Nine Radio hands over information to the media regulator to keep its disclosure records up to date

Troubled radio station 3AW has been cooperating with the media regulator to provide information about its failure to keep its commercial disclosure records up to date.

Nine Entertainment’s radio ­station 3AW has handed over vital information to the media regulator amid the fallout over its four stations failing to keep commercial disclosure records up to date.

Nine Radio, headed up by managing director Tom Malone, has confirmed it recently made relevant submissions to the media regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, over its failure to publish online relevant paid deals.

A Nine Radio spokeswoman confirmed it had complied with ­information requests by ACMA regarding the disclosure issues that had engulfed the Melbourne station.

“3AW, in response to questions from the Australian Communications and Media Authority, has made submissions to the authority confirming its register of commercial agreements is up to date,” she said. “Other stations will respond as required.”

It comes after The Australian revealed 3AW had failed to disclose 15 lucrative deals held by its newly-appointed drive host Jacqui Felgate, despite her filling in as a radio host since June last year. The partnerships, some worth more than $25,000 per year, have now been disclosed on the station’s website.

Many more lucrative deals were also published across Nine Radio’s four station websites including by 4BC’s Mark Hine and Sofie Formica, 3AW’s Denis Walter, 6PR’s Karl Langdon and 2GB’s Bill Woods and Luke Grant.

An ACMA spokesman recently told The Australian it was “actively engaged” with Nine Radio about its compliance, but the authority remains tight-lipped about the process.

“The ACMA will not be commenting further on its engagement with Nine Radio on its compliance with the Broadcasting Services (Commercial Radio Current Affairs Disclosure) Standard 2022 until our inquiries are concluded,” he said.

In the latest radio ratings released on Thursday, 3AW was the most popular station in Melbourne with an audience share of 15.8, despite falling by 0.9 percentage points.

The Australian last week revealed Felgate had been driving a luxury BMW electric iX3 and had given the vehicle an outstanding review to 3AW listeners, but failed to disclose she had been in a paid partnership with BMW Berwick since early 2022. She has regularly spruiked BMW vehicles on her Instagram account, which has 269,000 followers.

3AW presenter Jacqui Felgate is an ambassador for BMW Berwick and regularly spruiks their vehicles online. Source: LinkedIn.

Felgate has since begun peppering her programs with disclosures – including on Wednesday when she hosted Afternoons and talked about driving manual cars.

“I am an ambassador for BMW and mine is definitely not a manual,” she told listeners.

The day before, she held a long discussion about a builder who had gone into liquidation, including an interview with a woman whose family had paid a $32,000 deposit and lost all their money.

Felgate, who is in a paid partnership with Villawood Homes, disclosed her commercial deal to her audience.

“I just want to mention that I do have an agreement with Villawood Homes to promote the Good Friday Appeal, that’s not the organisation we are talking about here, but just to be clear,” she told her listeners.

Under ACMA’s disclosure standard, disclosure announcements must be made at the time of the broadcast or during a current affairs show that promotes or favours sponsors or any of their products or services.

Mr Malone recently described Felgate as a “broadcaster of the modern era – accomplished across television and radio, and with her own audience on social media.

“This deepens her connection with the Melbourne community and enhances her ability to break news and cover the stories that matter to 3AW listeners.”

She will replace drive host Tom Elliott who replaces Neil Mitchell on mornings when the latter departs the station in December.

The radio industry’s annual awards, the Australian Commercial Radio & Audio (ACRA) Awards, will be held in Sydney on October 14.