BotD: Radio's rogues lean in; Lachlan's Nova profits revealed; Warburton gets a gig
Welcome to Best of the Day on a day when Christian O’Connell lost his sidekick and James Warburton got a job.
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The Day Today: Sidekick wanted for non-rogue radio;
COC says goodbye to Jack Post
ARN Media’s Christian O’Connell Show saw its first major departure since joining Gold FM in Melbourne seven years ago. Sidekick Jack Post announced his departure during today’s show.
Post was already a familiar voice panelling for The Hamish & Andy podcast, but blossomed as on air talent under O’Connell’s tutelage.
Warburton returns
James Warburton - who unsuccessfully led Network Ten, successfully led the sale of APN Outdoor to JC Decaux and had a mixed tenure as CEO of Seven West Media - returned to the job market as CEO of Supercars.
Nova’s $24.1m profit
Lachlan Murdoch’s Nova Entertainment made $24.1m in profit in 2024 on revenues of $187.8m, the Australian Financial Review reported. The AFR revealed that the company which owns the Nova and Smooth FM networks had mistakenly failed to file annual financial statements with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission since Murdoch bought the company.
BBC pundit departs after antisemitism row
The BBC’s best known sports presenter, former England striker Gary Lineker, announced his resignation after resharing a social media post about Israel which featured a rat. Next weekend’s edition of the Match of the Day show will be Lineker’s last after 26 years. Lineker issued an unreserved apology saying he had not recognised the antisemitic significance of the rat in the image.
Rogue mics
Kiis Melbourne took yet another new approach to marketing The Kyle & Jackie O Show. After the show turned off Melbourne audiences with smutty content, the previous campaign with the message “Listen now, we’re behaving” attempted to convince listers that the show had been toned down. The new campaign takes the opposite approach, promising “radio gone rogue”.
ACCC scrutiniess InterCom deal
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission launched a rapid fire review of Omnicom’s takeover of IPG. The industry consultation has a deadline of just a fortnight.
Domain deal plan pipped at the post
Real estate groups were plotting to take Nine’s Domain private when CoStar beat them to it with its $2.8bn takeover bid, the AFR revealed.
Unmade Index follows the All Ords’ negative lead
Seven West Media’s charge up the ASX turned into a second day of retreat, with the company’s share price seeing the biggest decline on the Unmade Index on Monday. Seven lost 6.3%, taking it back down to a market capitalisation of $231m. Until Friday, when it lost 3%, SWM had been on a tear, gaining 20% in a month.
In a generally down day on the Unmade Index, Southern Cross Austereo lost 2.7%, Sports Entertainment Group lost 2.1% and ARN Media and IVE Group both lost 1.9%
The Ubnmade index closed down 0.56% for the day, similar to the wider ASX All Ordinaries which lost 0.64%
More from Mumbrella…
Time to leave you to your evening.
We’ll be back with more for Unmade’s paying members tomorrow.
Have a great night
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade + Mumbrella
tim@unmade.media
