In this week’s On Background, ABC Radio Sydney is hoping a returning talent can bring back listeners, a billionaire philanthropist’s passion project remains stuck in the doldrums, and Rupert Murdoch is in the mood to tell his story, again.
ABC’s backtrack on Sarah Mac
The decision to drop Sarah Macdonald from ABC Radio Sydney Mornings two years ago was hardly a masterstroke.
asserted
decision → hop → was
But Hamish Macdonald, a perfectly fine broadcaster and internal ABC favourite, has presided over a concerted ratings slump in his second year in the Mornings chair, not dissimilar to the one that was used to justify the axing of his predecessor in 2024.
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that → preside → 2024
The ABC made a rare U-turn on that decision this week, with Sarah Macdonald telling the station’s breakfast host Craig Reucassel that Hugh Marks himself contacted her earlier this year, asking her to return to her old friend James Valentine’s Afternoons slot.
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Marks → make → slot
Marks also reached out to former weekends presenter Simon Marnie to get all the details about his departure, On Background hears.
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Marks → reach → Background
While it was a positive meeting between the pair, Marnie has moved on to other things.
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Marnie → move → things
The ABC’s overall local radio ratings have experienced a downturn during this period.
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ratings → experience → period
But after losing Valentine, first from the station and then his tragic death to cancer, the ABC has also bid farewell to a slew of stalwart presenters, including Richard Glover, Robbie Buck and Marnie.
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ABC → lose → Glover
Rehiring a station favourite signals the broadcaster is making an effort to reclaim some of the audience which has left in recent years alongside the hosts they were so used to hearing.
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they → rehire → hosts
So, the return of the familiar voice of Macdonald will be gleefully welcomed by ABC Sydney 702 listeners.
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return → welcome → listeners
That’s why the likes of Ray Hadley, Red Symons, Jon Faine or even (gulp) Alan Jones were so successful with their audiences for so long.
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likes → ’ → audiences
But as media habits were upended by COVID lockdowns, particularly in Melbourne and Sydney, the ABC’s local networks rode an audience wave that was followed by a long, deep crash.
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that → upend → crash
The ABC appears to have gotten the balance between looking forward and looking back slightly wrong, if we go off vibes and audience figures.
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we → appear → vibes
Lightning rod
The decision to axe Macdonald in 2024 came at a time of intense overhaul at the ABC, and the Sydney radio operations was the lightning rod for that change.
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operations → lightne → change
Its station manager, Steve Ahern, left in the middle of the year after the Antoinette Lattouf debacle.
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manager → leave → debacle
The station was also the flagship division being shifted out west to the broadcaster’s new Parramatta offices.
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station → shift → offices
Managing director David Anderson also announced his departure during this period, partly owing to health issues.
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Anderson → manage → issues
And his content boss Chris Oliver-Taylor also left.
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boss → leave → ?
New chair Kim Williams, staff say, was effectively running the joint as an unofficial executive chair during this period.
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staff → say → period
He met with angry staff after an uproar over Macdonald’s departure, which combined with the other talent exits, cuts and generally growing bad sentiment.
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which → meet → exits
ABC staff called the period “a public-relations disaster on many levels”.
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staff → call → levels
A big part of the tension was the move to Parramatta, which was not well received by staff at 702.
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which → receive → 702
But the move was a part of the broader changes ushered in by the new audio boss Ben Latimer and his team that were put there to address the need for a cultural overhaul at the ABC, people familiar with the decisions at the time tell On Background.
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people → usher → Background
Earlier that year, Williams and Anderson were put through their paces by Macdonald in an on-air interview, as the ABC marked the opening of the new Parramatta studios.
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ABC → put → studios
In a lively exchange, Macdonald pressed the pair over the rationale for forcing the Mornings team to be the first to make the move out west.
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Macdonald → press → move
This is not to suggest this was why Macdonald was shafted just a few months later.
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Macdonald → suggest → ?
Whether she can be a shot in the arm for the station, which reported another set of audience dire results on Thursday, will have to wait for 2027.
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which → report → 2027
Judith’s problem
Still in the early stages of its return to action, the Judith Neilson Institute has faced a number of new headaches this year, calling in an external HR firm after a number of contractors prematurely left its first project led by Caro Meldrum-Hanna.
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number → face → Hanna
The first of several projects commissioned to be led by the Gold Walkley winning ex-Four Corners reporter for the billionaire philanthropist Judith Neilson is close to completion after beginning production more than two years ago, its chief executive Simon Freeman says.
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executive → commission → production
He was asked by On Background about the engagement of an external HR firm Azuhr following the exit of several contractors who had worked on the project.
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who → ask → project
He said the engagement was not “an investigation into the conduct of any individual or project”.
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engagement → say → individual
“The review was designed to consider how the team works together, priorities, communication and the need for roles and responsibilities to be clearly defined,” Freeman said.
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Freeman → design → ?
The entire thing has been kept under wraps.
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thing → keep → wraps
A number of staff who worked on it were made to sign NDAs after they left, before it was completed.
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it → work → NDAs
Staff have been instructed to remove any reference to the Institute online after their departure.
“We have taken the decision not to publicly announce what JNI is working on for journalistic reasons, rather than any other motive,” Freeman added.
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Freeman → instruct → reasons
The revelations raise more challenges for the body, initially set up by the billionaire with a pledge to spend $100 million saving journalism.
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revelations → raise → journalism
The institute has been plagued by issues since it was founded in 2018, effectively going into hibernation in 2023 after Neilson decided she wanted to be more involved and take a more hands-on approach, leading to a mass exodus of its directors.
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she → plague → directors
Meldrum-Hanna was contacted for comment.
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Hanna → contact → comment
He was praised by a Nevada judge for being an upstanding witness in his family’s court fight in 2024.
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He → praise → 2024
Reading through the transcript of his deposition was illuminating, mostly because he hasn’t done a proper, on-the-record interview for some time.
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he → read → time
He was hardly going to turn the screws on the boss!
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He → go → boss
…and 12 more, not listed.
The Aporia
