3AW’s Neil Mitchell puts contract talks on hold

The Melbourne lockdown has prompted 3AW’s morning radio king Neil Mitchell to temporarily put on hold negotiations for a long-term contract.

Nick Tabakoff

3AW’s morning radio king Neil Mitchell. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

2 min read

9:23PMNovember 08, 2020

The Melbourne lockdown has prompted 3AW’s morning radio king Neil Mitchell to temporarily put on hold negotiations for a long-term contract until he can have face-to-face discussions with Nine radio boss Tom Malone.

The Australian has learnt that days before recording his highest ratings ever with a 22.7 per cent share in last week’s survey, Mitchell signed a short-term six-month contract to roll over on the same terms as his previous three-year deal.

Mitchell’s temporary rollover will take him through to the middle of next year, with the parties likely to nut out a long-term deal some time early in the new year.

When The Australian reached Mitchell on Sunday, he confirmed the move. “Now I regret it. I could have been negotiating on a 22.7 ratings figure,” he said.

“But in all seriousness, it was my idea. I’m too weary.

“(Nine radio boss) Tom Malone and I have been trying since April in the middle of the first lockdown. When the first lockdown ended, we went bang into another one.

“And who knows, we could go into another one. And to be honest, I’m stuffed — it’s been a hell of a year.

“So I just said: ‘Let’s worry about it next year.’”

Mitchell, 68, said part of the problem was that, unbeknown to many of his listeners, he hasn’t been in the 3AW studios for eight months.

“I actually haven’t been in the studio since March, and it’s a bit hard to negotiate out of the office.”

The 3AW morning host says he has no worries about a contract being signed, and that he is ready to ink another long term deal with 3AW if they want him. “And I’ve been told they want me,” he said.

But he has been cautious to manage expectations that he will continue to command nearly a quarter of the Melbourne audience for the foreseeable future.

“I don’t believe any of us can expect it to continue. We’ve had an extraordinary situation where everyone has been at home.”

Mitchell’s morning colleagues, Ross Stevenson and new recruit Russel Howcroft, have also been enjoying record ratings amid the lockdown, helping to create 3AW’s 60-year high, as Nine radio operations are also expected to shortly announce a sharp rise in ad revenues.