Disrupt Radio boss Benjamin Roberts expects station to return with new content in November

The radio broadcaster has been plagued by financial woes and staff have now been left without pay for three months but the dire situation could be about to change.

Disrupt Radio broadcaster Jules Lund. Picture: Britta Campion.

Disrupt Radio – which promotes itself as the “sound of the Australian entrepreneurial spirit” – is on the cusp of a “comeback”, according to its founder, despite the start-up not having paid its staff for the past three months.

The company’s founder, Benjamin Roberts, told The Australian on the weekend that the station won’t be returning to live programming until at least next month, having resorted to recycling old content for several weeks.

“The majority of our staff and suppliers have been really wonderful,” Mr Roberts said of the company’s cashflow crisis.

“We are just getting on with it.”

The start-up broadcaster launched in June last year but struck financial turbulence in early 2024, and staff have now gone unpaid for the past three months.

In August, a proposed investment in the company failed to go through, sending the business into a spin and leaving staff in the dark about if and when the station would be returning to the airwaves.

Disrupt Radio chair Michelle Guthrie.

Mr Roberts also said on the weekend that negotiations were continuing in a bid to secure new funding and ensure the station could return to producing fresh content.

“In summary, we’re still working with our lead adviser and shareholders on both investment capital and our pivot,” he said.

High-profile stars who have their own shows on the station include former ABC broadcaster Libbi Gorr, former TV host and businessman Jules Lund, and former AFLW player Moana Hope.

Disrupt is chaired by former ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie.

Despite repeated requests by The Australian to speak with Ms Guthrie over recent months, she has declined to discuss the upheaval at the company.

Disrupt’s website carries no updates on the company’s parlous situation, makes no mention of the fact that no new content has been produced or featured over the past three months, and does not disclose that the station is no longer available on DAB+.

To access Disrupt, listeners must go online via their computer, tablet or other device.

The most recent post on Disrupt’s Facebook page, on August 26, was a link to an interview Lund conducted with former Uber general manager and head of advertising Michael Akkerman.

Disrupt’s listenership figures were briefly included in official radio ratings surveys, produced by research firm GfK, but the start-up station recently abandoned DAB+, meaning its audience numbers are no longer available.

Originally published as Disrupt Radio boss Benjamin Roberts expects station to return with new content in November