From the Beyond Growth archive. Originally aired 12 August 2026.
Rachel Patterson grew up in New Zealand in a house with no TV, and radio became her window to the world outside her family. She studied radio, landed her dream first job hosting a day show, and then lost it when the station replaced its local announcers with networked ones. She kept going, working in promotions, agencies and sales, and has now worked across around 25 stations. She moved to Geelong about twelve and a half years before we spoke. After eight and a half years as sales manager at Geelong Broadcasters, home of K Rock, Bay 93.9 and 3GL, she has spent the last three and a half as general manager.
Here’s what stood out.
What works hasn’t changed. Audiences have splintered and there are far more ways to advertise. Rachel’s view is that the basics haven’t moved: reach the right people with a message that answers their need and makes them feel something. She pushes clients to keep that message consistent across radio, outdoor, social and their website, so the ad and the landing point tell the same story.
Listeners stay when advertisers leave. During COVID, daytime listening jumped while many advertisers pulled back. In uncertain times, Rachel says, people turn to voices they trust in their own community.
Local is the edge. Rachel calls localism the only thing a regional station has over everything else on offer. The station’s own audience survey backs her up: she says more than half of local people now listen, and listening grew much faster than the population. She also found Geelong more supportive than Melbourne, where business felt more dog-eat-dog to her.
Sometimes the problem isn’t the job. About four years in, Rachel lost her spark and blamed the role and the town. Working with a coach, she realised the problem was her, not the job and not Geelong. That work gave her the renewed drive to step up when the GM role opened.
Lead by listening. Rachel calls her style listening-led leadership. She co-created the team’s values with them, runs an annual pulse survey, and asks her leaders to sit in discomfort, put ego aside and treat emotion as data. She’s comfortable saying “I don’t know” and asking a director to repeat what they meant.
The wrong role helps no one. Rachel doesn’t fear hard conversations. If someone isn’t right for a role, the role isn’t right for them either, and she says everyone she’s helped move on is now in a better place.
Human in an AI world. Rachel uses AI to test ideas and rough out emails, but never sends what it gives her as it comes. Her promise to listeners is that the station won’t use AI-generated news or on-air content.
This is one leader’s experience, from a family-owned local media business. It’s the kind of perspective that will feed into the Growth Intelligence research on business performance and growth.
Growth Intelligence is Reyan Fernando’s research practice. Reyan is also a Certified EOS Implementer, working with Geelong leadership teams on vision and execution. That experience shapes the questions he asks, but the research and conclusions are his own.