Media Diary: Erin Molan, Melissa Doyle among big names lined up to replace radio legend John Laws

Who knew 2SM still existed? Sky News host Erin Molan and former Sunrise star Melissa Doyle are among the surprise contenders to replace the retiring radio legend.

Radio legend John Laws at the 2SM Radio studios in Sydney. Picture: Richard Dobson

When 2SM host John Laws announced earlier this month that he was retiring from radio after 70 years in the biz, the media ­industry reflected thus:

Who knew that John Laws still had a radio show?

Who knew that 2SM still ­existed?

Well, we now know that Laws will finally hang up the headphones on November 8, having flown under the radar since 2011 as the presenter of the morning show on the audience-challenged Sydney radio station.

Radio broadcaster John Laws. Picture: Tim Hunter.

But while it’s exit stage right for Lawsie next week, 2SM – which chooses not to participate in the industry’s official radio ratings surveys, for obvious reasons – is eyeing off a return to the big time.

The buzz is that the Super Radio Network (to which 2SM belongs) is trying to entice some household names – including Erin Molan, Melissa Doyle and Jason Morrison – to kick start the resurgence of the station.

Diary understands that Molan, whose four-year stint on 2DayFM’s breakfast show ended in August, has been sounded out as a potential host of 2SM’s breakfast program, while Morrison – who has previously enjoyed success as a shock jock at 2UE – has been headhunted for the mornings talkback timeslot.

Former Sunrise presenter Doyle, who is currently a host on music station smoothfm, has been approached about a possible move to 2SM’s afternoons show.

Of course, top tier talent doesn’t come cheap, so it remains to be seen if 2SM is willing to put its money where its mouth is.

The founder of the Super Radio Network, Bill Caralis, died in July, aged 82.

Two of his children, Despina Priala and George Caralis, are now the joint managing directors of the company.

Stay tuned.

Fitz and Mike cry foul over US election ‘disgrace’

It was the left-leaning Washington Post’s decision not to endorse a US presidential candidate that set off the bitter and twisted former radio host Mike Carlton and his mate, Sydney Morning Herald columnist Peter FitzSimons, on the weekend.

The duo was all riled up when they learned that the Post would not be endorsing Democratic candidate Kamala Harris; instead, the famous masthead has opted not to support one presidential candidate ahead of another for the first time in 36 years.

Outrageous, right? How dare the Post throw shade at the home team?

Peter FitzSimons. Picture: Adam Yip

Carlton kicked off the outrage by sharing an article by the American publication, posting on X: “The Washington Post wimps out. What an abject disgrace.”

Within hours FitzSimons chimed in, tagging his grumpy chum Carlton and taking the matter a step further.

“Cancelled my subscription to Washington Post,” Fitz wrote.

“Any newspaper refusing to put journalistic weight against Trump is not one I will EVER read again.

“Their refusal to endorse either candidate (is) spineless. Bezos-driven, a tragic end to once great newspaper.”

Cancelled my subscription to Washington Post. Any newspaper refusing to put journalistic weight against Trump is not one I will EVER read again. Their refusal to endorse either candidate spineless. Bezos-driven A tragic end to once great newspaper. #[e-mail]/2t6hE7B8ir

— Peter FitzSimons (@Peter_Fitz) October 26, 2024

FitzSimons even shared a screenshot with his 140,000 followers that read: “Cancel subscription. If you cancel, your access will end on November 1, 2024.”

Fortunately, FitzSimons still has a subscription to another left-leaning publication, The New York Times, to keep up with all the US election news on Harris and her rival, Republican candidate Donald Trump. We know this because he deemed it sufficiently interesting to inform his 140,000 followers about it.

And just like clockwork, two hours after FitzSimons virtue-­signalled that he was cutting ties with the Post, Carlton did the same, telling his 216,000 followers: “Cancelled my subscription to the Washington Post. Their refusal to endorse a presidential candidate is abject cowardice.”

But it wasn’t just Carlton and FitzSimons getting all worked up by the Post’s controversial decision to stay schtum on its preferred candidate.

Former Washington Post editor-at-large and longtime columnist Robert Kagan also tossed in the towel and resigned from the paper after the Post’s publisher Will Lewis said he would not be endorsing a candidate.

Kagan put the decision down to the Post’s owner, billionaire Jeff Bezos, refusing to back Harris, just in case Trump wins.

“This is obviously an effort by Jeff Bezos to curry favour with Donald Trump in anticipation of his possible victory,” he told CNN.

“Trump has threatened to go after Bezos’s business and Bezos owns one of the largest companies in America.”

But back to FitzSimons and Carlton. Their weekend went from bad to worse when Queensland Labor leader Steven Miles was trounced in the state election by the LNP’s David Crisafulli.

On Saturday evening, Carlton was holding out hope there might be a miracle and a Labor victory, tweeting: “I’m cautiously optimistic that @StevenJMMiles might just pull off the biggest resurrection since Lazarus.”

I’m cautiously optimistic that @StevenJMiles might just pull off the biggest resurrection since Lazarus. https://t.co/rg6CUJkR5I

— Mike Carlton (@MikeCarlton01) October 26, 2024

Sorry, Mike.

FitzSimons was far more realistic about what the result would be, asking his followers: “What’s the vibe on the ground? Narrow loss for Miles, yes?”

Goodness knows how the pair will cope if Trump does prove victorious at next week’s election.

Something at Aunty still doesn’t add up

With an annual budget of $1,322,904 (excluding staff wages), you’d like to think that Four Corners could get the basics right.

But earlier this month the ABC’s flagship current affairs ­program bowled up an absolute howler in its investigation into ­entertainment company Live ­Nation.

Not for the first time, the ­national broadcaster failed to understand the (massive) difference between revenue and earnings, with the economic blind spot seriously undermining the reputation of the publicly funded organisation.

The Four Corners episode, fronted by journalist Avani Dias, was highly critical of Live Nation’s business practices, and its alleged dominance of the industry’s supply chain.

The show claimed: “Many revenue roads lead to Live Nation. The company announced record earnings of roughly $US23bn last year.”

Not true, according to the company’s annual report.

In 2023, the company’s earnings – aka profit – were in fact $US734m. Or in other words, its profit was almost 97 per cent less than the ABC claimed.

Making it worse, the ABC website’s summary of the program’s key findings repeated the error.

“Live Nation, which earned $US23bn last year, has been given millions in taxpayer funds to put on multiple events that never eventuated. The company says it used some of the money to keep staff employed during the Covid-19 pandemic and insists it has complied with funding requirements,” read the summary, which was still on the ABC’s website on Sunday.

In a statement, a Live Nation spokesperson said: “Live Nation is deeply disappointed by the recent Four Corners report which contained several inaccuracies, including our financial performance. Most notably, the report misrepresented our revenue of $23bn as our earnings (profit). This figure represents our global revenue.”

Incredibly, this is not the first time that Aunty’s grasp of Economics 101 has been found wanting on this particular issue.

Back in 2018, the ABC came under heavy fire when its then chief economics correspondent Emma Alberici confused revenue with profit in an online news article as well as an accompanying analysis piece.

Alberici claimed that Australia’s largest companies paid no tax despite garnering billions of dollars in revenue. But she failed to observe that taxes are paid on profits, not revenue.

In response to Diary’s questions, an ABC spokesperson said on Sunday that the online versions of the story would be amended.

“Both the broadcast and online stories refer to revenue, but this will be further clarified to ensure the audience is aware all the references are to pre-tax revenue,” the spokesperson said.

“The Four Corners program ‘Music for Sale’ is important public interest journalism scrutinising issues that Australians have a right to be fully informed about. Live Nation is a dominant player in the Australian live music industry and has received millions in taxpayer-funded government grants.”

ABC news boss Justin Stevens also defended the journalism produced by Four Corners. “Avani Dias and the Four Corners team are thorough and ethical journalists and the ABC stands behind their work.”

Nine’s big show

After its annus horribilis deluxe, Nine pushed ahead last week with its annual showcase of its upcoming content slate.

About 1000 people attended the event at Sydney’s cavernous Carriageworks precinct on Thursday, with speeches and presentations stretching beyond the socially acceptable two-hour limit.

Acting CEO Matt Stanton took to the stage first, and devoted a full 49 seconds to the findings of the devastating review into the company’s workplace culture, observing that it had been a year of “change and disruption at Nine”.

If there was a Walkley Award for Understatement of the Year, Stanton would surely be the unbackable favourite to win, even though he works for neither the ABC nor the Guardian.

With the ghosts of former chair Peter Costello, recently departed CEO Mike Sneesby and disgraced news boss Darren Wick hanging heavily in the air, Stanton pushed on, extolling the virtues of the company and thanking the media company’s “trusted partners” for their “ongoing support”.

Samantha Armytage. Picture: Getty Images

Liz Hayes.

Later, that ubiquitous Movie Voiceover Guy, with his ridiculously low, slow scary baritone, announced the looming arrivals of new seasons of The Block and Married At First Sight, and something called The Golden Bachelor, hosted by Samantha Armytage.

The premise of The Golden Bachelor is that older folks (in their 50s and 60s) are given another chance at love, and they decide going on a contrived reality show is the best way to go about it.

The audience at Thursday’s “Upfronts” event at Carriageworks was treated to a promotional clip of the show, featuring a woman bah-gawking like a chicken and slapping her own butt as she tries to impress the bachelor.

Another lady flashed her chest at the very same single gentleman on meeting him for the first time.

As Diary watched on from the back of the darkened room, we were reminded of Stanton’s earlier pledge: “Nine is focused on setting new benchmarks in content.”

Roll on, 2025.

Curiously, amid all the flashing screens at Upfronts showing Nine branding, its personalities and its shows, there were regular images of Under Investigation, the crime-busting show hosted by Liz Hayes.

It’s odd because the show has been unceremoniously dumped by Nine. Of course, the corporate spin is that it hasn’t been axed; it simply hasn’t been “scheduled” to air next year.

But don’t hold your breath for the program to make a comeback in 2026.

West is best

Former WA premier Mark McGowan, who famously got an armchair ride from the state’s dominant daily paper, The West Australian during his six-year reign, has been singing the praises of the local media.

Funny, that.

WA premier Mark McGowan. Picture: Colin Murty

“We’re less ugly than the eastern states, and by that, I mean our media environment is kinder and sweeter than the eastern states,” McGowan told a business summit in Perth last week.

“It’s not dominated by hostile talkback presenters and that relentless negativity that you see from some parts of the media in the east.

“Here it’s kinder and sweeter and gentler and nicer.”

Hmmm, if McGowan was trying to pump up the tyres of his old mate Kerry Stokes – who owns The West Australian and is the controlling shareholder of the Seven Network – he badly missed the mark.

There’s not a news media outlet in the country that would want to be tagged as “kinder, sweeter, gentler and nicer” than all the rest! Sounds like a cupcake shop.

McGowan might as well have said that the local media environment – that is, effectively, The West Australian – doesn’t bother with hard news.

But at least it’s nice.

6PR purge

Meanwhile, the revolving door at Nine Radio’s Perth arm, 6PR, continues to spin at a furious pace, with the departure of mornings host Gary Adshead.

Word is Adshead, a Perth media veteran, was pretty peeved after being told his broadcasting hours would be extended effective immediately and his timeslot changed.

Adshead is moving to ABC Perth to host its drive program in 2025.

Radio station 6PR broadcaster Gary Adshead. Source: 6PR.

The end of Adshead’s innings follows the dumping earlier this month of 6PR’s Julie-anne Sprague (afternoons host) and evenings presenter Tod Johnston.

The station’s content manager, Emily White, has also called it quits, with spies telling Diary she was unhappy about being left in the dark about the abrupt announcement of changes at the ­station.

Nine Radio managing director Tom Malone recently sent a note to staff blaming the downturn in advertising revenue for a much-needed shake-up at the network.

“To ensure the station’s sustainability, we’re making adjustments that will help us return to profitability over the next 12 months, while still delivering the quality content our listeners love,” he wrote in an internal email.

In the most recent radio ratings survey, 6PR registered an audience share of 6.8 per cent and was the fifth most popular station in Perth.

Friendly fire

There is no love lost inside the walls of Nine Entertainment in Melbourne between the left-leaning Age newspaper and right-leaning 3AW radio network.

Tom Elliott, presenter of the radio station’s mornings program, took a good old-fashioned swipe last week at the Age, run by editor Patrick Elligett, after it published an editorial titled “Time for the King to offer First Nations apology”.

Tom Elliott at 3AW. Picture: Jay Town

The timing of The Age’s call for an apology came after King Charles and Queen Camilla’s whirlwind visit to Australia last week, which included stop-offs in Sydney and Canberra.

The editorial said the King should say sorry.

“The Indigenous people of this country need to hear an apology from you, on behalf of your reign and those that preceded you.

“The British Empire created many fine things, but it also ­presided over generations of destruction.

“It’s time, on behalf of the ­monarchy, to say sorry to the living and the dead”.

Quite a stance from a paper that made the bizarre decision last year to ditch daily editorials, with Elligett saying at the time the paper would publish editorials on Saturdays and other days “as ­required”.

Elliott certainly made his views known on this, too.

“The Age doesn’t write editorials much these days,” he mused.

Taking to the airwaves on his top-rating program on Wednesday, Elliott said while he agreed King Charles should say sorry, it was with one caveat.

“We draw a line in the sand and say, ‘all right, we’ve said sorry, bad things were done in the past, let’s move on’,” Elliott said.

However, he couldn’t resist having a dig at the company’s Melbourne masthead along the way.

“Giving an apology doesn’t do anything,” he said.

“The Age has done a very high-minded editorial saying, ‘oh well, it will make Indigenous people realise that Australia and the royal family and the Crown really care about them’,” he told listeners.

“Kevin Rudd said sorry, the whole nation said sorry, they marched across a bridge in Sydney, nothing changed.

“Why people think that these empty, meaningless gestures will actually change things for Indigenous people on the ground, it’s utterly beyond me.”

History wars

While we’re on the topic of saying sorry, ABC host Marc Fennell – who leads the taxpayer-funded broadcaster’s series, The Stuff The British Stole – has decided to set the record straight about the British Empire.

Fennell, an active social media user who is often busy sharing selfies while donning muscle singlets at the gym, decided to chime in after independent Senator Lidia Thorpe made a spectacle of herself inside Parliament House’s Great Hall last week, screaming incoherent obscenities at King Charles and Queen Camilla.

Marc Fennell is the host of ABC program Stuff The British Stole. Picture: Instagram

Fennell took to Instagram to pontificate: “In the years I’ve been making Stuff The British Stole, the biggest lesson for me has been how much history hides behind politeness – polite plaques, polite speeches, polite monarchs.

“Let’s be clear on one thing, the British Empire was not a polite ­enterprise.

“Like most, it was built on conquest, power, and, yes, things were truly stolen.”

He was also unimpressed, stating many things “have not been returned or in some cases even ­acknowledged”.

The post attracted many likes from media types including Channel 9 presenter David Campbell, Channel 7 LA correspondent Mylee Hogan and pro-Republican Craig Foster.

Diary wonders how ABC chair Kim Williams feels about Fennell’s online rant given he said earlier in the year: “If you don’t want to reflect a view that aspires to impartiality don’t work at the ABC.

“I really think this is a very serious issue”.

The ABC’s social media guidelines are pretty clear for all ABC workers: they must not damage the ABC’s reputation for impartiality and independence.

Diary asked ABC’s communications department whether Fennell’s online outburst was a breach of the ABC’s social media guidelines and whether any action would be taken.

The comms team didn’t bother to respond.

Perhaps managing director David Anderson can address the matter at the next Senate estimates hearing in early November.

Nick Tabakoff is on leave.