Macquarie Sports Radio axes shows, staff pulled into meetings
Angry staff have slammed the handling of Macquarie Sports Radio’s revamp as a “textbook lesson in mismanagement” as they begin to learn their fate following a decision to axe live shows from the poorly rating station.
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Meetings are being lined up between management and staff at the short-lived Macquarie Sports Radio following news of the station’s planned axing of live shows.
The Daily Telegraph revealed on Tuesday that the all-sports radio station would undergo a dramatic revamp after just 18 months of broadcasting.
Staff only learnt of the plan after reading about it on this website and it’s understood they weren’t officially told by management until Wednesday morning.
“It’s a textbook lesson in mismanagement,” one staff member told The Daily Telegraph.
“How can staff find out they’re probably going to lose their jobs by reading the news from another media outlet?”
“It’s not hard to send an email and give us a heads up. What a joke!”
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The format change basically sounds the death-knell for the Nine-owned radio station, which broadcasts in Sydney on 954AM, Melbourne’s 1278AM and Brisbane’s 882AM.
Struggling ratings have plagued the station ever since it came into existence in April last year.
Live programming, including the Mark Levy, Mark Riddell and Jimmy Bartel breakfast show ends this Friday.
Levy and Riddell are part of sister-station’s 2GB Continuous Call Team while Levy has successfully filled in for Ray Hadley during the star presenter’s absence. Morning presenter David Morrow and afternoon host James Willis are also part of the 2GB stable.
Throughout Wednesday’s program, the breakfast trio took several calls from saddened listeners wishing them well and revealed they were contemplating a transition to podcasting.
“Ah well, these things happen,” Levy told one caller.
“That’s the business. Media’s a fickle business.
“We’ll be filling in, in some role with the network. We’ll keep busy, mate.”
RELATED: Why Beau Ryan quit Macquarie Sports Radio
Levy, Riddell and Bartel used today’s show to make light of the situation, joking that their final three shows on air would be “loose” while Bartel said he had spent the night searching for a new job on seek.com.
The station had tried everything to improve ratings, broadcasting a range of sports including international cricket, AFL and rugby league, but it failed to raise the numbers.
There were also a string of high-profile hosts over the 18-month stint including Beau Ryan, Phil Gould and weekend duo Roy Slaven and H.G Nelson.
But other on-air personalities and producers will be out of work come Friday.
The station said on Tuesday it would fulfil its commitment to the summer of cricket and English Premier League matches. However, it is unclear what will broadcast around those contractual obligations.
The decision to suspend live programs comes, embarrassingly, after Macquarie Sports Radio announced on Monday AFL hall of fame legend Kevin Bartlett was joining the station. He was meant to make his debut on Saturday live from Flemington to kick off Derby Day and the Melbourne Cup Carnival.
Instead, the station will stop broadcasting shows from 11pm on Friday but will remain on air.
Macquarie Media chairman Russell Tate said broadcasting would be “paused and reviewed” over summer.
The station rated just 1.1 per cent in the latest ratings survey — compared to 2GB’s market-winning 13.3 per cent.
“Macquarie Media Limited today announced that development of its Macquarie Sports Radio stations in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane will be paused and reviewed over the summer months and that the current schedule of sport talk programs will cease as of 11pm, Friday 1 November,” Mr Tate said.
“Over the coming months, Macquarie Sports Radio will continue live sport broadcasts including all scheduled Test Match, BBL, One-Day Internationals & International T20 Cricket matches as well as its English Premier League coverage.
“The stations will draw an increased amount of content from local and international partners, including Macquarie Media’s News Talk stations and Nine, and will continue to access Macquarie National News services for constantly updated sporting news.”
Sad for my former colleagues at Macquarie Sports Radio. A small and hard working team pumping out hours and hours of content. Best of luck guys.
— Matt Thompson (@MattThompson) October 29, 2019
Employees soon to be out of work have told friends and colleagues they are on the lookout for new jobs.
The station being put on hold comes as Nine Entertainment continues to shake-up and rationalise the business. Last week it made $800,000-a-year chief executive Adam Lang redundant.
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It was on Mr Lang’s watch in March 2018 that Macquarie Sports Radio was started, replacing the poor performing Talking Lifestyle programs.
Macquarie Sports in Sydney used to be the old talkback station 2UE, which switched to a lifestyle channel from 2016-18.
In April last year, the station underwent another revamp and was relaunched as a sports network, covering the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
But that move has failed to resonate with listeners.
Originally published as Macquarie Sports Radio axes shows, staff pulled into meetings