What has talkback radio host Alan Jones got over Nine chair Peter Costello?

You have to wonder. As was widely reported in May, Macquarie Media chairman Russell Tate and CEO Adam Lang had determined to let go of its top-rating breakfast host at the expiration of his contract in June and replace him with morning caller Ray Hadley. Even Nine’s chief executive Hugh Marks was in agreement until his non-executive chairman personally intervened. Nine is both Macquarie’s majority shareholder and publisher of this newspaper.