smoothfm owner Nova cuts staff to trim costs
The owner of Nova and smoothfm has joined a growing list of media companies cutting staff as revenue dries up.
The owner of Nova and smoothfm radio stations is the latest media company to lay-off staff as it looks to cut costs by nine per cent following a sharp drop in revenue during the coronavirus crisis.
Nova Entertainment chief executive Cathy O’Connor says the company has been hit by the COVID-19 crisis with an estimated fall in revenue of more than 25 per cent this year.
“The media industry has been particularly hard hit and we expect the downturn to continue for the next twelve to eighteen months,” she said in a statement on Wednesday.
“We will reduce costs by nine per cent with all areas of the business being impacted. As a result, some staff will unfortunately be made redundant.”
Ms O‘Connor said the decisions will protect its “core business and ensure that our company remains strong and successful and is positioned for growth as the economy recovers.”
Nova is the nation’s top FM metropolitan network in the country with more than 3.63 million listeners, according to its website. In Sydney, its on-air talent, include Ryan “Fitzy” Fitzgerald, Michael ”Wippa” Wipfli, Kate Richie, Tim Blackwell and Marty Sheargold, who is leaving next month.
Ms O’Connor said staff were informed on Tuesday about the lay-offs following a review of the business, which
A NOVA spokeswoman declined to comment on the number of job losses, with some trade press reporting 70 staff will go.
The news comes less than 24 hours after free-to-air television broadcaster Network Ten axed some of its most high-profile hosts, including Kerri-Anne Kennerley and Natarsha Belling as part of a restructuring of its news operations.
Ten’s Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth weekday news bulletins will be presented from Sydney and Melbourne with just one national weather presenter. As a result of the changes, some on-air presenters, journalists and operations staff will leave the network, which is owned by US media giant ViacomCBS. Ten didn’t provide any specific details on the number of job losses.
Ten’s decision comes three months after the closure of its news and entertainment website 10 Daily, which resulted in staff lay-offs.
NOVA’s executive chairman Lachlan Murdoch is also co-chairman of News Corp, publisher of The Australian.
More Coverage
Report on ABC’s ‘doctored audio’ scandal blames lawyers
A report has blamed ABC lawyers for failing to pass on complaints by former commando Heston Russell that extra gunshots had been edited into an ABC news report.
‘Pressure from above’: ABC executive pushed by Buttrose
Christopher Oliver-Taylor was under pressure to sack Antoinette Lattouf after Ita Buttrose made clear she was ‘deeply unhappy’ with action taken on the stand-in radio host, the Federal Court has heard.