{"id":854110,"date":"2026-08-13T19:22:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T19:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/854110\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T19:22:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T19:22:21","slug":"rachel-patterson-why-local-radio-is-winning-in-the-ai-and-digital-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/854110\/","title":{"rendered":"Rachel Patterson: Why local radio is winning in the AI and digital age"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGeelong Broadcasters GM Rachel Patterson. Image supplied.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

In an overwhelming world of AI, algorithms and endless digital options, Rachel Patterson says local radio remains an oasis of humanness \u2013 delivered in real time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s real people. It\u2019s localism. It\u2019s that magic mix of giving me the traffic that I need. It\u2019s the surprise and delight of a song that I haven\u2019t heard for a while. It\u2019s giving me the news but without it being in that really scary, fear-inducing style. It\u2019s that friend that\u2019s given me a laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s this beautiful package that radio is delivering that nothing else ever can.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Patterson \u2013 General Manager of Geelong\u2019s K rock and bay 93.9 \u2013 is sharing her thoughts on AI and her optimism about the future of radio with Reyan Fernando on the latest episode of the Beyond Growth podcast.<\/a><\/p>\n

Patterson believes we\u2019re seeing a shift, where people who crave that genuine connection are being driven from the world of AI to local radio.<\/p>\n

AI might be convenient. It might make life easier. But it simply isn\u2019t real.<\/p>\n

And she says the more artificial options we have at our fingertips, the more important radio \u2013 and that \u2018magic bundle\u2019 it delivers \u2013 will become.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

People often ask her \u201cWhat is the future of radio?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo-one can predict the future of anything,\u201d says Patterson. \u201cBut the beauty of radio is being there for someone and reflecting what they need at that point in time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat localism, that is everything for us. To my mind, really, that localism and that humanness and that real-time now \u2013 it\u2019s the only thing we\u2019ve got over all of the other options that are available globally.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the one thing she wishes people understood about local radio in this day and age?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat it\u2019s human and it\u2019s real, and it\u2019s really just trying to reflect what local people want to hear and what local people care about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patterson says that connection is driven as much by listeners, clients and partners as it is by announcers, GMs and Content Directors.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Patterson \u2013 who previously spent three years as a Sales Manager at NOVA Entertainment \u2013 says she\u2019s lucky to work for a family company in Geelong Broadcasters, who are passionate about staunchly local radio \u2013 and not answerable to a board of directors focused purely on numbers.<\/p>\n

She found the Melbourne radio scene to be quite \u2018dog eat dog.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think we\u2019re so fortunate here in Geelong. I\u2019ve been accused of being in \u2018my bubble.\u2019 So many people have got challenges. Things are tough, and things will continue to be tough. But we\u2019ve got such a beautiful, supportive community here.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Radioinfo\u2019s Wisdom of Women in Media<\/a> series, Patterson shared with Serena Ahern the things that make her happy in life:<\/p>\n

\u201cKeeping my door open (as much as possible), sharing space and support for my leadership team and other staff as they need me, doing my best to give them what they need professionally and personally.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is nothing more rewarding than having a staff member coming in with a set of challenges, and leave looking physically lighter; being witness to their growth, in their work and as human beings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Images: LinkedIn and supplied.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Geelong Broadcasters GM Rachel Patterson. Image supplied. In an overwhelming world of AI, algorithms and endless digital options,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":854111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,424351,424352,424353,424354,259898,424355,262522,424356,105],"class_list":["post-854110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bay-93-9","tag-bay-fm","tag-beyond-growth-podcast","tag-geelong-broadcasters","tag-k-rock","tag-rachel-patterson","tag-radioinfo","tag-reyan-fernando","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}