Will 4BC Weekends be completely networked in 2025?
According to The Sunday Telegraph’s Annette Sharp, John Singleton has expressed an interest in picking up some of the radio stations he sold to Nine Entertainment Co in 2019, including 2GB, 3AW, 4BC and 6PR.
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Two things:
- Technically, Singo only sold 2GB to Nine. He never owned the other stations.
- Why would Nine want to sell the stations so soon? Would that mean a return to an independent newsroom? Will we also see Ray’s on-air presence extended?
Mind you, with the movements at 2SM, you would need someone with the brains and passion like John Singleton to keep pushing 2GB ahead.
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He owned 2CH as well, didn’t he?
Yes, but that was sold prior to the Nine deal.
Wasn’t it a merger with a 50/50 stake between Fairfax and Macquarie at the time?
Therefore he would have technically owned half of the original Fairfax stations (2UE, 3AW, 3EE, 4BC, 4BH, 6PR) along with 2GB and 2CH at the time.
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3AW radio veteran Denis O’Kane to step back from full time reporting
One of the enduring voices of Melbourne radio, Denis O’Kane, is stepping back from full time reporting and news reading.
O’Kane, 77, has been in the 3AW newsroom “this time” for 20 years as a reporter and news reader.
He will wrap his full time role at the end of the month, but will continue to do casual shifts next year.
“This is my third time here. I started here in 1981 and most of my career has been at 3AW.
I have been with the station for 27 years in total,” O’Kane said.
O’Kane informed 3AW management in June that he was ready to move to a casual role.
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Denis seems like a lovely guy but you can tell he really struggles reading news bulletins these days.
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Ron Bourke was still reading bulletins into his elderly years, he looks and sounds way older than O’Kane, Bourke was also one of the first journalists in early 2018 on scene at Jolimont for the then CA CEO’s media conference the morning after the infamous ball tampering saga (yes the same one where Chip le Grand also nearly assaulted fellow AW veteran Tony Tardio and his producer son Damian). And in the background of that clip Bourke looked like he was well over 80! He does community radio now near his Sunshine residence.
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The Sunday Telegraph reports today that Mark Levy, Jason Morrison and 2GB afternoon announcer Michael McLaren are front runners to replace Ray Hadley in the mornings timeslot, with Levy the favourite.
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I hope Levy doesn’t get it he is just a Hadley clone nothing unique about him.
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I’d be surprised if Mark Levy didn’t get the job. I’m pretty sure Levy would have the support of Hadley.
I am sure he does but he should have some type of unique attributes other than being a Hadley clone and a bad one at that.
I reckon it’ll be Michael McLaren. His views are not too different from Hadley.
Plus, I hope it’s not Jason Morrison, leaving 2SM having a chance to put him 9-12.
Bringing Simon back to weekday mornings is a step in the right direction. He should never have been moved to weekends in the first place.
Now that Emily White (ex Content Manager) has left the building, 6PR can begin to repair the damage she caused. All of the changes she implemented, after Basil left, destroyed 6PR and reversed all of the gains that the station had built up prior to that.
I just re-read what I posted here 2 years ago. Everything I said then is still relevant now.
It absolutely was. Unfortunately 6PR management supported those stupid decisions and let things go for too long.
I think they have missed their chance at fixing this, but we’ll have to wait and see what they do next.
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From a business point of view, Ray’s replacement should be any of the current line-up: McLaren, O’Keefe, Fordham or Stanley, therefore allowing Clinton Maynard to fill the void with a daytime shift so the Overnight program can be syndicated out of Melbourne to save money.
I think Clinton could be a good choice i would prefer him over Levy. Is the midnight to dawn show different on 3AW compared to 2GB? 2GB Usually take 3AW’s show if there isn’t a presenter available and vis versa? I think it’s Australia’s biggest 2 markets and it makes sense to keep them local wherever possible. I would have 4BC local until midnight as well.
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Nine Radio director Tom Malone told AFR that the company considered all options for 6PR, including a sale, lease or joint venture, and concluded cutting costs was the best option.
The article also says that current and former Nine and Nine Radio executives and staff say the radio business has struggled to monetize it’s audiences effectively and integrate into the broader group.
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Ray Hadley told The Australian’s Media Diary that he was looking forward to final week in the presenter’s chair this week.
For his final show on Friday, he will be joined in the studio by three of his four adult children - “the fourth is overseas” - and his seven grandchildren.
Hadley’s final day at 2GB also coincides with the departure of his wife Sophie Baird, who was his personal assistant at the station for many years. “I think she’s 2GB’s longest-serving employee,” Hadley told Diary.
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Bruce Eva hosted 3AW’s Wide World of Sports tonight. He said that himself and Matt Granland would share the presenter’s chair for the next eight weeks, until Jimmy Bartel officially takes over.
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