2ZB, and fantasised about one day owning his own station.

It was while studying zoology at Massey University that he finally plucked up the courage to volunteer his services to the student station.

"I was actually going to be a vet but I didn't make it," he recalls. "I got involved in radio just after I finished my degree.

"With student radio at the time, if you hung around you got more jobs. I hung around and I was news editor, and I hung around some more and I was programme director. Just by hanging around, within two years I was running the place."

It wasn't long before he and a bunch of friends from Radio Massey, including present More FM breakfast host Jeremy Corbett and Telecom manager Quentin Bright, decided to start their own station in New Plymouth. It took nearly two years for the group to get a licence from the Broadcasting Tribunal, but in 1987 Energy FM was finally born.

Joyce and his mates found themselves working up to 24 hours a day getting the business off the ground, but within five years they had enough cash to buy another station, Coastline FM in Tauranga. A few years later, they managed to buy more frequencies in Hamilton, Rotorua and Palmerston North.

By 1996, however, the company was running out of spare cash, just as the industry was consolidating, sparked by deregulation and the sale of Radio New Zealand's commercial stations to a private buyer. Lowe had been on Energy Enterprises' board from the beginning and the pair agreed the only way forward was to get together. Pacific ended up buying the company for $7.3 million.

Joyce concedes the two companies had "completely different" cultures. "It would be fair, I think, to say that it's probably my relationship with Derek over 10 years that has allowed it to hang together."

Since the takeover, Pacific has continued to expand, buying up dozens more frequencies throughout the North and South Islands. The expansion has come at a price: the group is no longer debt free and shareholders' dividends have had to be reduced. But it has now cemented its position as the country's second-largest radio company, and the only major player to remain New Zealand owned.

Joyce's talents last year earned him the title of Radio Broadcaster of the Year, of which he is justifiably proud. But he is even more proud of the fact that many provincial stations are now a lot stronger because they are part of a bigger company.

"The thing that gives me a real buzz is going to a market like Rotorua or Taupo or Hawkes Bay where operations there 18 months ago were really struggling and really having to work hard," he enthuses. "Now they're still working hard but they're really buzzing and really enjoying what they do."

The only cloud on the horizon would appear to be the Government's plans to release up to 30 per cent more FM frequencies this year. However, Joyce claims to be relaxed about the move.

While he acknowledges the industry is likely to become even more competitive than it is now, he believes many of the new frequencies will be absorbed by existing players.

"I would argue that's good for listeners, because it reduces confusion. As far as achieving additional advertising expenditure, the thing that we're missing in a lot of cases is nationwide networks."

Nevertheless, he agrees some new formats are likely to appear. He is also excited about the influence new technology is likely to have on the industry over the next decade.

"Technology means there's going to be other forms of radio out there: radio entertainment with the use of sound only, Internet radio, digital direct broadcast radio ... there's all sorts of possibilities five or ten years down the line."

At the end of last year, he and Lowe spent 10 days in the United States. The trip has given him some ideas about new formats he would like to see here, although he's not about to let competitors in on his plans.

As far as Pacific goes, he hints at "huge opportunities in talk that we haven't explored in this country yet," but is reluctant to say more.

He describes his own taste in music as "very eclectic," and names all of Pacific's music formats as the stations he listens to most. When he wants to relax, however, he is more likely to play a CD.

"When I wasn't involved in Pacific I used to listen to talk when I was driving, but now that I'm involved in talk I can't listen to relax. I do find now with all the involvement I have during the day that I prefer silence occasionally."

His business heroes include Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton ("I like his down-to-earth view of running a company") and professional investor Warren Buffet. At the moment, he is more than happy with his job.

"The beauty of this business is I could be sitting down being serious with a banker or someone in the morning, and in a radio station recording a commercial with a really silly voice in the afternoon."

But in the future, who knows?

"I love radio and I really enjoy it. But I don't think I'll be in radio forever. I'd love to always have an involvement, but I think once I've put together what I've got in the back of my mind then I should let somebody else have a crack at it, whether it be in five or 10 years or whatever."

For now, though, he has hundreds of thousands of listeners and shareholders to answer to. And the would-be vet is taking that responsibility very seriously indeed.

"Sometimes I wonder what the hell was I thinking of - standing around with your hand up a cow's bum. I mean, why would that be a good thing?"

Pictured: Steven Joyce. HERALD PICTURE / RUSSELL SMITH