Triple M feels Southern Cross cuts

Southern Cross Media’s restructure appears to have claimed its first victim at Triple M.

Stephen Cenatiempo’s Australia By Night team is set to be axed by Triple M.

Southern Cross Media Group has axed Triple M nights program with Stephen Cenatiempo as it commences a major restructure of the business.

The Australian understands Cenatiempo and his team, who run Australia By Night, were informed of the decision on Tuesday.

Cenatiempo had been hosting the show, which runs from 10pm to 12am across almost 30 Triple M stations, for almost two years. A multi ACRA award winner, Cenatiempo had previously worked as an announcer on 2NM in the Hunter Valley.

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Southern Cross Media confirmed the show was cancelled on Tuesday.

The axing of Australia By Night is among one of the first moves by Southern Cross as it begins to overhaul its company structure. About 90 roles are expected to be affected in the process, however some staff are expected to be redeployed into new roles as negotiations continue through this week.

The Australian understands Southern Cross is hoping to achieve more than $9m in cost savings

Southern Cross’s leadership team, which includes chief executive Grant Blackley, chief sales officer Brian Gallagher and chief marketing and communications officer Nikki Clarkson, will not be affected by the restructure. The restructure spans across the metropolitan and regional parts of the radio and television business, which is made up of more than 2,500 staff.

On Tuesday a spokeswoman for Southern Cross said the decision to axe the roles had not been taken lightly.

“The entire advertising and media sector is operating in a challenging and difficult market and Southern Cross Austereo has and is being equally affected,” the spokeswoman said.

“Management, with the support of the board, have conducted a comprehensive review of our workforce structure to provide an effective and efficient organisation for now and into the future. These proposed changes will impact some of our people.

“These decisions have not been taken lightly and we are committed to supporting our people as we work through this process.”

Southern Cross declined to comment on the proportion of redundancies in its television division relative to its radio division. However the axing of Cenatiempo’s show suggests the changes will affect on-air talent. Content directors in regional parts of Australia are also expected to be affected, and there are reports that some functions will be combined across stations and networks.

The restructure follows a trading update in October that warned Southern Cross’s first half earnings would fall as much as 27 per cent, due to the “short” and “volatile” advertising market.

Southern Cross axed up to 30 roles in August, after announcing it would outsource its broadcast transmissions. Meanwhile in Sydney 2DayFM’s breakfast show hosts were replaced with an all-music program in a move believed to have saved the network about $3m per year.

Southern Cross swung to a net annual loss of $91.3m in the last financial year, hit by impairment charges against its television assets, a value loss on assets for sale and the advertising market.