ABC Radio Head Ben Latimer On Future Music Plans After Hottest 100 Success

ABC Director of Audio Ben Latimer has hinted to staff this week that the weekend’s successful hottest 100 Australian songs will not be the last initiative for local music we’re set to see this year across the networks.

At a ‘town-hall’ meeting for ABC staff held yesterday, sources say Latimer spoke to the success of the integration and simulcasting between the various ABC networks, saying that the “broad mix of music” was what turned a simple radio countdown into a national conversation.

“The Hottest 100 [of Australian Songs], not only was it incredible radio, coming in and watching the team do what they do so well, but seeing it played out. We talked about the 360 of the Triple J, Double J brands, and really seeing that come to life, hearing parties in the neighbourhood, which was playing out on radio, but also Spotify, TikTok. It was an incredible example of what we do so well.”

Latimer went on to explain that the ABC brands would be continuing their lean in to local music and that the positioning was “powerful” for them.

“Nobody plays, or champions, Australian music like we do. On Triple J, one in every two songs is Aussie. For Unearthed, of course, every song you hear is Australian. And this is something we want to lean into even more in the coming year, and I think we have some exciting plans that Lachy [Lachlan Macara, head of triple j, Double J and ABC Country] and I will talk to you in the coming months on, but not just across audio, but across the whole of the ABC.”

In what could be a nod to the station’s musical direction, Latimer paid tribute to the music variety that the initiative brought, with many songs on the countdown having rarely been played on the station.

“What I loved about it was the broadness – so everybody could play along, right, because it was such a broad mix of music. Don’t talk to me about The Veronicas. Everybody’s talking to me about The Veronicas. We didn’t pick the songs.”

The Veronicas Untouched coming in at #3 was perhaps one of the more surprising outcomes on the day, with the Brisbane duo having never previously had a song playlisted on the station. In countdown of 2007 (when Untouched was released), #1 in the hottest 100 went to Muse’s Knights of Cydonia, #2 was Silverchair’s Straight Lines and #3 was Kings of Leon’s On Call, indicative of the shift in genre skew between then and now on the national broadcaster.

Addressing the opening up of the playlist, Latimer said:

“I think that was wonderful. It’s really important. And we’re going to build this out even more. The audience delivery will continue to be a really key part of what we do.”