Kim Williams left bruised by the Joe Rogan experience
It’s probably safe to say that if Kim Williams never hears Rogan’s name again, it will be too soon. But some ‘friendly fire’ from an ABC podcast can’t have helped the chairman’s mood.
It’s probably safe to say that if ABC chairman Kim Williams never hears the name Joe Rogan again, it will be too soon. Unless you’ve been hiding under a giant clarinet, you’ll be aware that Our Kim attracted worldwide attention when he described the schtick of Rogan – one of the planet’s most popular podcasters – as “repulsive”.
That was on Wednesday, November 27.
In the days that followed, Williams endured a good old-fashioned media pile-on, led by Rogan himself and his buddy Elon Musk.
But by the following Tuesday, the heat had gone out of the story.
So imagine, if you will, the following fictional scene at Kim’s breakfast table last Wednesday morning – a full seven days after his infamous “Rogan speech” at the National Press Club.
Obviously Diary wasn’t there, but in our mind, Kim has just unfurled his copy of The Australian on the breakfast table and is tucking into his porridge when he hears the intro to the ABC News Daily podcast.
“You may never have heard of Kim Williams. But the name Joe Rogan is likely one you’ve come across before,” began ABC podcast host Samantha Hawley.
The intro continued: “Kim Williams is the current chairman of the ABC. Joe Rogan is a podcast host with millions of followers around the globe.”
Oh, to be a fly on Kim’s designer kitchen curtains!
To add further spice, the ABC chose US technology and online culture journalist Taylor Lorenz to offer her views on the Williams-Rogan hoo-ha.
Lorenz herself was the subject of a pile-on last week, when the former Washington Post journalist appeared to celebrate the death of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson, who was gunned down in Manhattan on Wednesday.
“And people wonder why we want these executives dead,” Lorenz posted on social media, above a link to online stories about the inequality of America’s health system.
Lorenz subsequently issued one of the great clarifications of modern times.
“Let me just be super clear. No, we should not murder CEOs. No, we should not go around shooting people in the street. That is the wrong lesson to take from this,” Lorenz said.
Diary reckons Lorenz’s online posts might even breach the ABC’s social media policy, as porous as it is.
Nine TV newsroom running light on Christmas cheer
Newsroom unrest within Nine’s TV news bunker is likely to continue over the Christmas-New Year period, as management battles to allay deep concerns among rank-and-file staff that the company’s handling of internal workplace issues – in the wake of the devastating Intersection report – has fallen short of expectations.
Diary is aware that Fiona Dear, Nine’s director of news and current affairs, has been the subject of multiple complaints from newsroom staff to management in the seven weeks since the publication of the Intersection review, which uncovered a culture of entrenched bullying and power imbalances within the company.
The claims against Dear are separate to allegations raised as part of the Intersection review, and do not necessarily relate to allegations of misconduct since the report was handed down in late October. Rather, it’s understood that the general findings of the Intersection review prompted some staff to make separate, and as yet untested, claims against Dear.
Diary is not suggesting that Dear has engaged in workplace misconduct, only that staff have registered their displeasure with her leadership and management style.
Dear was appointed to the TV news division’s most senior newsroom position in May, not long after longtime news boss Darren Wick announced in March that he was leaving the company. It later emerged that Wick was forced out of Nine after a female staffer made a serious misconduct allegation against him.
Newsroom staff have previously told Diary that Dear did nothing to stop Wick’s alleged inappropriate behaviour when she was the Sydney newsroom’s chief of staff during his reign.
Last week, The Australian reported that Nine Brisbane’s news boss Amanda Paterson was fired by Dear, in a seven-minute video call on November 7, for minor workplace transgressions unrelated to the Intersection report.
Paterson has commenced legal action against Nine Entertainment and Dear, with the matter headed for a mandatory conciliation hearing in the FWC before proceeding to the Federal Court.
Nine director of television Michael Healy, a close ally of Dear’s, remains in the role he has held for 14 years. The Australian has previously reported that Mr Healy was aware of the serious complaint made in January about Wick’s alleged misconduct yet still decided to send an email to staff in the company’s broadcasting division commending the news boss for his service when he announced his resignation in March this year.
The day after the Intersection review was handed down, Nine’s acting chief executive officer Matt Stanton sent an email to staff, outlining “a review of our complaints process”. Last week, Mr Stanton declined an interview request from The Australian. He is considered the frontrunner to be appointed Nine CEO, following the departure of the company’s former CEO Mike Sneesby in September.
A Nine spokesman declined to comment on Sunday.
Hadley’s farewell
Having ruled the morning airwaves in Sydney for more than 20 years, veteran broadcaster Ray Hadley will front his final ever talkback show on Friday. And he’s OK with that.
“The truth is, everyone has a shelf life. And for me, it’s time. It’s as simple as that,” Hadley told Diary.
The host of the 2GB mornings program since 2002, Hadley – who turned 70 in September – said he has had “no second thoughts” about his decision to quit the show, admitting that he had been thinking about stepping away from the program well before last month’s public announcement that he wouldn’t be returning to talkback radio in 2025.
Hadley told Diary that he was looking forward to his final week in the presenter’s chair, and is aware that his staff “have a few surprises in store for me”.
For his final program on Friday, Hadley will be joined in 2GB’s Sydney studio by three of his four adult children – “the fourth is overseas” – and his seven grandchildren.
Hadley’s final day at 2GB also coincides with the departure of his wife Sophie Baird, who was his personal assistant at the station for many years.
“I think she’s 2GB’s longest-serving employee,” Hadley told Diary.
The couple will enjoy a well-earned holiday early in the new year before moving on with the next chapter of their lives, but don’t be surprised if you see – or hear – Hadley behind a microphone sooner rather than later, given his pedigree as a sports commentator.
Meanwhile, the jockeying to replace Hadley as host of 2GB’s mornings program is down to a race in three between internal candidates Mark Levy, Chris O’Keefe and Michael McLaren.
No harm, no fowl
So this is Christmas! And that means it’s time for the media to wheel out some old yuletide favourites.
Heart-warming stories about shopping centre Santas? Tick. Footage of drunk, pink backpackers partying on Bondi? It’s a lock. Confected outrage over the cost of Christmas trees? Guaranteed. Earnest editorials about the true meaning of the festive season? Dusted off, and ready to go.
But in recent times, there’s a new Christmas media cliche in town.
So for those readers that prefer real news and may have missed it, here goes: did you know that Japanese people love to eat Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas Day?!
Kinda gross, sure, but let’s not be too judgy. After all, one man’s greasy chicken drumstick is another man’s frozen turkey from Woolies.
Diary’s beef is not with the choice of Christmas cuisine itself. Rather, we’re miffed by the media’s lazy reheating of this annual non-story, year after year.
The yarn was (probably) mildly interesting the first time it appeared in a US publication about 50 years ago. But like the KFC menu itself, while there might be slight variations to the theme from one December to the next, the story always tastes the same.
Let’s grab a snapshot of the coverage of the Japan/KFC Christmas news from our friends at Nine Entertainment over the past five years. To go back 50 years would be too painful.
In December 2019, the Sydney Morning Herald ran a piece, titled: “KFC in Japan at Christmas: Why Colonel Sanders rules Christmas in Japan.”
Come December 2020, 9news.com.au went with: “How one fast-food chain made itself a Christmas tradition for millions in Japan.”
The following year, the SMH at least acknowledged that it was serving up the same old festive dross. “Japan’s adoption of Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas menus in the 1970s has seen much media fanfare,” the masthead observed.
But come December 2022, The Age ran a picture story on a Japanese uni student who had moved to Melbourne and was facing a “challenge” to honour her family’s Christmas KFC tradition because most of the fast food giant’s outlets are closed in Australia on December 25.
Last year, the SMH again gave Japan’s passion for yuletide KFC another shout-out, under the headline, “Ten overseas Christmas traditions Australia should adopt.”
And just when you thought you couldn’t digest any more Christmas KFC, the Australian Financial Review’s former Tokyo-based Asia correspondent Michael Smith last week bowled up a personal story of his final festive season in Japan, titled: “Why you’ll be eating KFC for Christmas in Japan.”
To be fair, Nine Entertainment isn’t the only media outlet that pumps up Colonel Sanders’ Japanese street cred this time every year.
SBS obviously thinks the story is finger lickin’ good, as it rolls it out each Christmas, without fail. And even our cousins at news.com.au have fallen prey this festive season, with a piece on “Japan’s obsession with KFC”.
Apparently KFC is so popular in Japan that “it’s a tradition to eat it at Christmas time”, according to news.com.au.
So we’ve heard!
ARN going for Gold
ARN CEO Ciaran Davis and the company’s board are not shy of big decisions. Just over a year ago they tried to reshape the commercial FM radio market in Australia with an ambitious play to acquire the Triple M stations from SCA (Southern Cross Austereo), and along the way shed some of their licences.
Connected to that ultimately abandoned deal was a huge payday for Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson, which doubled their salary from a combined $10m a year to $20m. The justification for the increase was a plan to network them first to Melbourne and then into other markets. As has been widely reported, the pair’s push into the Victorian capital has been a damp squib.
Now comes news of the ARN decision to rebrand WSFM, after the company was unable to swap it for a Triple M licence. Despite the fact the station is currently number one overall in Sydney for the first time ever, the outfit that is home to the popular Jonesy and Amanda (Brendan Jones and Amanda Keller) show will soon be relabelled Gold FM.
The final radio ratings of the year next Tuesday will reveal if the station’s final survey as WSFM will see it keep top spot.
Rebranding FM stations doesn’t always work. Just look at the list of names tried at what is now KIIS101.1 in Melbourne – formerly the old 3DB in the days before FM, the station later became TTFM, then Mix and eventually KIIS.
SCA too dabbled with name changes when the Today network became the Hit network. The plan was to change all the metro stations to the new brand.
One person who fought the good fight on the changes was the late Peter Harvie. The SCA executive chairman and later non-executive board member didn’t think much of a previous management’s plan to dump household brands like SAFM, Fox FM and B105.
He got his way in the end with the SCA Hit Network stations now proudly carrying their original monikers.
Christmas in London
Australian television executives have been making their presence felt in London over the past few days.
While Oxford Street is filled with shoppers this time of year, just a few tube stops away, TV executives are doing some shopping and selling of their own.
The British capital now hosts two major events in the world of television each year – London Screenings in February, and Content London in December, and both forums have started to lure many content creators and TV buyers away from the traditional industry showpieces MIP TV and MIPCOM, held in Cannes every year.
Among the Aussies on the ground at Content London last week were senior ABC TV executives Jennifer Collins (head of screen content) and Rachel Okine (head of scripted).
The talented actress Leah Purcell was also spotted in London. A second season of her Foxtel Group series High Country is likely to be commissioned after the first season secured strong numbers for both the host broadcaster here and the BBC in Britain. Purcell has been quite the hit on the festival circuit globally too as High Country followed her hit movie The Drover’s Wife which she wrote, directed and starred in.
Nick Tabakoff is on leave.
More Coverage
Questions about ABC platforming ‘radical fringe Jewish voice’
Jewish groups have questioned why the national broadcaster has chosen to platform and ‘mainstream’ a Jewish ‘radical fringe voice’, in its coverage of anti-Semitic events in Sydney.
Uber Eats taps icon Cher for ad campaign
Entertainment icon Cher has fronted a new advertising campaign for Uber Eats as the brand continues to promote its delivery services to Aussie shoppers.