Radio merger: Macquarie Radio Network’s Alan Jones, Ray Hadley to become part of Fairfax

YES, this is really happening. 2GB talkback presenters Ray Hadley and Alan Jones will soon be working for Fairfax.

2GB presenters Ray Hadley and Alan Jones will soon work for Fairfax.

Macquarie Radio Network and Fairfax Media today announced the long-awaited merger of their radio businesses.

The $200 million deal will see the talkback presenters become part of a merged entity, which will be majority owned by Fairfax.

Under the terms of the deal, MRN will own 45.5 per cent of the shares, while Fairfax will hold 54.5 per cent.

The proposed “merger of equals” will bring the two top-rating news-talk stations — MRN’s 2GB in Sydney and Fairfax’s 3AW in Melbourne — under one entity.

The joint venture will also consolidate the operations of 2UE (Sydney), Magic 1278 (Melbourne), 4BC (Brisbane), Magic 882 (Brisbane) and 6PR (Perth).

As part of the transaction, MRN will seek to offload easy listening station 2CH and Macquarie Regional Radio network.

Radio veteran Ray Hadley consistently tops the ratings.

John Singleton, currently the major shareholder of MRN, said in a statement the ASX this morning: “Joining forces is a win for both MRN and FRN. Radio was the world’s first form of social media, and the only one I understand.”

Russell Tate, currently executive chairman and CEO of MRN, will head the new operation for the first 12 months, supported by FRN’s current managing director Adam Lang, who will become chief operating officer.

“The combination of the two networks will unlock significant cost and revenue synergies, and provide national advertisers with ease of access to the increasingly important 45-69 year demographic which all seven stations in the combined group attract,” Tate said.

The Australian reports the deal is likely to enrich Singleton as well as breakfast presenter Alan Jones, who owns a majority stake in the operator of radio stations 2GB and 2CH in Sydney, which has a market value of $96 million.

Alan Jones and Ray Hadley have reportedly come round to the merger after initially being less than enthusiastic about joining forces with Fairfax, according to the paper.

Last week the two companies confirmed they were back in discussions, just 10 months after Singleton publicly criticised senior Fairfax executives after merger talks between the two firms broke down.