New role confirmed for Judith Whelan at ABC

Acting in the role since last year, Judith Whelan has been named head of regional and local operations.

Judith Whelan is the new head of regional and local operation at the ABC. Picture: Supplied

ABC has appointed media veteran Judith Whelan as director of the public broadcaster’s vast regional and local operations.

Managing director David Anderson said Ms Whelan’s 30 years media experience, including senior media roles at the Sydney Morning Herald and more recently managing television, radio and digital content at the ABC, made her the perfect choice.

“Judith has already made a significant contribution to the ABC’s leadership team and I look forward to working with her closely on our regional and local content which is so highly valued by Australians,” Mr Anderson said in a statement.

ABC’s regional & local team, includes eight capital city radio stations, 48 rural and regional teams, regional and local screen content including Gardening Australia, Backroads and Landline, Grandstand sport, and live events such as New Year’s Eve and Anzac Day.

Ms Whelan said the work done by the broadcaster’s regional and local team is at “the very heart of the ABC.”

“It’s where the ABC started 87 years ago, and it is still such big part of what makes us unique. The big difference today is that we reach our audiences across multiple platforms and in multiple ways,” she said.

Ms Whelan has been acting regional and local director since November.

Ms Whelan joined the ABC in 2016 as head of spoken content, where she oversaw RN, Grandstand and the capital city radio stations, and then took on the new role of head of specialist content. She also oversaw Audio Studios, responsible for podcast production.

Prior to the ABC, Ms Whelan was the editor of the SMH, which was then owned by Fairfax Media, as well as its news director and the editor of its weekend edition. She was also editor of SMH’s weekend magazine, Good Weekend, for more than seven years.

SMH is now owned by Nine Entertainment following its $4 billion merger with Fairfax, which was completed in December.