Radio’s Adelaide-based ‘ultimate coach’ axed by Southern Cross Austereo after 26 years
An Adelaide-based radio leader has been laid off after dedicating more than a quarter of a century with the company.
Entertainment
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Southern Cross Austereo’s executive general manager of Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, James Pedersen, has been made redundant after 26 years with the company.
While SCA has not confirmed Adelaide-based Mr Pedersen has been axed, an industry insider told The Advertiser he had definitely been made redundant.
“He is the loveliest guy,” they said.
Mr Pedersen joined SCA in Adelaide, which is the birthplace of the company.
In 1980 Adelaide’s first FM station 5SSA, which had an on-air call sign Double SAFM, was launched.
It became SAFM in 1982 and by the late ‘80s founder Paul Thompson’s little baby had grown into a giant – the national Austereo empire, which was run out of an office on Greenhill Rd and later merged with Triple M’s Village Roadshow.
20 reasons why SAFM rocked in the 1980s
Mr Pedersen had been with SCA since 1998, when he started as an assistant corporate accountant. By 2008 he was head of finance. By 2010 he was SCA’s Adelaide general manager.
Mr Pedersen was in that role when SAFM rebranded as hit107 in 2014 and overseeing South Australia, Western Australian and the Northern Territory by 2020 when hit107 decided to change back to its heritage name SAFM.
By July 2023 Mr Pedersen had worked his way up to executive general manager of Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.
In 2022 SCA’s chief operating officer John Kelly described Mr Pedersen as the “ultimate coach and mentor”.
“James applies a highly commercial and collaborative approach to all that he does and has a genuine passion for exhibiting values-based leadership to drive business performance,” he said.
While SCA has not confirmed Pedersen’s redundancy, it has announced the departure of its chief marketing and communications officer Nikki Clarkson, who was based in Melbourne and had been with the company for 17 years.
“Nikki has made an extraordinary contribution to SCA over her highly successful career journey,” Mr Kelly told Radio Today.
The Advertiser has contacted SCA for comment.
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